11 Ways To Make Money on Twitch In 2022

Twitch is a platform that boasts over 10 million active monthly users and has experienced massive growth, especially during the pandemic season.

Therefore, with such an influx of users, it attracts different people with different needs and interests, often translating to income, especially Twitch content creators.

No doubt, many content creators create based on their passion and love for gaming. To keep dishing out quality content, it is not just fantastic but intelligent that they should earn from what they do; getting paid off of your passion is something every content creator would love to experience.

Although this giant Amazon’s platform is free, they are still quite several ways content creators can rip the reward of their art. 

How to make money on Twitch?

Signing up to watch or post content on Twitch is free. However, they are a few programs available on the Twitch platform that content creators can earn from. The most popular of these is the Twitch affiliate program or the Twitch partner program. 

These two often involve you splitting your revenue with Twitch in some way. To be part of these programs they are certain levels you must reach or specific guidelines.

Being a Twitch affiliate is often straightforward. It consolidates Twitch inviting you while being a part of Twitch partners has no explicitly stated rules.

In fact, it is said that just 47,000 (1%) active Twitch creators are a part of this program. 

Other ways to earn money on Twitch are

• From your subscribers
• Advertising revenue 
• Bit donations
• Paid sponsorship or live streams 
• Affiliate marketing 
• Esport Org
• Game Sales
• Tournament winning 
• Merchandise sales 
• Twitch and Brave browser 

1. Twitch Affiliate 

Becoming a Twitch affiliate is one of the easiest and surest ways to earn on Twitch. As Adsense is to bloggers and YouTubers, so is the Twitch affiliate program to content creators.

However, not every user can quickly become a Twitch affiliate; they must meet a few requirements. Though these requirements are susceptible to change, the following are the current requirements. 

• You must have at least 50 followers. 
• You should boast of 3 concurrent viewers in the past 30 days.
• You should have at least seven unique broadcasts in the past 30 days. 
• You must also have at least 500 minutes of broadcast in the last 30 days. 

How to fully get into the Twitch Affiliate program?

Once you’ve exceeded or met the minimum requirements, Twitch will issue you an invitation. To set up your accounts, take the steps below. 

Step 1: Go to the Preferences tab from your Creator Dashboard. 

Step 2: Fill in the information requested of you and agree to the terms and service you see in the Twitch Affiliate Agreement. 

Step 3: Provide your tax information, then fill in your payout details. Twitch can make payments via PayPal, Direct Deposit, check, wire, or you can make Twitch hold your payments. 

They are specific terms and conditions you should be aware of; you can find everything here. However, Twitch would disable your account if it is inactive for some time.

There’s also a rule which withholds you from uploading your Twitch stream to any other platform until a certain amount of hours elapses.

Take your time and go through it all. 

2. Twitch Partners 

Another means to make money on Twitch is by being a part of the renowned Twitch Partner program. This may sound crazy, but just 1% of the total number of broadcasters on Twitch are members of this elite program.

For a platform that has over 9 million content streaming each month, you can see how secluded this program is. 

This program gives its members some mind-blowing privileges; among many others, its members are entitled to a Partner Help team, which would render assistance in 1 – 2 business days. 

Another tremendous privilege is the ability to create their team. When part of this program, one can create a private Twitch team of like-minded streamers. The team members don’t have to be Twitch Partners to be part of it. 

Also, Twitch Partners gets the ability to customize up to 60 emotes; they can give their audience enough option to transcode as much as they like.

It also comes with an exclusive verified badge, and broadcasts made as Twitch Partners are stored for up to 60 days. Twitch also takes the charges that result from revenue payout fees. 

People don’t get invited at random, Twitch sends an exclusive invitation to join this apex group and only those who they deem worthy gets to be part of the group.

You get to earn via subscriptions and from Bits; what makes earning juicier with being a Twitch partner is your ability to run ads on your stream and trim it to fit how you like. 

How to become a Twitch Partner

There are no direct resources (at least from Twitch) that states how to be a part of the Twitch Partner programs.

However, here are a few things you can do to hasten that invitation, and you can also participate in the “Path to Partner” achievement that doesn’t guarantee you an invitation still but gives you a clue on what to do. 

To make it in, you should try keeping a good ratio of organic viewers instead of hosted or raided viewers. 

It would be best if you also dragged in many users from other services to your Twitch channel. 

The “Path to Partner” achievement demands that you.

• Stream for at least 25 hours. 

• Stream on 12 different days

• And have an average of 17 viewers per stream. 

 3. Subscribers 

On YouTube subscriptions could be compared to follows on Twitter, both the owners of the channel and the subscriber get to pay nothing, on the other hand, Twitch subscription is a means for both the content creators and the Twitch team to earn.

Yes, Twitch is free, but it still has some in-app purchases.

These subscriptions are means for viewers to support their favorite streamers while getting unique features like special emoticons to use in the streamer’s chat room. 

They also get the ability to customize the boring standard Star badges that every viewer has. 

They get a kind of Special Alert; Twitch gives them a special button to share what appears in the channel’s chat room. They can also send personal messages to the streamer’s inbox. 

Subscribers enjoy an Ad-Free stream experience; this leisure falls into the streamer’s hands; they can reward their subscribers by giving them this ad-free experience. 

Access to exclusive chat rooms and competitions are a few other features subscribers get. 

These donations are often recurring mostly and are available to both Twitch Partners and Affiliates. The subscription goes from $4.99 to $9.99 to $24.99; they can make this payment in bulk at three to six months. 

The streamers retain 50% of the subscription while the other 50% goes to Twitch; however they has-been cases where Twitch gives popular streamers between 60 – 100% to encourage them to remain on Twitch. 

 4. Bit Donations 

Streamers can also earn from Bits donations. Bits on Twitch started as animated cheering emotes which could be used in Twitch Chats, it later evolved into a type of Twitch currency, and since then, it hasn’t gone back. Although it is possible to earn Bits for free, it is more common to purchase Bits. 

A bit is equivalent to $0.01, so if a streamer accumulates a hundred Bits, they have $1. This may seem small, but along the lines, after they collect quite a considerable amount, they can withdraw with ease. 

To earn money from Twitch with Bits, all your viewer has to do is type Cheer into the chat box followed by the number of Bits they want to spend. They can also make use of the Twitch money calculator, to be sure. 

 5. Paid Livestreams and Sponsorship 

For one to enjoy a seamless gaming experience, they are so many things you’ll need, starting from your gaming chair, gaming table, good speakers, gaming monitor, electricity installation, router, lighting, blue light glasses, keyboard, and just so many other things.

All these are produced by companies that are often constantly in search of new buyers. 

If a company perceives you to attract their specific customers, they could reach out to you for deals and promotions. They often do this by sponsoring your live streams.

If you’ve ever seen your favorite streamer speak at length about a particular product they used while gaming, there’s a high possibility that they’ve been paid to talk about it. 

Earning from Livestream is quite remarkable as you often get to keep everything you make without having to share it with Twitch. There’s seldom any medium to get in contact with these advertisers; they are likely to reach out to you. 

Suppose they can’t get access to your private DMs, social media accounts, or emails. In that case, they could leave a comment or two on your chat field. To avoid missing out, it’s ideal you look out for these types of messages. 

It’s also advisable that you record your Livestream with the Twitch VOD feature, then go through your chats later on and find a way to contact them. 

 6. Affiliate Marketing 

It is possible to make a living off affiliate marketing on your Twitch channel.

After using a particular product while gaming, if a streamer feels their audience would love a product, they used it while gaming, be it the headset or the gaming chair.

They could leave an affiliate link to the site in which they purchased this product. 

The compensation they get from affiliate purchases often varies. It could be anything from 1% to 50%. To earn more from affiliate marketing, it is possible to negotiate a better deal if the streamer reaches out to the product’s company.

Most times, the company could give you a coupon code to share with your audience. 

7. Joining an Esports Org

The professional gaming world is quite massive, and part of it makes quite a fortune. Electronic Sports, often shortened as eSports, is the usual name for the International competitive video gaming industry.

It is estimated to bring a whopping revenue of $906 million and is estimated to be worth $1.8 billion in 2022.

With eSports, professional gamers can come together and compete. The games here are primarily Multiple online battle arenas (MOBA), First-person shooter (FPS), fighting, and many other categories.

When you get featured to play in the big leagues, you will drag in giant advertisers who sign cheques worth hundreds to thousands of dollars. 

They are big eSports teams that function as full-time businesses with professional management and gamers acting as staff. 

Aside from attracting massive sponsoring deals, these gamers get paid salaries and are provided with finances to procure gaming gear and travel resources. 

You also get the opportunity to earn mouthwatering prices for winning tournaments that could reach millions of dollars, especially for big competitions.

For instance, the PUBG global championship sees the first prize placed at about $2 million. 

8. Game Sales

Some gamers test out new games on their Twitch channel. Most times, these games aren’t sponsored; streamers do this for their audience and to test their gaming prowess.

If the game is appealing to their audiences for some reason, they can point them to where they can purchase these games while earning from referral bonuses. This is somehow related to affiliate marketing.

Streamers can also earn from games available in the Twitch store. When you stream a game like GTA-V, your viewers can see a “buy now” button.

If they follow through with the button, you get a 5% revenue from the purchase they make through your channel. 

9. Brave browser

One thing I love about Twitch is, it offers just so many mediums to earn. Not everybody knows a streamer can gain from their viewers who make use of the Brave browser.

Brave is one major browser that is big on privacy. They, by default, block annoying ads, especially those that intrude on their user’s privacy. 

However, its users can still opt-in to a type of privacy-respecting ad that rewards them with Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), stored in the in-built browser wallet. 

Viewers can tip content creators and Twitch streamers directly with BAT. BAT doesn’t replace Twitch BIT donations; it is just some added means of income for streamers. 

10. Merchandise Sales

People love supporting their favorites in different ways. Some do this by making recurrent donations; others do this by purchasing products their favorite streamers sell.

As a Twitch streamer, you can create merch for your viewers that is appropriately customized to show where they were gotten from. T-Shirts, mugs, hats, stickers, phone cases are an example of famous merch people sell. 

Get a great artist to help design your merch, then make them available on online stores like Amazon.

You can work as an affiliate for these e-stores then add your affiliate links in your streams, thereby earning both as an affiliate and as the merch’s owner. 

11. YouTube

Another excellent way to earn as a Twitch streamer is by earning outside Twitch. You can upload your Twitch gaming stream to your YouTube channel and then monetize it.

Uploading streams to other platforms immediately has a catch, especially if you are a Twitch partner or affiliate. 

It is stated the stream must be at least 24 hours old on Twitch before you reupload it to other platforms. These platforms also have their terms and conditions for monetization, which you should look out for. 

Is it hard to make money on Twitch? 

“Hard” in this context may be subjective. Popular Twitch streamers advise newbies to join Twitch for something more than just money.

Suppose you are dedicated to your Twitch streaming, dishing out a considerable amount of hours per day. In that case, you surely will earn a substantial amount monthly. 

You can earn from just so many means, mainly if you apply the methods listed in this article. 

It would be best if you took your time to strategize before creating your Twitch channel. Dedication comes into play again, especially if you’ll love to get that Twitch affiliate or partner invitation. 

Be good at what you do; being good doesn’t mean being the best gamer; you could also be the funniest. You should share excellent tips and tricks with your viewers and try to hear what they have to say. 

Although the goal is to build a massive fanbase to reap the fruit of your labor, you still need to have a genuine rapport with your viewers because you’ll learn a thing or two from them. 

Be consistent; let your viewers know when you’ll likely stream and try to keep to that time. Self-promotion shouldn’t be emphasized; even giant companies who are at the peak of their niche still promote and you should too. 

Try to reach out to other streamers to get new audiences from them and learn. With these tips and much more, you’ll see yourself earning with ease on Twitch.

In a nutshell, “do it for the passion.” And don’t forget that it might not be easy at the beginning, but along the lines, you’ll surely reap your reward.

FAQs

Conclusion 

They are different ways to make money on Twitch; this guide has given you the best 11 you can think of.

Nothing beats earning from doing what you love; almost every streamer would love to reap the fruits of their labor. You can earn from Twitch, but you need to put in the work, gather awesome viewers, especially those who are willing to make donations and purchase your merch.

It would take a while but you’ll often see results. 

Twitch gurus like Ninja, Tfue, Rubius, and many others boast over 8 million active subscribers, this amount of subscribers results in millions of dollars and massive endorsements.

Although you can’t get there in a short time, you sure can rack in thousands of dollars with dedication.

Thank you for stopping by, have a great day.