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If you’re not sure how to make money live streaming, here are a few ideas on how to get started:
Even though it’s optional, one of the most important steps to make a profit as a streamer is to join the partner program of each streaming platform such as the YouTube Partner Program, Twitch Affiliate, and Facebook Partner Program. By being eligible for these programs, you can earn money regularly from ads, tips, and paid subscriptions.
However, some platforms have a few requirements you need to meet before joining their partner programs. For example, to be eligible for YouTube Partner Program you need an AdSense account, to have at least 1,000 followers, have videos with at least 4,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months, and live in a country where the program is available. You might have to invest in building your following before you qualify.
Once you have joined the partner program of your choice, you might wonder what you should do next to make money while live streaming. Here are some ideas:
A common way that popular streaming platforms allow you to monetize your content is to enable ads before and during your live stream. You can sometimes choose their formats and where to place them. Be mindful of this though because your viewers might find them annoying if there are too many of them or they took too much air time.
Let’s talk about tips, which are a one-off purchase that your live stream viewers can make to support you.
If you are eligible for the YouTube Partner Program, you can ask the viewer to donate with Super Chat and Super Stickers. Super Chat is YouTube’s main tipping service, which highlights the tipping user’s messages in the live chat window, making them more noticeable. The bigger their tip, the more their messages stand out from the crowd and the longer they stay at the top of the feed.
Super Stickers are animated images that viewers can buy and use to express their feelings while chatting. As a creator, you take a cut from every purchase of a Super Sticker.
For Twitch, once you join the Affiliate program, you can earn some income with Cheer. It’s a way viewers show support for the streamers where the viewers use Bits, Twitch’s virtual currency, for cheering. You earn more if your viewers use Cheermotes, which are cool animations that work similarly to YouTube’s Super Stickers.
For Facebook Live, if you are eligible for their requirements, you can receive Stars, which rewards you 0.01 USD from Meta for every Star sent by viewers.
Channel membership is a great way to make money regularly with your live stream. Major streaming platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook also have their channel membership feature where your viewers can become members of your channel by paying monthly subscription fees to unlock exclusive content. Alternatively, you can use other platforms like Patreon to earn regular income from its monthly subscription service and advertise your Patreon during your live-streaming content.
Another way to earn passive income from your channel is affiliate marketing. Simply join affiliate programs with brands, choose their products, copy their affiliate links, paste them into your live stream overlays as QR codes, and you will earn a cut of profit when your viewers scan those links and buy the products.
You can sell both digital and real branded products on your live stream. They can be anything your viewers find valuable ranging from ebooks, video tutorials, online courses, T-shirts, mugs, stickers, and more.
If you already have an impressive number of followers on your channel and have a strong brand identity, don’t wait for sponsors to find you. Leverage your following and reach out to companies with your pitch. Incorporate their brands and products in your live-stream content by mentioning them directly, or playing some trivia games about your sponsors and offering small prizes to the winners.
Animated overlays can help you while live streaming in several ways. Uno has a large library of overlays you can choose and adapt to your live stream monetization. Here’s a few ways you can use our overlays:
Uno overlays can be customized and edited in real time while live streaming, and are compatible with OBS and Stream Deck. Sign up to uno for free and join our Discord channel, and see for yourself how we can help you monetize your channel.
