Esports is becoming increasingly lucrative. Just ask Richard Tyler Blevins. You probably know him better as Ninja, arguably the most well known personality in the Esports world right now. The american streamer made nearly US$ 10 million in 2018. 10 million big ones for recording yourself playing games online. What a time to be alive!
I want in
Now you must be wondering, how do I get in on that? Here’s a beginners guide to setting yourself up to become a Twitch Partner and start earning the big bucks!
Before we begin, you should know that there are 3 types of Twitch users and your capacity to make money on Twitch will heavily depend on what kind of user you are. That being said, i’m only going to focus on the 2 types that will set you on your way to achieving the highest tier, Twitch Partner, which is reserved for the platforms best streamers- genuine influencers on Twitch.
1) Everyday Twitch users
Affiliate Marketing
So when you’re starting out, the most common way to make money is to have various affiliate links on your page. This is different from the Twitch Affiliate Program. This basically means that you market other peoples products on your channel, using customized links that direct users to a site where they can buy the said product. If a user makes a purchase from clicking on your link, you receive a percentage of the money they spend. Sounds simple enough, right?
Twitch Creator Camp
The Creator Camp was set up to help new streamers by providing them with everything they need to know to understand and grow on Twitch’s platform. The Twitch Creator Camp with cover everything from the Twitch basics to how to grow on Twitch.
2) Twitch Affiliates
In order to be eligible for the Twitch affiliate programme, you will need to meet the following criteria:
- Receive an average of three viewers per stream
- Grow your audience to 50 followers
- Steam on at least seven days in the last 30 days
- Stream for at least eight hours in the last 30 days
Upon meeting the above criteria, Twitch automatically invites you to become an affiliate. By becoming an affiliate, you can now make use of:
Twitch Bits
Twitch Bits are basically a type of virtual currency. They are a way for for your viewers to support your stream by sending animated gifs that users can post alongside a chat message. They must be purchased with real money via Amazon Payments. Twitch partners and affiliates earn one cent per bit used in their channel’s chat so if someone uses 100 bits, they earn $1.
In game sales
When an affiliate plays a game that is available for sale or has in-game items for sale on Twitch, a purchase offer appears on their page below the video window, thus allowing them to earn revenue from the sale of these items. Affiliates will earn a 5% revenue share on purchases that originate from their channels.
Twitch Subscriptions
Upon becoming a Twitch Affiliate, a subscribe button will automatically appear on your page. Subscriptions are another popular way to earn recurring income on the platform that will only become bigger as you collect more followers. For either $US4.99, $9.99 or $24.99 per month, you can encourage your followers to subscribe to your channel with the amount being split between the streamer and twitch 50/50.
Heres a pro tip; you can actually encourage viewers to opt in by setting up alerts to announce new subscribers and by taking the time to create customized emotes for them that they can use.
Now go forth and prosper!
