How Much Do Twitch Streamers Make?

Twitch is a video streaming service that provides users with live and on-demand content—primarily video game and e-sports livestreams.

A Twitch streamer is someone who creates video content for other people to watch. They also interact with their audience through Twitch’s chat feature and aim to build a community of dedicated followers.

While video gamers dominate Twitch, streamers can also create content in other categories, such as music, art, or cooking.

Twitch has three “levels.” When you join, you’ll start at the lowest level, known as the “Streamer” level, which comes with Twitch’s basic features. Anyone can join and gain followers, chat with viewers, and start earning money.

The next two levels are known as “Affiliate” and “Partner.” To reach them and unlock more ways to monetize your content, you have to meet certain requirements.

Twitch Affiliate Program

Twitch “affiliates” have access to more features, such as the ability to gain paid subscribers for their channels. As an affiliate, you can also customize your emotes, which are emoticons used in chat conversations on Twitch.

You’ll become an affiliate automatically once you meet all the following requirements within a period of 30 days:

• Stream on 7 different days
• Stream for 8 total hours
• Average at least 3 viewers per stream
• Have at least 50 followers

Twitch Partner Program

You can unlock even more rewards and revenue streams by becoming a “partner.” To reach this status, you must meet the following requirements within a 30-day period:

• Stream on 12 different days
• Stream for 25 total hours
• Average at least 75 viewers per stream

However, simply meeting these requirements doesn’t guarantee that you’ll become a partner. You also have to fill out an application and wait for a decision from Twitch. This is reportedly very difficult to achieve.

Before we talk about how much money Twitch streamers make, we’ll go over exactly how they do it. Streamers can earn money in a variety of ways.

Income sources that are available to all streamers

The following monetization options are available to everyone who uses Twitch (i.e., not just to affiliates and partners):

Donations and tips

Viewers can give donations and tips directly to content creators. This money goes straight into your PayPal or bank account without Twitch taking a cut, so this is one of the best ways to make money.

As you’d expect, you’re more likely to get donations if you have entertaining content and regularly engage with your audience in your videos and the chat feature. The most important thing is to develop a personal connection with your audience, but you should also provide frequent opportunities to give via donation alerts that pop up during your stream.

Merchandise

You can also make money by selling merchandise connected with your channel. Products like t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, stickers, and posters are especially popular, but you can sell whatever you want—feel free to get creative.

Sponsorships and partnerships

A sponsorship is when you’re paid to promote a brand or product on your channel. You can earn hundreds or thousands of dollars with sponsorships, but you want to make sure you’re only promoting brands that you believe in and that align with your values.

Note that to get sponsorship deals, you’ll need to build a sizable following—businesses won’t offer them to just anybody.

Companies may reach out to you if your channel is extremely successful, but you can also approach a company yourself if you feel like you’d be a good fit. Be sure to emphasize your stats—your views, subscriptions, and engagement level—to show them how valuable a partnership with you would be.

Affiliate links

Affiliate links are similar to sponsorships, but instead of a company paying you directly to promote their products, you receive a percentage of the sales made through a link you share with your audience.

YouTube and Patreon

Some streamers expand their reach by uploading their Twitch streams as YouTube videos. This allows them to be watched repeatedly (and by a wider audience), creating a separate source of income from the same content.

You can also explore subscription services outside of Twitch. Patreon is a popular platform where you can offer exclusive content, early access, and other bonuses to your viewers for a monthly fee.

Tournaments

You can also win money by participating in and winning e-sports tournaments. Your popularity doesn’t matter here; if you’re a good enough player to win the tournament, you’ll get the prize money. That said, you need to be extremely good for this to be a realistic option.

Income sources that are only available to affiliates and partners

As mentioned, once you graduate from Twitch’s “Streamer” level to “Affiliate” or “Partner,” more earning options will open up for you:

Ad revenue

Affiliates and partners can earn money by running ads on their streams. How much money you’ll earn depends on how many people see the ad. Advertising rates can also change depending on the time of year and your individual ad contract with Twitch.

Be careful about your ad placement. Running them too frequently or in large chunks can cost you viewers, which in turn will cost you revenue. It’s best to run no more than one or two minutes of ads per hour of streaming and avoid placing all your ads at the beginning or end of the stream.

Some viewers may use an ad blocker, which can interfere with your ads. You can ask your followers to help you out by turning off their ad blockers during your stream.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions, also called subs, allow viewers to pay a monthly fee to support your channel in exchange for exclusive perks. You get to decide what these benefits are. Common perks include ad-free viewing, custom emotes, and special badges.

There are three different subscription levels available to your viewers: $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99 per month. The higher their level, the more benefits they’ll receive. You’ll usually get half of the income from subscriptions, with the other half going to Twitch, although the percentage you’ll earn may grow as you become more popular and successful.

Streamers with extremely successful channels can make between $3,000 and $5,000 per month in subscriptions alone.

Bits and Cheers

“Bits” are a type of virtual currency that viewers can buy and use to give “Cheers” on your channel. These amount to tips.

Each Bit used in your chat translates to $0.01 in revenue. The more engaging your content, the more Bits you’ll receive.

How much you’re likely to earn as a Twitch streamer depends on which level or tier you belong to, which in turn is based on your average number of viewers. It’s difficult to climb these tiers, but it is possible.

Let’s look at the average earnings for each tier:

• Small streamers: The majority of streamers make little to no money. However, modestly successful small-time streamers can make anywhere from $50 to $1,500 per month if they average between 5 and 100 viewers.
• Mid-tier streamers: Streamers averaging between 1,000 and 10,000 viewers usually make between $5,000 and $30,000 per month.
• Top-tier streamers: Those with 10,000 viewers or more are considered top-tier streamers, and they can make upwards of $100,000 per month.

As you’re probably gathering, Twitch streamers earn extremely variable incomes. The money you’ll earn from the platform depends on several factors:

Views

Your viewer count is the number of people watching your stream at any given time, and it’s the single biggest factor determining how much you’ll earn. The more viewers you have, the greater your chances of getting subscriptions, donations, or Bits.

Gaining views can cause your channel to “snowball”; when people search for streams, they can sort the results by number of viewers, so having a lot of viewers already can attract even more.

Getting viewers is hardest in the beginning when you’re just starting out. One strategy is to build a following on another platform, such as YouTube, then ask your audience to follow you on Twitch as well.

You can also start networking with other content creators and ask about opportunities for collaboration or cross-promotion. This might include making guest appearances on each other’s channels or playing a game and streaming it to both their channel and yours. Try raiding their channel, which means sending your viewers to their channel after your stream ends, and they might return the favor another time.

Streaming frequency

It’s best to create a consistent streaming schedule and stick to it. Let your audience know exactly when you’ll go live so they won’t miss your videos and will get excited beforehand. This will also help you build trust with your viewers when they see you follow through on your promises.

You can expand your viewership by streaming more often. The more hours you’re on Twitch, the easier it will be for people to find your channel and start watching.

Content quality

As you’d expect, no one wants to pay for low-quality, uninteresting content. The purpose of a Twitch stream is to entertain, so your videos need to be interactive and should appeal to your audience’s interests.

It’s also important to use good equipment so that your audio and video quality don’t detract from your content. To get started, you need a computer, a webcam, a microphone, and streaming software such as Twitch Studio. As your channel grows, consider investing in better equipment, especially a professional camera and good lighting.

You should also look into professional overlays—graphics you can place over your video to make it more attractive.

Game choice and niche

The games you choose to play will greatly influence your earnings, but the way this works can be complex.

If you choose an extremely popular game, you’ll have a lot of competition from more established streamers. On the other hand, if you play an old or obscure game, you won’t have much competition, but your audience will be limited since not as many people will be interested.

To help you decide, you can use tools like Twitchstrike, which recommends the best games to play based on how many other channels are streaming that game and how many viewers each stream has.

Audience demographics

Always keep in mind who your audience is and what they’re looking to get out of your channel. This will help you make relevant content that they’ll be excited about supporting.

To make sure you’re attracting the right audience, try making friends with people who like the same things you do. Join a community, such as a Discord server, for people who share your interests. After chatting for a while, ask them to check out your stream.

Engagement and interaction

In order to get engagement, you also have to give it. Talk to your viewers as if they’re your friends. Give commentary on what you’re doing or ask and answer questions. Mingle with people in the chat, too, as an active chat means Twitch is more likely to show your channel to more users.

All of this interaction helps people get to know you, makes them more likely to return and engage with your content, and builds a community. It also makes people feel seen and appreciated, which could lead to donations or subscriptions. Don’t forget to thank them!

Other tips to boost your revenue as a Twitch streamer

As you launch your Twitch channel, here are a few more tips to help boost your income potential:

• Keep up with the latest trends: Twitch is a competitive platform, and staying ahead means constantly evolving. Seek out and play popular new games that everyone’s talking about.
• Optimize your titles and tags: Write appealing titles for your videos and use relevant tags to help viewers find your content—and entice them to click into it once they do.
• Build a brand: Create a memorable style for your channel that viewers will recognize on sight in the future.
• Network: Form relationships with other streamers as well as your audience. Joining the collective conversation is a great way to get your name out there and attract people with similar interests.
• Diversify revenue streams: Try various ways to monetize your content instead of relying on just one income source. If you aren’t making enough with subscriptions and ads, for instance, try selling your own merchandise.
• Promote yourself on social media: Share clips of your Twitch streams on other platforms to advertise your channel and attract new followers.

Being a Twitch streamer isn’t easy. Because there’s so much competition, most people won’t make more than a few dollars per month, but for the dedicated few, it can be a lucrative source of income.

Considerations before you start streaming on Twitch

Before you start the long journey of becoming a successful Twitch streamer, think carefully about the commitment it takes. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Your income will be inconsistent: Your income will vary from month to month, and it will take real work to keep it trending upward. Expect and budget for both ups and downs.
• You’ll have to pay fees and taxes: Twitch takes half of your subscription revenue, so factor that in when you come up with your monetization strategy. You’ll also need to pay taxes on all money you earn through the platform.
• The competition will be fierce: In 2021, the top 1% of streamers earned more than half of all streamer revenue on Twitch. 1 Recognize that streaming doesn’t work out for everyone, and even if you’re talented and motivated, you’ll still need a bit of luck to get ahead.

Streaming on Twitch can be a great side hustle, but it’s best to treat it as a passion project and have a fallback plan in case things don’t work out.

Perks of streaming on Twitch as a side hustle

Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom; despite the challenges, there are real advantages to streaming on Twitch as well. Not only does it require little to no initial investment, but it also gives you the ability to earn passive income from subscriptions and merchandise sales.

Your schedule as a streamer will also be highly flexible. If you have a day job, you can stream around your work calendar to make a little extra money, and if you gain enough momentum to make content on a full-time basis, you can stream whenever you want and for however long you like.

Being a Twitch streamer lets you express yourself creatively, get paid to engage in activities you enjoy, and immerse yourself in a community that supports your passions. If you follow our tips, you’ll start off with an advantage.