A lot of people who want to start streaming hear about the thousands of dollars that famous streamers make on Twitch. But how do they actually do it and how can you begin your journey to making money on Twitch? In this article, you will learn all the different ways you can monetize playing games or creating other content on the platform.
Joining an Affiliate Program as the first step
To benefit from monetization on Twitch, you should join the Affiliate Program offered on the site. This is the first step to earning money on Twitch and you should invest some time to be able to qualify. The requirements for you to join an Affiliate are such:
- You need to have at least 50 followers on your channel.
- It’s necessary to spend at least 500 minutes broadcasting in a month.
- There have to be 3 or more viewers on each stream that you host.
- You have to go live at least 7 times on different days in a month.
These are the minimum requirements set out by the platform creators. To progress further and get more monetization opportunities, you can join the Partnership Program. The requirements are higher, but still achievable for most people who are serious about this activity:
- You should have 75+ viewers in a month.
- You need to go live at least 12 times on different days in a month.
- You should reach 25 hours in streams in a month.
Becoming a partner requires you to submit an application that will then be reviewed by the Twitch team to see if you qualify.
What ways are there to earn money on Twitch?
There are several main ways that people on Twitch earn money but the main ones include ads, donations, sponsorships, and subscriptions.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions are one of the ways that many top Twitch streamers make a large portion of their income. While people can get notified when you upload a video for free, there are also other ways to get more from your channel. There are three subscription tiers offered on the platform:
- $4.99 a month
- $9.99 a month
- $24.99 a month
The advantages that subscribers get depend on a particular streamer. For example, a Tier 2 subscriber of your channel may be able to watch content without ads, receive a number of custom emotes, chat during Subscriber Streams, and such.
Donations
Just like some other platforms, Twitch also heavily relies on donations. The platform has a currency called ‘Bits’ and viewers of your channel can make donations by using them. What is great is that you can also add your PayPal account to your Twitch profile, so users who want to make direct donations have this opportunity, and you also don’t have to pay fees unlike with Bits.
Ads
With ads, it is important to find balance and not overwhelm your viewers with unnecessary ads. The most reasonable times to put up ads are at the beginning of the stream and when you are away from the keyboard for some reason. When it comes to how much money you can make thanks to ads, this information is not allowed to be shared by the Twitch streamers, but it’s unlikely to be the biggest source of revenue for them.
Sponsorships
Getting a sponsorship sounds lucrative and there are definitely Twitch streamers that earn huge sums in this way. For example, EA allegedly paid a million dollars to Ninja, who is one of the most successful players on Twitch, to play their Apex Legends game.
Streamers often get opportunities to promote games, headphones, keyboards, microphones, and many other types of gaming-related equipment. If you have a bigger following, you can get truly impressive deals by collaborating with brands. To make sure your channel continues to grow, you can use marketing services, such as StreamSkill.
Earning money by implementing other platforms
In addition to the ways you can make money on Twitch, you can also use other platforms to add to the income you get on the platform. Some of the options include the following:
- You can upload snippets from your streams in the form of videos on YouTube.
- Those who already have a significant following can host or participate in live appearances.
- You can create and sell merchandise that will somehow reflect your brand.
- You can get income by promoting products that are sold on Amazon or other websites that offer affiliate links.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways for Twitch streamers to increase their income. It is all about creating high-quality content, putting in the hours of work, and promoting your channel to the best of your ability.