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How do streamers make money? If you want to learn more about how to make money streaming on Twitch, read our latest Streamer Feature blog from professional yapper of VTuber and art drama, @Katliente. Learn more about streamer finance, how to set it up, and how much streamers could expect to realistically earn.
Streaming is a fun hobby that many of us picked up, myself included. And, while many people stream for pure enjoyment, it can’t hurt to make some money from it as well!
Monetizing your content as a streamer can seem very confusing and overwhelming. If you’re feeling lost, I’ll break down all the ways you can put some extra cash in your pocket through streaming. In this blog, we’ll cover both in-platform monetization and off-platform monetization.
In-platform monetization refers to methods for making money through the streaming platform you’re on. I’ll focus mainly on how to get paid on Twitch, but I’ll add anecdotes for where it may be similar on platforms like YouTube and Kick.
Most platforms offer ways for viewers to pay streamers for monthly subscriptions (or as we’d call them, subs). On Twitch, there are three tiers for subs: Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. In USD, Tier 1 costs $4.99, Tier 2 costs $9.99, and Tier 3 costs $24.99.
By default, you pocket half of what a viewer pays for each subscription. (So that’s $2.50 for Tier 1, $5 for Tier 2, and $12.99 for Tier 3.) With other things like Plus Program or being a Twitch Partner, you could take a larger cut.
The amount of subs you earn depends on many factors. It’s not necessarily a direct reflection on you as a streamer! The audience demographic plays a large part. If your audience skews towards high school students, they likely won’t have the finances to subscribe.
To incentivize more subs, add a visible sub goal on your stream to show what you’re aiming for. For example, you can show that you’re at sub goal 5/10, and at 10 subs offer to do viewer games.
Twitch donations are a way for viewers to send money directly to streamers! You need to set your donations up through an off-platform system like StreamElements Tipping, which will typically link to a PayPal account.
The amount of Twitch donations you get will also vary depending on your audience demographic. However, having an on-screen donation goal helps incentivize them. Just don’t make it seem cash-grabby by setting a ridiculously high goal, or creating a goal for things that are irrelevant to streaming (like a dono goal for a new car).
Some platforms also have in-platform currency, like Twitch Bits. It costs a viewer $1.40 to buy 100 Bits, and 1 Bit is worth 1 cent. To incentivize viewers giving more Bits, use Bit extensions.
Extensions are third-party features you can add to your stream! There’s many kinds – extensions that show your stream schedule, and extensions that have little characters run around on your stream. The most common extensions are sound alert extensions like Sound Alerts or Blerp, where people can pay with channel points or Bits to play a sound on the stream.
It’s a great way to earn money, especially if you have a react-centric stream, like a Just Chatting channel.
If you’re eligible for monetization (basically if you’re a Twitch Affiliate or Partner), advertisements will play on your stream. Your stream will have preroll ads, which are ads that play when a viewer first clicks on your stream. If you run three minutes of midroll ads per hour (ads that run in the middle of your stream), then you’ll have one hour with no preroll ads.
Ads are another way to earn money as a streamer, yet have one of the smallest earning potentials. Using myself as an example, this June:
When I was a smaller streamer, back in November 2020:
The smaller you are, the less you might earn.
Another way to make money on the platform is to sell your designs on apparel and other items. You can choose the cut you get for each piece of merch sold.
For merch sales to be successful, you need to sell something viewers would want. I’ve seen merch sales fail because the streamer just put their username in big letters across a shirt – viewers might not really want to wear that. Merch sales that perform very well are pieces that have more usability! Ultimately, though, it depends on the strength of your community. Streamers with a very tight-knit community often have more merch sales.
Another in-platform money-making feature includes Hype Chat (or super chats for YouTube) which allow viewers to directly purchase messages that are pinned to the top of the chat. Depending on your region, you can also earn money from Twitch Turbo, a monthly subscription that lets viewers remove ads, offers special emoticons, and more.
Off-platform monetization refers to ways you can earn money that isn’t directly linked to your streaming platform. There are tons of options available, so I’ll cover the most common ones below.
A great way for streamers to make money is to offer additional content and interact with fans through subscription sites like Patreon and Fansly. How successful these platforms are can depend on how loyal your community is.
Having other social media accounts does more than attract new viewers. There are several avenues for monetization on other accounts, including YouTube ad revenue, TikTok’s Creative Bonus Program, Instagram Reels Bonus. It might seem like a lot of work, but you can reuse short video clips and add multiple streams of income.
These are the main ways that you can monetize as a streamer – but there are plenty more off-platform and in-platform avenues for income. If you know your community well, you can figure out the best ways they can support you. Good luck with your streaming journey!
You can learn more about how to make money streaming by Watching Katliente’s finance playlist on YouTube. You can also check out Katliente’s review of uno overlays here. Stay tuned for our next Streamer Feature!
