How To Earn Money on Twitch

Making money on Twitch is not as hard or as easy as you may think, but it’s definitely possible, with this guide, you will have a brighter view of how you can make money on Twitch.

Twitch has been growing exponentially over the past few years. It is now one of the most popular websites in the world, with millions of users and billions of hours watched per month. This makes it an incredibly attractive platform for gamers, content creators, and businesses alike.

One of the most common questions I get asked is “How do people make money on Twitch?” The answer is: that there are many ways. In this article, I’m going to break down some of the most common methods so that you can get a better understanding of how people make money on Twitch.

All About Twitch

Twitch is a live-streaming network based in the United States that was founded on June 6, 2011. Justin Kan and Emmett Shear insinuated building this platform. As it grew hastily over the years of its existence, big companies like Amazon and Google caught its attention. And Amazon paid $970 million for the platform in 2014. This platform is centered on gaming where most of the streamers are gamers who live stream their gameplay. Especially, when they’re performing at the Esport competition. This software brings together streamers and fans to form a community. It enables users to socialize online, view videos that are relevant to their interests, and be entertained in a streaming community. Many gamers use this program since it allows them to broadcast their live gameplay to their fans.

Even though most of the population is exclusively focused on games, several kinds of live streams are available too. The app is also dedicated to talking shows, music, art, crafts, and more – as the app has since expanded. What makes twitch different from other rising mediums is it is streamed live. While other platforms only posted edited videos, twitch is streamed live which allows the streamer and viewer to have a deeper connection because they can have a live chat.

Twitch Affiliate Vs Twitch Partner

Twitch Affiliate is a program that allows streamers to monetize their channels while growing their audiences and working for the Twitch Partner position. Both twitch affiliate and twitch partner are content developers, but what makes them different is that twitch partner offers a great advantage.

To profit from subscriptions, ads, and affiliate marketing, you must first become an affiliate. The goal of the Twitch affiliate program is to allow streamers to supplement their income by working as an equivalent part-time.

In order to become a Twitch Affiliate, you need to meet all the requirements required:

• At least 500 minutes of total broadcast in 30 days.
• A minimum of 7 different broadcast days in 30 days.
• An average of three concurrent viewers or more in 30 days.
• You have at least 50 followers.

Achieving these requirements might take at least 2-4 months as you need to stream and broadcast while gathering an audience. In order to meet these requirements, you need to be patient. Consistency is also needed. Keep in mind that achieving things comes with effort and dedication.

While on the other hand, Twitch Partner is a position that is available to popular and well-known content creators on the site. To become a partner, you must submit an application to Twitch and be approved. The approval process looks at your channel’s broadcasting activity, follower count, chat moderation, and overall behavior on Twitch. If you are approved as a partner, you will gain access to exclusive features such as custom badges, emotes, and widgets that you can use to monetize your channel.

Both the affiliate and partner levels offer opportunities to make money on Twitch. However, becoming a partner gives you access to more features and a larger potential income

The Twitch partnership program is for those streamers who are ready to upgrade from affiliate status. Streamers need to meet the requirements to be qualified as twitch partners.

To be qualified as a Twitch partner, you need to meet the following requirements:

• A minimum of 12 different time streams in the previous month.

• A minimum of 25 hours was streamed in the previous month.

• Within the last 30 days, there have been 75 concurrent viewers.

Those who will complete this should be able to maintain the criteria set forth in the achievement on a constant basis. A twitch partner is eligible to payout once their pre-taxed received revenue balance reaches $100. According to streamscheme.com, twitch partners earn about $250 for each one hundred subscribers per month.

Ways to Make Money on Twitch

Twitch streamers earn money through donations, subscriptions, twitch bits, advertisement, sponsorship, affiliate marketing, merchandise, and game sales. Let us dig in and further understand each method:

TWITCH DONATIONS

The great thing about donations is that you don’t have to be an affiliate to make money. Twitch bits are a type of virtual currency that viewers can use to support their favorite gamers. It is a mini-donation from viewers where they can donate to their favorite streamer either through PayPal and Amazon. The worth of every bit is $0.01, so the streamer will receive $1.00 for every 100 bits. The 40 cents will go to twitch, then the user will receive a dollar.

There are a few ways to make sure that your viewers see the donate button. The first way is to put it in your Twitch bio section. You can also put it in the “about me” section of your profile. Finally, you can use an extension called Streamlabs Alerts. This will pop up a notification on your screen whenever someone donates.

Donations are great because they show that people appreciate what you’re doing and want to support you financially. However, donations are not a reliable source of income because they fluctuate greatly from day to day and week to week. If you’re looking to make Twitch your full-time job, then you’ll need to supplement your income with other sources.

To know how to set up a donation, here’s the link:

CHEERING

https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2016/06/27/introducing-cheering-celebrate-together-da62af41fac6/

Cheering is done with bits. It is an additional course of action for getting donations on twitch. However, it’s only limited to affiliates. Cheering is a great way for users to ‘cheer’ their favorite streamers even if they don’t subscribe. In order to show support to their preferred affiliates without giving a monthly fee. Cheers are a way of tipping or giving gifts to streamers. It’s also a great marketing tool for affiliates as it allows non-subscribers to support their work.

BRAND PARTNERSHIP

Affiliate partners and/or relationships are common terms for brand partnerships. To market their brand, other businesses cooperate with high-performing broadcasters. Many of the streamers who worked with brands were given commissions. UberEats is an example of a firm that uses affiliates. The company teamed up with Twitch star Tyler ‘Ninja’ Belvins to offer a 25% discount using a special coupon. However, they requested a second unique code due to the promotion’s success, since they had surpassed their maximum redemption in just one day.

MERCHANDISE

If you have already gathered a loyal audience, then you can make money by selling merchandise. Viewers are needed to sell your merchandise, but you don’t need to have a lot. The article from Shopify.com stated that Twitch streamer TerrestrialPlays first started to sell her merchandise when she had around 10 viewers at a time. Terrestrial said that part of her monthly income comes from selling merchandise, and the rest comes from subscriptions and affiliate deals. To sum it up, you don’t need a lot of people to sell your merchandise, as long as you have at least 10 people that are willing to buy them for you – then you are on a great start.

Terrestrial said that it is better to just do it as soon as possible. If you have something to offer then offer it, as you will never know when will the people are gonna buy it. In short, if you have something in mind to offer your audience, take a risk and offer it.

Advertisements

Content creators or streamers can also earn money through advertisements. But streamers need to reach the Affiliate or Partner level so they can receive the revenue from running ads on their channel.

The amount of money you can make from advertisements depends on a few factors, such as the number of viewers you have, the length of your ad breaks, and the type of ads you’re running. For example, pre-roll ads (ads that run before your stream starts) generally pay more than mid-roll ads (ads that run in the middle of your stream).

SELLING GAMES ON YOUR CHANNEL

In order to sell, you need to stream yourself playing a game. You can then put a link to the game in your description. When people click on the link and buy the game, you will earn a commission. The commission varies depending on the game, but it is typically around five percent.

For example, if you sold a $60 game, you would earn $0.30 per sale. If you sold 100 games, you would earn $30.

This is a great way to monetize your channel if you are already playing games that people want to watch. You can also promote new games that are coming out and get people excited about them.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

There are two types of subscriptions: Twitch Prime and regular. Twitch Prime is included with an Amazon Prime membership and gives viewers access to exclusive emotes, badges, and chat rooms. Regular subscribers do not have these benefits but still support the channel financially.

To encourage people to subscribe, many streamers offer subscription incentives. These can include anything from early access to content to exclusive chat rooms and emojis. The key is to find something that your viewers value and offer it as a perk for subscribing.

Subscriptions are a great way to earn consistent income from Twitch because they provide a steady stream of revenue that you can rely on month after month. However, it can be difficult to get people to subscribe, especially if you’re just starting out.

Twitch offers different tiers for subscriptions.

• Tier 1 costs $4.99 per month.

• Tier 2 costs $9.99 per month.

• Tier 3 costs $24.99 per month.

When you gather subscriptions, you and Twitch will split the profit. For further explanation, for every 1-tier subscription, you can make $2.50 a month. You can make $5 a month for every tier 2 subscriber. and for every 3-tier subscription, you can accomplish $12.5 a month. So if you manage to get 100 tier 1 subscribers, you can make an extra $250 a month! So stream until you reach your viewer count goal. Because the more subscribers you get, the more money you earn.

AFFILIATE MARKETING

You can earn extra income once you hit massive followers by promoting the product of some companies or brands, and you will receive a commission for doing so. If you’re planning to get rich by just doing affiliate marketing, you need to have a huge amount of audience first. Unlike sponsorship, where streamers get a lot of benefits by doing contracts with brands, affiliate marketing is much easier. It is available to a wide range of audiences—whether they are big or small. But, of course, the more people you have watching your stream, the more money you can make.

To get started with affiliate marketing, you need to find products that you believe in and that your viewers would be interested in. Once you’ve found a few good products, sign up for their affiliate program. Each program is different, but they will all give you a link to promote their product. Make sure to promote the products in a way that is natural and not too intrusive. The last thing you want to do is turn your stream into a commercial break. No one wants to watch an hour-long commercial!

SPONSORSHIPS

This is when a company pays you to play their game or use their product on your channel. In order for brands to sponsor you, they need to think that you are influential enough to make people want to buy what they’re selling. The more followers and viewers you have, the more likely it is that brands will approach you about sponsorships.

 Bits in Extensions

Click here if you want to have a deeper understanding of how bit extensions work. Please note that in order to use bits extensions, you must have an affiliate or partner and have enabled bits.

Twitch offers a way for viewers to support their favorite streamers through Bits. Bits are a virtual currency that can be used to Cheer, during which an animated emoticon appears in the chat window. Cheering with Bits shows support for the streamer and helps them reach Affiliate status. Streamers receive one cent per Bit that is used to Cheer them.

Bits can be purchased directly from Twitch or earned by watching ads on the platform. To learn how to use Cheer with Bits, click here.

 

How do streamers get paid from Twitch?

The standard payout on Twitch for Twitch streamers is net 15. There is a check to see whether you already earned $100 or more in your balance since your last payout at the very end of each calendar month. If there is, your payout will automatically be scheduled for 15 days. The balance will be carried to next month until the minimum threshold is met if you don’t make over $100 in a given month. The payout processing time can vary and typically takes 3–5 business days. For example, if you earned $20 in April and $90 in May, what will happen next is that your balance in the month of April will be rolled over into May and you will receive a payout in the middle of June.

How much do twitch streamers make?

The first payment will take longer than it takes for future payments. It is because Twitch has a $100 fee before the payout. From their first payments, streamers typically earn money from $100-$1000 until they make a partner. Active partners obtain the money that ranges from $50 to $500 depending on the size of their community and the content they create.

An article from streamscheme.com revealing the earning statistics of Twitch streamers shows the streamers’ primary income and where it came from. 57.1 percent of twitch streamers are not yet earning, as specified by their graph. These must be those who have just begun in the Twitch live streaming industry. Twitch subscriptions for 20.7 percent, with third-party donations like streamlabs accounting for 8.7 percent.

Expert streamers can earn between $3000 and $5000 per month by streaming 40 hours per week. In addition, advertising revenue ranges from $250 to $500 per 100 subscribers. Twitch can certainly be profitable if you take your time and grow a respectable audience.

How to Grow Your Twitch Channel

 

For starters, earning money on this platform can be complicated if you don’t have any guides. Take some time to plan the direction of your channel. What’s your goal? How will you set it up properly? Here are five tips for growing your Twitch channel:

Find your niche

To begin with, think about what you’re interested in and things that you’re already good at. Think of something that’s not very popular but will attract people’s attention. Remember that people want to be entertained so if you master your game or niche, it will attract their attention and make them feel amazed at how good you are. After you spot your interest, identify if your potential will attract a large audience on Twitch. Having a unique niche is hard, so focus on how to make it stand out from the crowd. Choose a niche that’s not well-known by people as you have to deal with a lot of competitors. It is best to do something fresh in the eyes of the viewers. Take in mind that twitch is a live-streaming platform. Streaming while being watched by a bunch of people needs confidence. The key to connect with a bigger audience is to be yourself. Creating another persona takes time to practice and might drain you. Being yourself increases the probability that you can stay longer in the streaming industry.

Stream Branding

Identify the path you want to aim with your content and see if the risk is worth it. Then, with that information, decide your brand name, assign your brand logo and other graphics. It would be nice to hire some professional graphic designers to make it more appealing. And in that way, the audience will increase – face your viewers with confidence.

Finalize Your Twitch Profile!

The next step is to write your profile. In order to gather a larger audience, let people know who you are. It is human nature to be interested or get curious about other people and keen on knowing more about them. Therefore, let your audience learn slight knowledge about you. Write down your goal of becoming a streamer, what game they can expect about you, what is your niche, and the reason why you chose that niche. Don’t forget to sound friendly and approachable as possible. It is important to connect with your viewers and build a connection so they will come back and watch you. And that is also the first step so you can build a community in your channel.

Promote Your Streams On Additional Platforms

In order to make more money on Twitch, you need to grow your channel. The best way to do that is by promoting your streams on other platforms. You can do this by creating social media accounts and posting about your streams there. You can also join online communities related to streaming and gaming and share your content there. Finally, you can reach out to other streamers and collaborate with them. When you collaborate with another streamer, you both promote each other’s channels to your respective audiences, which can help both of you grow.

Keep in mind that you have to find a way to engage with your viewers. Don’t just play your game. Research from streamous.com stated that the study of Harvard discovered amazing things about stage fright. The study stated that if you have stage fright, you can turn your fear into excitement. Apparently, you can trick your brain by thinking that you are not nervous or afraid but just excited. With that, you will feel more relaxed and confident that you can talk and have a chat while you are live-streaming.

STREAMING TIPS FROM SUCCESSFUL STREAMERS

Check out this article that gives tips from popular twitch streamers about how to become a successful streamer. Isn’t it extremely motivating to read some tips from your favorite streamers? It makes you feel like you’re not alone because they are there for you. Doesn’t it motivate you to be as successful as them by doing what you love while earning monthly income?

 

1. Kripparrian (Octavian Morosan) with 1.377.00 twitch followers said that streaming for many hours on a regular basis does not guarantee success, but failing to do so does.
2. Brian Kibler, with a twitch following of 473,000, says a streamer should recognize the decision to become a streamer. Because there is so much competition, it is difficult to be successful as a professional. You should contemplate why you want to become one. Acknowledge streaming as to be a type of entertainment profession with a massive amount of people in it. Many people want to bet everything on streaming. That usually means they’re going to quit their job and stream all the time. You shouldn’t try anything like that until you’ve streamed casually and discovered that you can build an audience.
3. With a follower count of 432,550, FollowGrubbys’ advice is to turn on your stream and keep it running almost constantly, and be yourself.
4. Boarcontrol (George Webb)‘s advice is to get hosted or raided by well-known streamers. You must be in the top 0.01 percent of the game you’re playing or be very entertaining to watch – and, of course, enjoy while streaming and playing games.
5. With 61.346 twitch followers, Slyssa suggested asking your friends from other channels if they want to hang out on your channel. Create communities within other channels. Tell them you’ll be streaming and, most importantly, have fun!

 

This article provided methods to earn money on twitch. Listed down below are the ways to gain extra income on twitch; namely;

• Donations
• Cheering
• Subscription
• Twitch expansion
• Affiliate marketing
• Ad Revenue
• Selling games
• Brand partnership
• Merchandise

To sum up everything, these ways are all available on Twitch. And some of these ways will be applied if you’re a Twitch affiliate or partner. Affiliate and Partner are both streamers but twitch partner has more benefits than affiliates like emotes and more. The payout process takes at least 3-5 business days, and streamers can payout when they reach $100 in a given month. The balance will be rolled over unto the next month until the minimum threshold is met. According to research, earning from twitch can be very challenging when you don’t know the ways and tactics. One tactic that will increase your viewership is building your channel. Making your channel unique and stand out from the crowd will increase the number of people watching you, and high viewership means a high amount of money you can make.

Overall the three things to help you grow your Twitch channel can be summarized as:

• Quality content: This is the number one way to grow your channel. If you’re not providing quality content, then people will not want to watch your streams.
• Consistency: You need to be consistent in order to grow your channel. That means streaming regularly and at set times. If you only stream sporadically, then it will be difficult for people to find and follow your channel.
• Promotion: As I mentioned before, promoting your channel on other platforms is a great way to grow it. The more places you promote your channel, the more likely people are to find and follow it.

Remember that all these needs patience and consistency. Building your Channel might take time, especially gathering viewers or an audience. What strategies did you use to make money on Twitch?