Receiving Advertising Dollars
Only those in the Partnership Program are able to receive revenue from ads. If viewers on your streaming channel watch ads, you will receive a fraction of the ad revenue Twitch receives.
There is one catch: If those in your audience have an ad-blocker enabled, you do not receive credit for those ads. The audience member has to actually see the ad. To skirt this problem, popular streamers often will ask viewers to turn off their ad-blocking software while using Twitch.
Requirements for the Program
Players who complete the Path to Partner program are able to apply for the Partnership Program.
To be eligible to join the program, you have to fulfill a few items within your channel, including:
- Average viewership: If you have at least 500 viewers concurrently on average, you are eligible for the program.
- Broadcasts per week: You must commit to at least three gaming broadcasts per week to be part of the program.
Just fulfilling these basic requirements does not guarantee Twitch will accept you into the program, though.
Those who have shown large followings on other services, such as the YouTube gaming service, may be able to qualify for the Partnership Program without having to go through the formal application process.
Twitch Affiliate Program
Those who don’t have enough followers to be part of the Partner Program can try to join the Affiliate Program. Users need at least 50 followers and have at least seven days of broadcasting completed.
The Affiliate Program allows you to make money from subscriptions and Bits, but not ads.
At one time, those in the Affiliate Program could make a commission when viewers purchased in-game items or actual games through the channel, but Twitch discontinued this program in 2018.
Outside of the Programs
Let’s assume you aren’t coming to Twitch with tens of thousands of followers already in the bag. You will need to start from scratch and try to earn money on Twitch without using the Partnership Program or the Affiliate Program.
Fortunately, you do have some other options to start making money. If you’re successful at growing your followers over time, you may be able to start raking in the kind of money that allows you to game full time.
Donations
For those new to streaming on the Twitch service, the best way to monetize your viewing audience is through donations from those watching. Most viewers will donate through Bits, but you can ask viewers for cash donations too.
Purchasing Bits
Bits are emojis with animation that Twitch users purchase from the service using actual money. Then, as you’re playing, those watching your stream can use them inside the chat room associated with your streaming feed to show encouragement or appreciation to you.
Each time a viewer uses a Bit, you receive a penny from Twitch. Each Bit costs the viewer roughly 1.2 cents to 1.4 cents, depending on how many Bits they purchase at a time. Viewers also can earn Bits by watching ads.
Collecting Bits
Racking up significant money with Bits is not going to be a fast process at 1 cent each when you’re just starting. But as you gain more followers, it does add up.
The most popular streamers may require viewers to donate a certain number of Bits to participate in the chat room.
Additionally, the site tracks which viewers have donated the most Bits to each streamer, showing the rankings. This encourages viewers to donate even more Bits to climb the chart.
Another option for those new to Twitch is receiving sponsorship money. This is extremely difficult without a large following, as businesses typically only sponsor those streaming players who can deliver thousands of eyeballs.
For those players who have sponsors, a business will pay the player for items including:
- Displaying products in the background of a live feed.
- Wearing merchandise with the sponsor’s logo on it.
- Directly promoting a product during a live stream, kind of like a TV commercial.
- Playing a newly released game from the sponsor, hoping that viewers may choose to purchase the game.
- Sharing a coupon code for a product with your viewers during your stream, and when viewers purchase the product, you receive a cut.
This is not something you would negotiate through Twitch. Instead, you are free to negotiate with sponsors on your own. This is a great way to make a lot of money quickly, as you don’t have to share the revenue with Twitch. But it takes work to find sponsorships.
