As digital influencers continue to explode, we look at the Twitch Streamer arena focused on gaming. Ever wonder how much those Twitch Streamers make playing video games? Check out our breakdown to view what the average salary of a Twitch Streamer is.

As new industries start to exist due to the advances and interconnectedness that come from technology, some look towards a career in becoming a digital influencer. There are many platforms out there, and some are catered to specific types of influencing, such as the gaming industry, which has revenues projected to be over $175 billion in 2022.

This has also led to people watching others play video games more often, and that’s what the primary audience is in streaming platforms such as Twitch.

WHAT IS TWITCH, AND HOW DOES TWITCH WORK?

Twitch is one of the industry’s most popular video game streaming platforms. It just celebrated its 11^th Anniversary in early June, as TwitchTV (the initial name) was created in June 2011. It eventually was purchased and placed in the Amazon ecosystem in 2014, when it was purchased for $970 million. Amazon developed Twitch Prime, which is a part of Amazon’s membership program, Amazon Prime.

This provides users with additional in-game content and a free monthly channel subscription. In addition, it allows users to be able to easily connect their gaming components and stream live gameplay for other people to watch.

Twitch also comes with interactive tools between the live streamer as well as within the community via live chat functionality. When users first visit Twitch, they’ll be able to view all the different channels and popular trending streams or are able to search for their streamer or game of choice to stream and add these channels as favorites for easy viewing later on.

HOW DO TWITCH STREAMERS MAKE MONEY?

There are multiple ways for a Twitch Streamer to make money. Below you will find the five most common and most lucrative options when combined.

1. Subscriptions

This is where users frequent the channel and want to be able to support the twitch streamer. They pay a monthly subscription fee which starts at $4.99 and can be set up with additional tiers of $9.99 and $24.99.

A subscription comes with other benefits, from being notified with new videos to getting customized emotes and badges from the user themselves. This is a simple and effective way for viewers to support content they want to see more of.

2. Advertisements

As with other video and streaming platforms work, twitch streamers are able to place advertisements within their streams to generate revenues. This is always a good idea to also help break up the content and give the streamer a bit of a pause while still being able to earn money through the advertisements passively.

3. Donations

This is an original method of how many streamers, including Twitch streamers, would earn money. Donations are one-time payments made directly to Twitch streamers and can vary significantly from $1 to no actual upper limit, meaning you can donate as much as you want. This is an alternative for users who want to support their streamers but may want to offer more than the monthly subscription option.

4. Sponsorships

This option varies a bit and isn’t always monetary. This can be through a sponsorship of a gaming hardware supplier that provides equipment to the streamer or additional equipment for the streamer to give away (which leads to indirectly getting potentially more subscribers or donations) or to be able to sell.

Sponsorships can also come in the format of being paid from companies looking to get outreach into that target demographic, and the fees are based on the number of users that are viewing the content. Twitch also has sponsorships where they negotiate separate exclusivity rights with top streamers.

5. Merchandising

The more tried and true method of generating revenues is through the sale of merchandise. This can be done through affiliate links to third-party sites or directly buying merchandise made by the content creators.

Merchandise can range from anything such as clothing to keychains and other similar smaller items. Merchandise shipment is handled outside of Twitch, so it’s really up to what the streamer can comfortably manage.

AVERAGE SALARY OF A TWITCH STREAMER

This all depends on your audience size. The larger your audience, the more options you have for generating revenues. In addition, to start generating revenues from additional sources besides donations, you’ll need to become either a Twitch Affiliate or Twitch Partner.

To achieve Twitch Affiliate status which comes with the following requirements:

• In the minimum, 500 total minutes broadcast in the last 30 days
• At least seven unique broadcast days during the last 30 days
• An average rate of 3 concurrent viewers or more during the last 30 days
• At least 50 Followers

Source: Twitch

Suppose you’re looking to become a true Twitch Partner that helps you offer a more customizable solution to your growing base. In that case, there are added requirements as follows that essentially revolve around growing a community and providing extensive amounts of content.

It’s known as the Path to Partner. This also only gives the chance of becoming a Twitch Partner but is not a guarantee. 

• Stream for 25 hours
• Stream on 12 different days
• Average of 75 viewers (concurrent viewership excluding hosts, raids, and embeds)

 Revenue is based on how your community is growing, and the key aspect is the views on your videos.

Smaller Streamers

Those just starting out with around 100 subscribers or less will primarily make their monies through the subscription model at the lowest tier. The math comes out to just under $500 per month, which ad hoc donations can also supplement. The average income for lower-end streamers is between $50 and $1,500 per month.

Average Streamer

This is when you start to get to around 1,000 views per month. Here, in combination with subscriptions, donations, and, if you’re a Twitch Affiliate or Partner – advertising, it’s common for these streamers to average around $2,500 per month.

Expert Streamers

These are right below celebrity streamers, and these are the ones that are doing this as a full-time job. They are consistently growing and engaging their communities and streaming at least around 40 hours per week of content. Combined with all the various ways they can generate revenues, comes to a range of $3,000 to $5,000 per month.

 Celebrity Streamers

These are the streamers that we all hear about that have massive followings and views in the millions per stream. These can be solo streamers or a group of streamers sharing and building out a channel. There’s a wide range of just how much these streamers can make but can easily reach in the millions per month.

For those wondering how often twitch streamers get paid, it’s Net 15, which means 15 days at the end of every calendar month. You also must reach a minimum of $100 in revenue to receive a payout. 

WHO ARE THE TOP TEN MOST PAID STREAMERS ON TWITCH?

Since it’s hard to track all the ancillary amounts that can randomly come from donations or merchandising, the following list below is based on the number of paid subscribers and revenues generated from Q1 of 2022.

Source: Streamcharts

FAQ (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)

1. How much money do Twitch streamers make per sub?

There are three different tiers of subscriptions that Twitch Streamers can offer, and to offer more than Tier 1 subs requires becoming a Twitch Partner.

Tier 1 subs – $4.99 per month

Tier 2 subs – $9.99 per month

Tier 3 subs – $24.99 per month

2. How much do Twitch streamers make per follower?

A follower equates to a subscriber that pays, and that means 50% of the most common subscription fee, which is $2.50 (50% of $4.99)

3. How much do twitch streamers make per bit?

Bits are native Twitch currency and are valued at $0.01 per bit.

4. How much do small Twitch streamers make in a year?

If you take the monthly average from the range above ($50 to $1500 per month), we’re looking at around $9,300 per year.

WRAP UP

Being a Twitch Streamer can be a successful business for many and can eventually lead to a full-time role or even stardom. As with anything, it requires consistently working towards growing the community and getting a loyal follower base that sticks with you. It’s not an overnight success and requires many more hours than other types of full-time work.

With all that said, Twitch helps to pull in revenue streams from a variety of sources, helping Twitch Streamers to become financially successful and independent and rewarding them with all their hard work. So, if you feel this is something that’s right for you and you already enjoy playing countless hours of the latest video games, then becoming a Twitch Streamer could be a career path to consider.