How Much Do Twitch Streamers Make: 3 Tier Explanation

How much do Twitch Streamers make is the question that has crossed everyone’s mind at some point. Whether you are a streamer or just a fan of one.

Making money as a streamer has never been as popular as it is now, whether it is on Twitch, Mixer, or any other live streaming platform. It is a phenomenon that is unique to the 21st century and to the youth of today.

Writing about the topic of how much streamers make hasgiven me the opportunity to understand and realize how hard yet rewarding thiscareer option is.

And that if you are willing to become one orfind out more about the prospects and possibilities of making money as astreamer. Stay tuned, we will dig deep into how much and how the youth oftoday are earning as streamers.

To start earning on Twitch or any other platform it is obvious you will first need to be an affiliate or a partner depending on the stage you are going to be performing at.

For the sake of simplicity and ease of reading, we will explain how you can become an affiliate on the Twitch platform only.

Later we might give some comparison of the streamersamong the platforms.

In order to become a Twitch streamer:

• You will have to acquire 50 followerswithin any given 30-day period
• Also, you will have to stream at least 500minutes
• And have 7 days of unique broadcast, withan average of 3 concurrent viewers.

Once you fulfill all the requirements, you aremost likely to receive an invitation to become a Twitch affiliate.

Keep in mind these are the requirements for Twitchonly, but the requirements for Mixer and other platforms are alike

If you intend to become a Twitch affiliate in thesoonest possible time, you will have to put it quite the effort and dedication.It is not going to be easy nor will it be hard if you are serious about makingit on Twitch.

You can learn more about how you can become a Twitch affiliate within 7 days, give this article a read here.

Twitch streamers make money mainly with these, which can be further divided into at least three categories, levels, or tiers per se:

•  Novice
•  Competent
•  Expert

There are a variety of ways of making money on Twitchor any other streaming platform. and 100% of all streamers use thesemethods.

The main difference between the levels or categoriesis what percentage use more than the traditional ways of making money onTwitch.

All of which we will explain and examine with theexample of a real streamer or the hypothetical one within each category.

Categorizing is important because not all theTwitch streamers make the same amount, but relatively similar to otherpeople on the same level.

But It is not the level of Ninja or Shroud or anyother big streamers, for these days they have their league of their own. Andalmost have become celebrities, if not already the ones,  in the streamingcommunity.

How much Novice Twitch Streamers make

The majority of streamers at this level rely on these following ways of making money which fundamentally happens while you are live. Or in other words, it happens within the platform itself.

• People giving you money: Subs, Bits, Donations
• Merchandise: t-shirts, shirts, or Patreon, perhaps Onlyfans too
• Sponsorships, ads

These three ways are how 99% of streamers makemoney. The ones we named novices are called so, for they rely entirely onthese methods of earning.

While all people start out this way only some get topass to the next level. Because streaming just like in many games is somethingthat you need to constantly work on yourself, skills, the business side, etc.

However, even at this level, you could be makinganywhere between $1000 to $50000 per month.

So, in order to make it more precise let us take an example of a streamer who has about 2000 to 3000 subscribers, and averages about 1000 live viewers which is slightly less than half of his or her subscriber count. This example would fit in somewhere between the level 2 competent and level 3 expert.

While this might not seem like a big streamer, when itcomes to making money on Twitch, this person alone could earn 6 figures.

Let us calculate

Twitch streamers make from subscriptions $5 a month. Streamer normally gets 50% of this fee from each person. Of course, for those with an Amazon  Prime account subscription is free to any streamer. But the streamer gets his fair share nonetheless.

It is possible for a Twitch streamer to get more than 50% percent of the share. If you have on average 10,000 views on your channel, you can apply to become a partner. (read more about becoming a Twitch partner here)

And once approved, you will be getting $3.50 instead of $2.50 but since our example only has about 1000 we will only take the later sum to do our calculations.

Keep in mind also there are four types ofsubscriptions as below

So, 50% of $5 is $2.50multiplied by 2000 equals to $5000

This sum comes only from the subscriptions. If we areto factor in donations such as direct donations or bits. The sum only goes up.

It differs from streamer to streamer and how much they incentivize donations. Usually, people who are just starting with a couple of subscribers or up a hundred seem to push for donations harder than those with a meaningful size of the community already.

How much do Twitch streamers make with donations

In fact, it is advised you ask, or incentivizedonations in the beginning.

• Firstly, it motivates you to keep goingand keep giving providing value
• Secondly, of course, at least it pays yourbills

However, when incentivizing donations or askingpeople to give you their money. You need to provide some value at the veryleast equal value to their monetary counterpart if not more valuable than theamount you received.

If you look at those who grew fast or keepconstantly growing they are the example of this practice. They understandto bring value to their viewers first before they ask for donations. It is apractice that should be applied by many and you too.

So, for the sake of argument let us add about at least$1000 from donations to that of subs. $1000+$5000

We are still in the first possible way of making moneyon Twitch out of three on tier one level. Also, keep in mind weadded only $1000 to donations which are the minimum amount. Usually, itis more than that.

At 2000 subscribers, streamers are most likely to have at least 10% of a loyal fanbase. Meaning those who are ready to go and buy merchandise, products, or other things you sell.

Again, this depends on the streamer and his connection with his fanbase, but streamers with a couple of thousands of subscribers do usually have higher engagement with their fans and a higher trust level than someone with hundreds of thousands. Hence, some newbie streamers try to buy Twitch followers to accelerate trust gaining process.

Despite the fact that Ninja proved this theoryotherwise, he is one example out of about 1.5 million streamers onTwitch.

There are many types of merchandise:

How much Twitch streamers make with merchandise

Clothes:shirts, t-shirts, hoodies. Let us just say mugs too. We will not explain muchas it must be clear from the names of the merch what they are and how they aresold.

Equipment: camera gear, or PC gear other enhancement products (although this issomething that is practiced by many streamers who are level 2 or 3, we are giving this now because our example fits inthis level.

Games/In-game products: games you play or stream, plus it could be overlays, panels, or skins,other decorations of a character in-game. Because now streamers sell mods,in-game products on steam.

Patreon isincluded separately under the merchandise section because, even though it mightsound like people giving away money on Patreon, usually there is a reason forit such as having more emotes or chat options. Most of the time streamers usenames of their Patreons on naming their in-game characters or staff.

Twitch subscriptions

We have mentioned Onlyfansappas it has been getting a lot of popularity lately. Since we live in the 21stcentury, the app has become a go-to platform for aficionados of adult contentas well. But the app itself has whole a lot more use to it than just that.

In fact, it did not start to be popular among those inthat particular industry, it later became so. There is still so much use for itfor you as a streamer. For example, you could make only the best moments ofyour 8-hour stream or make another unique video that relates to your subscribers.

Perhaps, you could be playing together with yoursubscribers which is in fact a good strategy to do to gain trust and befriendyour followers. And that clip could be featured exclusively to thosesubscribed to you. It works well for you and for your community as it makesthem feel like they belong to a community while bringing them coins to yourwallet.

How much Twitch streamers make money with subscriptions

So, we will add about $2500 here assuming youget half of your subscribers into buying more things from you That is including all types of merch. Be it clothes,in-game material, or exclusive content, anything that we mentioned in thesecond category.

Apart from donations and sales of your merchandise,you are going to start having offers for sponsorship as soon as you hit 100subscribers.

Just like you are hustling, there are many otherdevelopers who are hustling and making their games. Since they cannot afford abig TV screen to advertise, they usually seek out streamers within theirrespective genre of the game and ask you to do a play their game.

Sponsorships

The range in sponsorship varies way more than it doesin any other tier, for we mentioned not all the games have a big budget.

But it will bring a streamer from our example with2000 subscribers somewhere from $1000 to $10000 a month. On average $2000-$4000a month, because first, you won’t always have offers, you might, but it doesnot mean you will take it.

Many witty streamers choose their sponsorshipswisely and feature only the games they like, and are willing to playthemselves, this works best first to increase the trust value between you andyour subscribers, and the higher the trust and engagement with your follower.The higher you can ask for in return.

There are also ads to make money from, which we kepttill the end to mention. Have you ever tuned in to your favorite streamerschedule to watch him stream only to watch ads popping up? If you have, thenyou already know what kind of ads we are talking about.

Ad revenue of Twitch streamers

In simpler terms, every single streamer has apossibility to play an ad any time during the stream, and they get paid justfor showing that add. The more often you watch that add the more they get. Itis a like button on their PC with a dollar sign on it, and every time theypress, it rains money ))

The amount they get paid is different but on average $0.03cents per view. So if it is shown to 100 people in the audience 0.03*100=3 thus $3, it does not seem much but as we mentioned, you can play it asmany times as you want.

It is surely not advised to bombard your viewers withads, but let us calculate how much a streamer with about 1000 views. Ingeneral, would get having played the ad once, which would be $30. Andmultiply that with the number of days you stream say at least three days aweek. Even though it usually is more, it could easily be about $500 bucksa month.

Now let us add it all up to see how much tier 1streamer makes

Final calculations of Twitch streamer’s earning

$5000+$1000+$2500+$2000+$500=$1,1000

Keep in mind we took the bare minimum ofeverything that was possible to make, and in most scenarios, people at thelevel of our example make at least twice more than this sum.

Even at this amount, it is definitely good enough ofan amount to motivate anyone to start streaming on Twitch. But as you mighthave already understood making money at this level completely requires you tobe online and live.

It basically makes you a bit scared to not stream,making you feel like this is a work. In fact, it is a career choice and feels verymuch like one for hundreds of Twitch fans. The next levels of making moneyon Twitch are unlocked only by the minority, but doing those will bring youa whole lot more.

Now keep all that above in mind and let us move aheadwith tier two.

It is important to understand that even though, wecategorized streamers into levels or tiers. It is not a curve that you growthrough and leave the other levels behind. It is not like you are not competentthus leaving the ways of the novice.

In fact, it is more than this.

📌 Check out our Twitch Money Calculator to see how much a streamer makes on Twitch per stream. You can also check your Twitch account worth with a free calculator.

How much do competent Twitch streamers make

As a Twitch streamer once you have toiled your way into acquiring a couple of thousand subscribers on Twitch it is time to branch out. Actually, there is no specific time to do that, you can start on various platforms from the start. How much do twitch streamers make heavily depend on this aspect as well

Branching out means, distributing your Twitch content,or the path to it, on different social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram,TikTok, Twitter.

The reason we said, you can branch out after somesuccess is because being able to branch out, in and of itself is rocketscience. It will require skills and knowledge to do that. But if you arealready making some money you can hire people to help you with that.

You do not have to wait until you earn, it is alwayspossible to start on either of the platforms from the beginning and do the workon your own. There are many examples of streamers who accomplished it this way.

So, the advantages of having multiple entries to your stream or multiple channels:

Twitch Ads

First, itopens up better options for ads, for example, ads on Twitch don’t do well,unless you push that button every 30mins.

But it will only decrease the quality of your stream andeven then you are not sure how much of the viewers will in fact watch it, thusless effective.

However, ads do well on YouTube, or sponsorships costmuch higher on this platform.  TikTok has been known to be a good platformto post 15sec to 1min  highlights of streams.

And the possibility of promoting your camera gear orother things is much higher on TikTok and reach the right audience easier.

 You can find out ways to make money on YouTube here

Go cross-platform

Second,you can transfer people over the platforms. For example, someone saw yourTikTok highlight if they like it, they are very much likely to check out yourstream too.

From then on, it all depends on how well you grabtheir attention and turn them into your followers. The same logic applies toother platforms, like Instagram, or YouTube, even Twitter.

You could be tweeting about the next upcoming streamyou have, or ask questions and engage with your audience.

 We did not calculate the ads or sponsorships onother platforms, but sponsoring someone on YouTube per video can cost from $10,000-$100,000,depending on the size of your channel.

Someone with 2000 subscribers on Twitch willmost likely have good content as it is not easy to get there, and the earningsare proportional.

Keep in mind that sponsoring is one time per video,even though you were to get the low end of the industry standard, you wouldalready make just as much in one time as you would make the whole month.

That is again not considering how much YouTube wouldpay you, or how much you would get from the ads.

we cannot add any number here as it is not possible to know how many subscribers you would have on YouTube or follower on TikTok. but for the sake of argument, we let us add at least another $10,000 to the lower end. But now it is usually higher. 

Affiliate marketing for Twitch streamers

 As a twitch streamer, you can also turn into earning money on Amazon. There is a thing called Amazon associates that pays you a certain percentage of the money from the product sold.

Since as a streamer you will be coming across a lot ofcamera gear, playing gear, tables, chairs, well anything that facilitatesstreaming, you can sell those or at least promote them on your streams, or onother social media platforms you have.

There are many streamers who use this strategy to make extra money. There are many ways to go about it, you don’t necessarily have to sell on Amazon 

You can choose to do it, on other platforms, whereverthey give you the highest commission. It is just that a lot of the streamersuse Amazon  Associates.

Last but not least, the best thingabout branching out on different platforms, not only creates you morepossibilities to reach more audience, more outlets to get better deals. Butalso, it increases your credibility with your community. 

Credibility or trust between the streamer and thesubscriber is more valuable than any other monetary value you could put on topof that.

How much do experts Twitch Streamers make

Now experts level people are those who were truly ableto break into the business world with their small community offollowers. The best example would be the Ninja. But there are many otherpopular streamers too.

So, at this level twitch streamers make money from both of the previous ways. Also, with Sponsorships at much, much higher cost, it could be appearances on various events or tournaments. Or organizing your own events.

Tier 3 does not simply stop at this, because there are many ways that one can explain. As an example of Nadeshot, a professional streamer who built 100 thieves (link to 100 thieves) gaming organization.

Well, you get the idea, anything else you build or grow out into outside of Twitch means you are making money on an expert level.

Keep in mind though, like we explained before it isnot a process, where once you get to the second you bypass the first, it simplymeans you are opening more and more ways of making money built on your loyalfanbase.

So, even when you become like Ninja or Nadeshot youwill still need to remember the followers that supported you from the beginningand keep creating content for them.

All in All

It is virtually impossible to answer the question of how much Twitch streamers make, as it depends a great deal on a variety of factors.

But now that you have read and understood thepossibility to make good money in the streaming world, and how the Twitchrevenue system works, you can do it too.

One last video to leave in case if you want to hear some tips from a streamer himself here.