How much do Twitch streamers make?
Twitch is a popular live streaming site where you can watch people play video games online.
Yes, you can actually get paid to play video games online!
And, over the last few years, Twitch has added many more ways you can live stream other than just gaming, such as cooking, advice, talking, travel, and more.
I remember when Twitch first came out and it was still pretty new. So many people dreamt of making it big on Twitch and were wanting to play video games all day and make a lot of money. I even had many friends who tried to get popular on the site.
Twitch’s wide reach has allowed so many people around the world to make money. So, you may be wondering how much Twitch streamers can make and whether it’s even possible for you.
In today’s article, I will be diving further into how much Twitch streamers make and how they make money.
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Quick Summary – How much do Twitch streamers make?
- Twitch is a site where you can make money playing video games, talking, and more.
- You can make money with paid subscriptions, ads, selling merchandise (such as a t-shirt with your logo on it), and more.
- The highest-earning Twitch streamers make millions of dollars each year, while the majority of Twitch streams don’t earn much at all (the top 100 streamers on Twitch make at least $30,000 each month).
What is Twitch?
Twitch is a live-streaming site that was started in 2011 and is now owned by Amazon.
There are a whopping 7,000,000 streamers who go live on Twitch regularly and there are 35,000,000 daily viewers. That is a lot of people!
Content creators can live record themselves playing video games (such as Fortnite, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Valorant) and people will watch.
While Twitch used to be all about watching people just play video games, now you can also watch people live stream themselves cooking, talking to viewers, traveling, doing their daily routine, and more.
Who is the biggest streamer on Twitch?
There are many popular channels on Twitch such as Ninja, Shroud, and Pokimane. The top streamers on Twitch earn millions of dollars each year!
Twitch streamer categories
On Twitch, streamers are categorized into three main groups:
- Streamers – These are new and casual creators who might not be making money from their content yet. Or, maybe they don’t ever plan on making money and they are just doing it all for fun. When you first join Twitch, this is what you start as. It gets a little confusing because there’s the name Streamers, but there are also Twitch streamers (which is everyone who streams).
- Affiliates – These are streamers who’ve reached a certain level of success and can receive donations, subscriptions, and ad revenue.
- Partners – These are some of the most popular streamers on Twitch. They get many perks, such as being able to keep a higher revenue percentage from some of the Twitch monetization methods.
Unlike Twitch Affiliates, where you are invited automatically when you meet the requirements (talked about below), you must apply and be selected to join the Twitch Partner Program.
How to Become a Twitch Affiliate
To make money on Twitch and work from home, you will first need to become a Twitch Affiliate (becoming a Twitch affiliate is not required in order to apply to become a Twitch Partner, but it is encouraged by Twitch.). That is what they call a broadcaster (someone who is live streaming on Twitch).
The Twitch Affiliate program is available around the world. You can stream and make money on Twitch no matter where you live. To get started streaming on Twitch, you can do so from a desktop computer, laptop, Xbox, Playstation, or even your cell phone.
To become a Twitch affiliate, you must meet 4 requirements within a 30-day period:
- Reach 50 followers
- Stream for 8 hours
- Stream on 7 different days
- Reach an average of 3 viewers per stream
Once you reach all four of these requirements (at the same time), you will then receive an automatic invite to their program. It may take a few days to receive the invite, but it will come!
What percentage of streamers are successful?
There are some stats out there if you are curious about how much money people make on Twitch – The top 1,000 streamers earn at least $7,000 per month, while the top 10,000 streamers make around $900 per month or more.
So, that means that there are 7,000,000 streamers on Twitch, and only 10,000 of them earn $900 or more per month. That’s not a very high success rate, but I’m sure a lot of those 10,000 people who are earning at least $900 a month are happy.
Plus, as I said earlier, many of the 7,000,000 may be streaming on Twitch just as a hobby, and may not even be trying to make it big.
Is it hard to get big on Twitch?
Yes, it is hard. The average person on Twitch makes less than $900 a month, with many making just a few dollars a month or nothing at all.
This is because there’s a lot of competition on the site. You’ve got to remember that there are 7,000,000 other people on the site and many of them are probably trying to make money on Twitch as well.
To grow on Twitch, you will want to be consistently live streaming (at least a few times a week!), engage with your viewers (talk to them, use their names, and say hello), and find a way to stand out from your competition. You will most likely need to spend a lot of hours on Twitch to make any money.
How to make money on Twitch
There are several different ways that you can make money on Twitch, such as:
Twitch subscriptions
As a Twitch streamer, one of the main ways you can make money is from subscriptions. A subscription is when a viewer gives you money on a regular basis and pays a minimum of $4.99 per month for your Twitch channel.
A viewer may subscribe because they can watch live chats, get to watch your live streams without advertising, or simply just want to show their support because they enjoy your live streams.
Subscriptions come in tiers from $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99, with Twitch taking 50% of the revenue for Twitch Affiliates. Once you reach Twitch Partner status, your revenue share may increase to 60%-70%.
Bits donation earnings
Another income source for Twitch streamers comes from donations made by your viewers. Donations can come in the form of Twitch Bits or direct donations. You receive $0.01 for each Bit used in your chat.
Now, one penny may not seem like much, but it can add up quickly. Plus, you get to keep 100% of the donations you receive.
Twitch Bits are virtual tokens used to support content creators on the Twitch platform. Your viewers can purchase Bits through Twitch and these can then be used to “cheer” in a streamer’s chat by typing “cheer” followed by the amount that they want to give you. When a viewer cheers, their message is highlighted, and the streamer receives the Bits. The streamer may then publicly thank them for their support.
Twitch ads revenue
As a Twitch Affiliate and Partner, you can run advertisements during your streams and make money.
Twitch ads are short video clips shown during a Twitch stream, giving you a way to make money. Think of this like an ad that you may see when watching a YouTube video.
While ads can earn you money, they can impact the viewer experience (don’t you hate a lot of long ads when you’re watching something?). Twitch Partners have control over when and how ads are shown on their channels, which can help make the ads better for viewers.
Amazon Associates
This is one of my favorite ways to make money online.
Affiliate marketing with Amazon on Twitch is when you can get paid to share links to products on Amazon. For example, a product that you can share with your viewers could be the video game that you are playing on a live stream.
Then, when a viewer makes a purchase through an affiliate link, the streamer earns a commission.
Sponsored partnerships
Twitch streamers can make money from their channels through sponsored partnerships with brands. This is when you partner with a company and promote their product on your Twitch channel, social media account, and so on.
This may include talking about a product, wearing a clothing item with their logo on it, or showing their product in a live stream.
The earnings from a sponsored partnership are negotiated between the streamer and the brand, and depend on the channel’s reach, engagement, and more. Some sponsored partnerships may earn you a couple hundred dollars and the most popular Twitch channels may earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for a sponsored partnership.
Patreon
To make even more money, many Twitch streamers use Patreon. Patreon is a site where creators can receive monthly contributions from fans. Fans support you because they like watching your content.
Depending on your content, you could offer perks just for your fans who are monthly contributors, early access to content, merchandise (I’ve seen many creators give out stickers and other merchandise for certain levels), secret content that is only on Patreon for people who are paying the monthly fee, or more for different pledge levels.
You get to choose how much each level is, and your fans get to choose which level they want and how often they want to pay.
Merchandise
Selling merchandise, such as t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, or accessories, can be another way that a Twitch creator can make money online.
For example, if someone likes watching your content, then they may be interested in things like what you’re wearing.
Twitch streamers can partner with merchandising platforms to set up an online store, making it easy for viewers to look at and purchase.
Average Twitch streamer earnings
Wondering what the average Twitch streamer makes? Below, I will be talking about small, medium, and the most popular Twitch streamers.
Small Twitch streamers
Wondering how much small Twitch streamers make?
As a small Twitch streamer, it’s important to know that your earnings will likely be lower in the beginning. Many small streamers are still working towards reaching Twitch’s $100 minimum payout threshold (and many will never reach that).
It will most likely take a long time before you will make $1,000 from Twitch. Many people quit just a month or a few months in, and that is simply not enough time to make money on Twitch.
To make more money, you should spend time growing your following, engaging with viewers, and finding a way to stand apart from the crowd.
Medium Twitch streamers
For medium-sized Twitch streamers, you can possibly earn more money as your number of concurrent viewers, followers, and subs grows. You can become a Twitch Partner with an average concurrent viewership of just around 75 viewers.
But, that’s not all that you need to become a medium Twitch streamer. You’ll want many more viewers to make a full-time income.
This can lead to an increase in your earnings from revenue streams like subscriptions, bits, and ads, as well as sponsorships.
Medium Twitch streamers at this level can expect to earn anywhere between $1,000 to $5,000 per month, depending on their popularity and sponsorships.
Top Twitch streamers
When it comes to the top Twitch streamers, they usually have tens or even hundreds of thousands of viewers during their live streams.
The top Twitch streamers can make hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars each year. They make money through sponsored partnership deals, Twitch subscriptions, and viewer donations (bits). You also can sell a lot of merchandise once you’re big because everyone will want your stuff.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to common questions about how much money you can make on Twitch.
How much does a Twitch streamer make per 1,000 views?
I did a little research, and it looks like Twitch streams make around $3.50 for every 1,000 views on average. Of course, you can make more than that if you are talking about subs, which I talk about below.
How much does a Twitch streamer make per subscriber? How do Twitch streamer subscription revenues work?
A Twitch Affiliate makes around 50% of subscription fees, with some Twitch Partners earning up to 70%. For example, if you have 100 subscribers at around a $5 subscription price, you could make around $250 per month.
At 1,000 subscribers, you may be able to earn around $2,500 per month from just subs.
At 10,000 subs, you may be able to earn $25,000 each month from just subs.
That is a lot of money! And, on top of that, you can earn money from ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored partnerships, and merchandise.
How much do Twitch streamers make a year?
The amount you can make in a year depends on different things – you may make $0, $100,000, or over $1,000,000 a year.
Do Twitch streamers get paid daily?
No, they don’t get paid every day. Payouts happen every 45 days for Twitch Affiliates and every 15 days for Twitch Partners, as long as you have reached a minimum payout earnings of $50.
So, for example, if you make $100 on March 5th, then you will get paid around April 15th.
You can choose your payout method too – from ACH/direction deposit, check, or PayPal.
Do Twitch streamers keep 100% of donations?
Yes, Twitch streamers get to keep 100% of donations.
What other ways do Twitch streamers make money?
Besides subscriptions, donations, and ad revenue, Twitch streamers can also make money from brand sponsorships, selling merchandise (like mugs and shirts), and affiliate links (like video games). They can even sell courses, start a Youtube channel, sell ebooks, and more.
How hard is it to make a living on Twitch?
Making a living on Twitch is definitely hard, as you will have to do a lot of streams, be personable with your viewers (talk to them during your live stream, for example), and learn how to grow.
Twitch is a very competitive platform, and only a small percentage of streamers make enough money to support themselves on a full-time basis. So many people want to see success on Twitch, but there is so much more that goes into it other than just playing video games. The top Twitch streamers are running a full-time business!
How Much Do Twitch Streamers Make? – Summary
So, how much do Twitch streamers make?
As you learned above, the amount depends on many different factors.
Thankfully, though, there are many different ways for a person to make money with their Twitch channels, such as with subscriptions, sponsorships, ads, donations, selling t-shirts, and more.
The average Twitch streamer does not make a full-time income, but there are quite a few streamers who make over $100,000 per year. And, some even make in the millions of dollars each year.
Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Are you interested in learning how to make money on Twitch?
Recommended reading: 12 Best Places To Sell Video Games
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