Last updated on February 2, 2022 The general run for Twitch viewers per day is a staggering 1.1 million and more than 4.5 million streamers per month. The forum has progressed over 60% year-over-year consecutively for 2 years and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.
Famous pro-gamers on Twitch have dug up the fool-proof formula to get money from the platform. A Canadian streamer and YouTuber Michael Grzesiek, better known as Shroud, takes home more than $100,000 per month from subscriptions alone. Now add in other consistent income-generating sources and it’s easy money.
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Who Uses Twitch?
Twitch’s main target market consists of teen gamers. In 2017, the platform’s 88% viewership came from male users ranging from 18 to 34 years old. Stats from 2019 report that the numbers have repositioned to 65% males and 35% females.
In terms of Twitch marketing, the platform is the El Dorado for brands targeting millennials and Gen Zers and as you can tell from the stats mentioned, more and more women are joining the Twitch community.
Types Of Twitch Users:
Making money on Twitch mainly depends on the type of user you are:
- Everyday Twitch users
- Twitch Affiliates
- Twitch Partners
Most everyday Twitch users don’t usually support their favorite streamers financially, they just spend time watching the live streams. A very small number of Twitch users have a massive enough following to get paid for live streaming.
If you join Twitch with the clear purpose of making money, you will need to meet the criteria required to become a Twitch Affiliate, and if you just want to leave your day job and focus on securing income only from Twitch, then you will need to hustle and bustle to reach the level where you become a Twitch Partner.
How to Make Money on Twitch?
Unless you’re a Twitch Affiliate or a Twitch Partner, it is definitely not a piece of cake to start making money on Twitch. Specifically, if you’re an everyday Twitch user, you’ll need to begin from scratch and work on your streaming skills and construct consistent viewership before you even start considering getting paid.
However, there are still ways for everyday users to make money from Twitch, while building their following, like:
- Donations
- Patreon
- YouTube
Adding a “Donate” button on your channel page and utilizing services like PayPal, etc., will help you get donations from your viewers. You can also make a Patreon account for “exclusive” Twitch content as a reward for your viewers to pay and watch. Earning money from Youtube ads is a good idea by uploading bits and clips from your Twitch streams. You can also link your Twitch account in the description of your videos to get more followers.
Twitch Affiliate:
This is where the Twitch streamers make the big numbers – Twitch will automatically invite you to become an affiliate if you meet the following criteria:
- Stream for at least 500 minutes in the last 30 days
- Stream on at least seven unique days in the last 30 days
- Average viewership of three viewers per stream
- Audience of minimum 50 followers
With this, Twitch offers you more options to earn additional money. Of course, all these work for Twitch Partners as well, which we will dive into later.
Twitch Bits:
Twitch “bits” is a virtual currency that viewers can buy using Amazon or Paypal. Bits are used to buy “emotes” to “cheer” their favorite streamers in the chat. The bigger or cooler the emotes, the more bits you pay. Affiliates and Partners get paid one cent per bit by Twitch. You can also set a minimum number of bits required for a fan to cheer so your chat is not spammed, making the viewer spend larger bits.
Twitch Subscriptions
As soon as you hit the Affiliate or Partner level, Twitch will add a “subscribe” button to your channel page. This will be your main and steady source of income. Followers have the option to subscribe to a streamer for $4.99, $9.99 or $24.99 per month. Twitch usually takes 50% of the generated money, but some high-profile streamers have been able to get a higher percentage of the share and a few even take 100% of it.
Twitch Partner:
Now, the Twitch Partner program is the holy grail for Twitch streamers -a dream almost. This is the top-most tier of the platform, where millionaires of the live-streaming industry reside.
Now the only downside to this is that you can only become a Twitch Partner IF Twitch sends you an exclusive invitation. The epitome of Twitch streaming and less than 1% of the millions of users have achieved the God-status of Twitch Partner.
Other than donations, bits, and subscriptions, becoming a Twitch Partner comes with added opportunities to make money.
Merchandise:
When you have millions of subscribers watching millions of minutes of your streaming every day, of course, they would want to own a hoodie or a mug with your face on it. Partners can also sell custom t-shirts on the official Twitch t-shirt store.
Selling Games & In-Game Items:
Partners get 5% of the revenue generated from playing games or selling in-game items. They get a share every time a viewer purchases that game or in-game item through your channel.
Twitch Ads:
Twitch pays you a flat-rate CPM (cost per 1000 views). The cost can increase during special times of the year, like the holiday season, or a brand launching a new product. Partners have the option to choose the ad length from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, making them $1 to $2 per thousand ad views. Now, this isn’t the most profitable method plus it’s annoying for the viewers, so a lot of Partners avoid this method.
Final Word:
Twitch provides viewers with the opportunity to communicate with their favorite streamers, which in return helps build a solid following for the streamers, followed by a steady income source. Surely, where there is a scope for selling, brands will find every way to get on board with Twitch to market their business.
The impact that the 4th industrial revolution had on digital marketing is second to none. With the cosmic escalation in the number of videos shared on social media and content consumption on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram closing in, live streaming is seeing a substantial resurgence, specifically on Twitch, the world’s largest live streaming giant.
To unleash the full marketing potential of Twitch, increase your brand’s visibility and attain the desired results – Reach out to our veteran digital marketers at NX3 Corporation and witness success like never before!