Twitch, as a streaming platform and subsidiary of Amazon Inc, has more than 30 million daily active users, as of the moment of writing this article. That is a very big opportunity to make money. In this post, you will learn how to make money on Twitch, either as a novice, affiliate, or partner.
If you want an overview, here are the best ways to make money on Twitch.
#1. Make money as a novice on Twitch
- Donations
- Merchandise
- Brand partnerships
#2. Make money as a Twitch Affiliate
- Game sales
- Subscriptions
- Twitch bits (Virtual cheers)
#3. Make money as a Twitch Partner
- Twitch Ads
How to make money on Twitch
Here are ways that users can make money on Twitch:
1. Donations
Many users on Twitch demonstrate their support to their favourite streamers by donating tips to them. These tips will get to the Twitch streamer.
To do this, a third-party service is needed. You will have to add a “Donate” button to your channel through PayPal, Streamlabs, Muxy, or Donorbox.
If you want your fans to donate money or tips for you, here are 3 ways you can make it very easy for them.
#1. Add a donate panel to your “About Me” section.
#2. Promote your donation link in the chat with a service like Nightbot or Moobot.
#3. Encourage your viewers to donate by offering them in-stream services. If you are a musician, you can take song requests from donors.
2. Brand partnership and sponsorship
Although it will boost your chances of getting the best deals, you necessarily don’t have to be a Twitch Affiliate or Partner before you can work with brands and help promote them.
Any Twitch streamer can do this, as long as they have a large engaged audience that brands will want to reach. An example is the gaming audience.
In that case, you can promote a brand that deals in gaming hardware and software, in exchange for payment at intervals, or a fixed commission on each buyer that comes from you.
Note: Don’t listen to people that advise you to chill and wait for brands to come to you. Brands don’t message streamers unless they are already established big-time on Twitch.
Reach out to brands yourself and convince them to give you a deal.
3. Merchandise
What if there’s no brand interested in your account? Then again, what about the products you sell outside of Twitch?
Instead of promoting someone’s product, generating big sales for them and getting a few commissions, why not promote your own products.
If your fanbase is as loyal and engaging as you claim, then some of your viewers will buy your merchandise. These can be t-shirts, stickers, laptop skins, gaming headsets or/and other products you think they will be interested in.
To aid you in selling your merchandise, you can create a Shopify store and use tools like Printify or Printful. You can also use tools like Hatchful and Canva to create designs.
On Canva, you only need to grab a template, insert your brand name and details and then publish it as an image, gif or video.
Alternatively, you can hire an hourly rate freelancer on Fiverr or Upwork.
4. Affiliate Game sales
If you’re a Twitch Affiliate, you can make extra money whenever a game is bought from your channel. Here’s how it works.
Whenever you stream yourself playing a game that’s also available on the Twitch store, your profile will automatically show a “Buy Now” button. This button gives your viewers a chance to buy that game or its in-game add-ons.
Being a Twitch Affiliate, you will be given a 5% commission on any game purchased through your Twitch channel.
How to become a Twitch Affiliate
Before you can be a Twitch Affiliate, you will have to be invited by Twitch. For that to happen, you must meet the following requirements.
- At least 50 followers
- Broadcasted a total of 500 minutes over the last 30 days
- Broadcasted on at least 7 unique days
- An average of 3 or more concurrent viewers
5. Affiliate Subscriptions
As an Affiliate, your Twitch viewers can subscribe to see your content and access exclusive perks in exchange for a monthly payment.
By subscription peeks, we mean stuff like exclusive chat rooms, subscriber-only streams, unique emoticons and merchandise discounts.
There are three subscription pricing packages that your viewers can choose from:
- $4.99 per month
- $9.99 per month
- $24.99 per month
Twitch Affiliates can get up to 50% commissions on each subscriber. And that, my friend, is a whole lot of money. Imagine having hundreds or thousands of subscribers paying fees like that every month.
6. Affiliate Twitch bits (Virtual cheers)
Viewers can purchase Bits or earn them through viewing ads and filling out surveys. Bits are virtual cheers that viewers can give to you in a chat.
They are doing it because they enjoy your stream and want to support you. As a Twitch Affiliate, you will get a commission of $0.01 for every bit you receive from streamers.
Although this is not as profitable as a subscription, it’s still a good and legal way of earning money while also growing your Twitch account.
7. Twitch Ads (Twitch Partnerships)
Unlike Twitch Affiliates that are invited, Twitch Partnerships must be applied for. Once you become a partner, ads will be shown on your streams.
If any viewer clicks your ad, you will receive a share from that click. Twitch ads are usually worth between $0.002 and $0.01 per view. The reward depends on:
- Number of concurrent viewers
- Location of viewers
- Genders and ages
- The game being streamed
And some other factors.
Conclusion
To be honest, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Making money on Twitch can be challenging since there are other streamers like you on the platform.
But with time, hard work, and consistency, you will become established on Twitch and earn good money from your streams. And remember, it pays to be a Twitch Affiliate. Remember to be consistent.
