Many Twitch viewers choose to support their favorite streamers with subscriptions, even though that doesn’t pay the creators as much as they might think. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Behind Twitch Subscription
Twitch is a live broadcasting platform where creators from all over the world can share their creations with an online audience. Viewers often choose to support their favorite broadcasters by donating money or subscribing to their channels.
A Twitch subscription allows viewers to pay $4.99 per month to support a channel of their choice. This subscription can either be a one-time or recurring purchase. Content creators can offer other bonuses to subscribers, such as personalized emoticons and ad-free viewing.
Most Twitch gamers don’t make enough money from subscriptions alone
Many Twitch viewers believe that most of that $4.99 goes directly to the creator. However, this is far from the truth, and most Twitch streamers don’t make enough money on subscriptions alone to support their channels.
Division of revenue is not acceptable
Previously, most Twitch streamers received 50% of their revenue from subscriptions, with the other half going to Twitch. The streaming platform also allows for a 70/30 earnings split with the biggest names, which means creators can take up to 70% of their earnings.
in 2020, Wide all banners for a 70/30 split It received more than 22,000 votes, which Twitch head Dan Clancy denied. Instead, Twitch decided to change its existing agreements.
Streamers with a 70/30 split will get a 70% cut for the first $100,000 earned.
Starting June 1, 2023, Twitch will change the way this 70/30 premium split is awarded, causing much distress to many streamers. Under the new policy, streamers with a 70/30 split will only get a 70% cut for the first $100,000 earned. After the $100,000 mark is reached, the split returns to 50/50.
Eric Pointekreau, a streamer with over 500,000 followers, took to Twitter to criticize this plan last year:
The $100,000 minimum begins with the “Operator Annual Agreement Renewal Date” and is calculated over a 12-month period.
Lots of little signs
Twitch stated that the reason for rejecting the 70/30 split is because the site is expensive to operate. Clancy said, “Delivering high-resolution, low-latency, always-available live video to every corner of the world is expensive:”
There is a great deal of small streamers on Twitch, which require more firepower from the platform. Although most people are familiar with the big names garnering hundreds of thousands of views per stream, in 2023 there are an average 26 scenes per channel.
Earn money in other ways
For the $4.99 subscription, the creators only take half home, not counting taxes. For this reason, many streamers rely on other ways to make money. For example, viewers can donate money through Twitch by sending Bits, where one Bit equals one cent.
Viewers often link their PayPal account to their channel
However, many streamers receive a large portion of their revenue donations outside of Twitch. Viewers often link their PayPal account to their channel, where viewers can donate money without having to go through Twitch. This allows streamers to get 100% of the cash back.
