5 Steps To Running A YouTube Giveaway With Gleam

Published on December 4, 2024; Updated on October 20, 2025

Learn how to use Gleam to run an awesome giveaway on YouTube.

Quick Recap: How To Run a YouTube Giveaway That Grows Your Channel

• Choose a prize that’s relevant to your niche and audience
• Use Gleam to set up a structured giveaway with multiple entry options
• Promote your giveaway in video descriptions, social media, and communities
• Pick winners fairly using Gleam’s built-in tools
• Follow up with non-winners and share UGC to maintain engagement

Running a YouTube giveaway is one of the most effective ways to grow your audience, reward loyal fans, and attract new subscribers.

With Gleam, you can set up and manage giveaways that boost engagement, track real entries, and pick winners fairly, all from one platform.

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to launch your own YouTube giveaway step by step, highlight use cases for different creators and brands, and share best practices to maximise results.

Why Run a YouTube Giveaway?

YouTube giveaways are a proven way to:

Grow your subscriber base and channel visibility
Reward loyal fans with meaningful prizes
Drive traffic to your other platforms or store
Collect emails and user-generated content (UGC)
Boost engagement on your videos with likes, shares, and comments

They work especially well for:

Content Creators growing a new audience
Streamers who want to reward fans with exclusive merch or prizes
Brands that collaborate with influencers to reach wider communities
Ecommerce businesses launching products and driving traffic via video

How To Run a YouTube Giveaway With Gleam

• Choose a prize that attracts your ideal audience
• Create your giveaway with YouTube and bonus actions
• Promote it through video descriptions, socials, and embeds
• Pick winners fairly with Gleam’s random draw or manual tools
• Follow up with discounts, UGC, and future campaigns to keep fans engaged

1. Choose Your Prize

Your prize is the biggest factor in attracting the right participants.

Choose a prize that aligns with your content or brand
Make sure it appeals to your ideal audience, not just freebie hunters
Higher-value prizes can justify requiring more effort from entrants (e.g. video submissions)

Examples:

Fitness creators → running gear or workout programs
Tech brands → gadgets or accessories
Streamers → exclusive merch or gift cards

Trick

Want inspiration? Check out our 150+ giveaway prize ideas.

How To Add a Prize in Gleam

• Go to the Prizes tab
• Enter your prize name and description
• Set the number of winners
• (Optional) Show the prize value
• Save to display it inside your campaign

Gleam prize setup screen showing a YouTube Premium Subscription prize with one winner and optional value field

2. Create Your YouTube Giveaway

Once you’ve chosen your prize, set up your campaign in Gleam.

You can keep things simple by asking viewers to comment under your YouTube video, but Gleam gives you more powerful options, including:

Gleam also handles fraud protection, winner selection, and terms & conditions automatically, so you can focus on growing your audience.

Try it for yourself:

use the YouTube giveaway template

How To Create a YouTube Giveaway in Gleam

• Create a new Competition
• Add a YouTube action
• Add bonus actions like Viral Share or Website Visit
• Keep Fraud Filter high to keep entries fair
• Share your hosted landing page or embed on your site

Gleam competition setup showing multiple social media entry methods including YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram, and Patreon

3. Promote Your Giveaway

Promotion is the key to a successful YouTube giveaway.

Make sure people know how to enter and why they should.

Best ways to promote include:

Add the giveaway link to your YouTube video description and pinned comments
Share across your social media accounts
Include it in your email newsletter
Collaborate with other creators to extend your reach
Embed the Gleam widget on your site

Tip

Check out our guide on how to promote your YouTube contest.

How To Promote Your Giveaway With Gleam

• Share your hosted landing page
• Add links in YouTube descriptions and pinned comments
• Post across socials and newsletters
• Embed the widget on your website
• Partner with other creators to grow your reach

4. Draw Winners

Once your giveaway ends, Gleam makes it easy to pick winners fairly.

Options include:

Random selection → Fair and unbiased, great for prize draws
Manual selection → For contests judged on creativity (e.g. best UGC submission)

Gleam also verifies entries automatically, flagging incomplete or suspicious actions.

You can review manually if needed.

How To Pick Winners in Gleam

• Go to your campaign → Winners tab
• Click Draw Winners for random selection
• Or manually select for merit-based contests
• Verify actions to confirm entries
• Export or screenshot results for proof

Winners tab on the Gleam Competitions dashboard

Trick

Learn more about announcing contest winners.

5. Follow Up & Keep Engaging

The end of your giveaway isn’t the end of engagement, it’s a chance to deepen relationships.

Send discount codes or exclusive content to non-winners
Keep new subscribers engaged with fresh content and updates
Showcase UGC on social media or in a gallery
Plan your next giveaway early to keep momentum

Tip

See our FAQ: My Competition Has Finished, What Happens Next?

create your gallery

How To Follow Up After Your Giveaway

• Email or export winner details
• Offer discounts or bonus rewards to non-winners
• Share UGC in a gallery or across socials
• Plan your next campaign early
• Keep new subscribers engaged with consistent content

Best Practices for YouTube Giveaways

Choose a prize relevant to your content to attract the right audience
Run campaigns for 2–3 weeks for best participation
Make rules and entry methods clear to avoid drop-off
Promote across all your channels, not just YouTube
Stay compliant with YouTube’s contest policies and local regulations

Trick

Check out more ways to grow your YouTube channel on our blog

Ready To Grow Your Channel?

Running a YouTube giveaway is one of the most effective ways to grow your channel, reward loyal fans, and attract new viewers who genuinely care about your content.

Keep your giveaway free to enter, and make sure it follows YouTube’s contest policies, community guidelines, and terms of service.

Always include official contest rules and entry details on your landing page or in your YouTube video description so everything stays transparent. This builds trust and ensures your campaign meets YouTube’s contest requirements.

Promote your YouTube giveaway across social media and your wider network to drive consistent engagement, build your email list, and create a steady flow of new subscribers.

When it ends, announce the winners publicly, or announce your winners in a giveaway video or during live streaming to keep the excitement going.

If you need inspiration, explore fresh YouTube giveaway ideas and learn how to run a giveaway step by step with Gleam.

You’ve now got everything you need to run a YouTube giveaway that grows your audience and rewards fans.

Start today with our ready-to-use template:

launch your YouTube giveaway

Giveaways increase engagement, encourage sharing, and reward your audience—helping you grow your YouTube channel faster.

Offer a relevant prize, use video comments and views as entry methods, and promote across your social platforms. Click to learn how to grow your YouTube channel using a smart giveaway strategy.

To get more subscribers on YouTube, post high-quality videos consistently, optimise for SEO, engage with your audience, and run promotions like giveaways.

YouTube contests must follow platform policies, including disclosing official rules, offering free entry, and clearly stating YouTube is not affiliated with the promotion.

You can run a YouTube giveaway by asking viewers to comment, answer questions, or enter through a Gleam campaign that verifies actions.