Earning money on Twitch is a dream come true for many people. Whether you are looking for a side hustle or want to make streaming your full-time job, there are some conditions to meet before you can monetize your channel. Once you meet these criteria, there are quite a few ways that you can earn money.
How To Monetize Your Twitch Channel
In order to start earning money on Twitch, you will need to become a Twitch affiliate. Becoming an affiliate for Twitch isn’t as straightforward as just applying. You will have to put in some hard work to reach this goal.
The criteria for becoming a Twitch affiliate are as follows:
- Have at least 50 followers
- At least 500 minutes broadcast over the last 30 days
- 7 Unique broadcast days
- An average of 3 or more concurrent viewers
Once you have achieved all of these goals you will receive an email by Twitch, inviting you to the program. You will also receive the notification on your dashboard.
That being said viewers are the ultimate goal and while reaching affiliate is a great milestone, the focus should always be on providing high quality and entertaining stream. Once you do start earning your first bit of money through Twitch, consider investing in elements to give your stream a professional look. Twitch overlays are a great example of how you can level up your stream.
Twitch Monetization Options
Once you join the affiliate program there’s a bunch of monetization options available at your disposal. The most popular one will be subscriptions. You can now have viewers subscribe to your channel and gain all the perks that come with it. Subscriptions come in three different tiers, with the lowest starting at $4.99.
Affiliates can also receive payment in the form of Twitch bits. These bits are virtual goods that viewers can buy to cheer in chat. This method is very similar to donations except that it is regulated by Twitch itself. Affiliates will also now be able to earn revenue from ads that run during their stream. The amount that you earn will completely depend on the size of your audience.
Another way to earn money as an affiliate is through game or in game sales. Affiliates will earn 5% revenue share of any purchase that originates from their channel page. A bonus for viewers who make these kinds of purchases, is that they will receive a Twitch crate.
If you are not yet an affiliate with Twitch, the only way to monetize your channel is via donations. You can add a donation panel to your twitch homepage. Paypal is the most popular way of accepting donations.
Other Monetization Options
There are a few other ways to monetize your streaming channel that aren’t directly associated with Twitch. Sponsors are a great way to earn money. You will notice that many of the top streamers are sponsored by some big brands. These sponsorship deals are usually worth quite a lot of money especially depending on how many viewers you get.
Paid promotions are quite similar to sponsorship, however they are more of a one off deal for a particular stream. A great example of this would be when a new game gets released. Game studios make deals with some streamers to play their game for an agreed length of time. Some of these promotions are worth huge sums of money.
Conclusion
Twitch is a great way to make some extra cash or even turn into a full time career. Before you start earning you will first need to become an affiliate. After you reach affiliate status, you will have quite a few monetization options open up to you
The more your stream grows the more opportunities will open up to you. If you are focusing on putting on the best show possible it won’t be long before you can start earning through Twitch.
