Making money on Twitch is possible. We can learn from successful streamer that had been streaming on Twitch for a long time.
For Twitch, becoming Twitch Affiliate is the necessary requirement for a streamer to earn money on Twitch
How Long does it Take to Start Earning Money on Twitch?
There is no definite time on when you can start earning money on Twitch. Becoming Twitch Affiliate is the first step to finally treat streaming as your job. Twitch streamer usually gets their Affiliate status less than 1 month if they treat streaming seriously.
The minimum time to become Twitch Affiliate is 7 days, so technically the minimum time to start making money on Twitch is 7 days
On Twitch, becoming a Twitch Affiliate is the necessary requirement for the streamer to earn money on Twitch
According to Twitch Help, in the last 30 days you must get:
- 50 Channel Followers
- More than 3 average viewers
- Streaming for 7 different days
- At least 500 minutes of streaming duration
After seeing the requirement, maybe you think that it’s easy to get Affiliate status on Twitch. But you’re wrong.
Even with the low requirement, Twitch affiliates can’t be achieved by many streamers. There is more than ten thousand channel that streams with zero viewers. To those people, they may never achieve the lowest requirement Twitch had set to unlock the monetization on Twitch
So you must target Twitch Affiliate first. When you finally reach that, then we can head to the next step, the monetization part
How many stream viewers do you need to make a living on Twitch?
The number of viewers needed is different for each streamer. To make a living on Twitch, you need to earn at least $3000 per month. Usually, you have around three times the number of subscribers per concurrent viewer. You will need at least 1000 subscribers to earn $3000 per month. 1000 subscribers can be achieved if you have 400-800 daily viewers on your stream
Getting Partnership can make it easier because you will receive 20% more money as Twitch Partner compared to Twitch Affiliate. Streaming at a longer duration can double your earning during the stream. Beware that on some hours during night and morning, there will be fewer viewers browsing Twitch
How do Streamers make a living on Twitch?
After achieving Twitch Affiliate, there are many ways streamers can get money from Twitch.
Donation
Donation is the easiest way you can make money on Twitch. You just need to wait for one of your viewers to donate their money to your channel
Of course, the donation doesn’t easily fall from the sky. Usually, donations came when something happens on your stream. Maybe you just solo kill all enemies or you make a funny mistake, one of your viewers may donate their money to you to celebrate the moment
Besides official Twitch donation, you can get the donation from your Patreon account for your channel. Patreon is similar to Twitch subscription but without the extra subscriber perks from Twitch. If your viewers donate using Patreon, you can get stable monthly donations unless they cancel their Patreon subscription
Subscription
Subscription is a way for a Twitch user to pay monthly to get extra perks on the subscribed channel. It’s basically following on steroids. Subscribers can get an extra perk from emotes, badges, and many other benefits after subscribing
Twitch Channel’s Subscription is how Twitch streamers can get stable monthly income from their channel. Just like donation, it is not easy to make your viewers subscribe to you
It’s much easier to get subscribers on your channel these days. Back then, it’s hard to get subscribers because it’s weird to pay for something you can watch for free. Now, paying money to support idols has become increasingly common due to the rising popularity of Patreon and the other site every adult know
It helps if you have a great personality as a streamer. When I said “great”, technically it can be anything. Polite streamer doesn’t necessarily get more subscribers than toxic streamer
Both Polite and Toxic streamers can get subscribers. Streamers with a good personalities usually attract calm viewers on Twitch. Streamer with toxic attitude attract viewers that love drama. Both channels can get subscribers for their channel
I had already write case studies on Toxic Streamers on Twitch which you can check out
Bits
Twitch Bit is a virtual currency that can be used to Cheer in the chat room. Usually, Bits are given alongside donations during a big moment on stream.
Bits, unlike donation and subscription, don’t give streamers that much. Twitch Users rarely use Bits. They would rather gift donation or subscription which can attract the streamer more.
Since Bits are used after donation, many streamers don’t care about Bits. This is a bad idea because your viewer can stop giving you Bits and Donation if you easily ignore their contribution
Of course, it doesn’t mean Bits is worthless. For a big streamer with more than ten thousand concurrent viewers, Total Bits income during a stream can be bigger than income from donation
Ads
Yes, Twitch streamers can get money from advertisements, just like YouTube. Streamers can launch advertisements anytime they want. So the earning from ads can be big depending on how many ads are launched during the stream
Twitch users and guests also get advertisements when they first enter a channel. Only Twitch Turbo, Twitch Prime, and Channel Subscriber who get almost no advertisement during the stream
It’s a bad idea to bombard your viewers with ads excessively. It’s better to launch the ads when you want to rest for a minute or going to the bathroom.
Sponsor
Business owners and advertising teams from a big company can pay you to sponsor their product. Usually for small streamers sponsors came from VPN software businesses and Online Learning Websites. If you’re a small streamer, you can get around thousands of dollars for sponsoring the product. Streamer can earn more if your viewers buy the product from your link
Sometimes you can get an offer from a gaming company to sponsor their gaming chair.
For a big streamer who have to attain Partnership status, the sponsor came from big gaming company like MSI, Razor, Alienware and other. The money they can get ranges from ten thousand to millions dollar sponsorship depending on how popular the streamer is.
According to Reuters, Ninja earn million dollars every month from his contract with Twitch, Addidas, RedBull, and NZXT
Is there any age requirement before you can start earning money on Twitch?
According to Twitch Affiliate Agreement, you must be at least 13 years of age to become a Twitch Affiliate. There is more requirement in this situation. Children and teenager at the age between 13-18, they need the consent of their parent or legal guardian to agree on the Twitch Affiliate or Partnership contract agreement.
Their parent or legal guardian is the one responsible if there is a dispute or breach of the contract initiated by the streamer.
Can you make money on Twitch if you’re under 18?
If you at age above 13 and below 18, even though Twitch still allows you to achieve Affiliate status, it will be a lot harder compared to other Twitch Affiliate. So be prepared to get rejected when you try to apply for Twitch Affiliate
How hard is it to make a living on Twitch
Very difficult. Even though the requirement to become Twitch Affiliate is low, just because you are an Affiliate doesn’t mean viewers will watch your channel
Only if there are viewers on your stream you can earn money on Twitch. If you only have less than 10 viewers, you will barely get $10 each month which is not enough to even withdraw the fund to your bank account
Streaming, just like any other entertainment industry is dominated by the top guys. Unless you’re lucky, you will spend the first year of your streaming career with only 0-10 viewers on your steam.
To make it big on Twitch, you will need to have immerse determination to grind every day and hope for the best. You will not spend your time just for streaming, even your resting time will be spent on editing your video, improving your skill, searching for connections to other streamers, and many other tasks that will spend your time
Streaming takes time and you need to spend more than 40 hours a week just to barely get by. If you take a rest just for a moment, some of your viewers may be moved to other channels.