How to Make Money on Twitch

Last updated: October 8, 2024

Every day, millions of Twitch streamers potentially stream their life or play video games online to earn money in various ways. They all had to learn how to make money on Twitch.

Not only do they get the chance to do something they love, but they also get the opportunity to make money on their own schedule. You don’t need to be a big-name celebrity to draw a crowd on the platform. All you need to do is play the suitable match at the right time, have an engaging personality, and be consistent in your streaming hours.

From there, you naturally start to grow a dedicated and loyal audience to your Twitch account, which can help you succeed on the platform. This article will share how to make money on Twitch in 2024.

Click here to go down to strategies, but if you’re very new to monetization and streaming, read on!

First off, how do Twitch streamers make money?

Twitch Streamers make most of their money through subscriptions, donations, and ads. You can get access to these services by progressing your way through the Twitch Partner Program and growing a community to support you.

What can you expect from a Twitch streamer salary?

From Streamer Facts, Dean documented some monthly average earnings from smaller Twitch channels. The range depends on the viewers going from $50 – $1500 a month.

https://streamerfacts.com/how-much-do-twitch-streamers-make/

Scroll down to the “How much do small Twitch streamers make?” section to see the earnings table. The information was last updated in 2023, and was originally created in 2022, so there may have been large changes to how users earn on Twitch.

Dean shows the disparity between two streamers of QuirkyPixel and Poggachu where one made $64 with 5 viewers and the other $484 with 17 viewers. The most significant difference was the use of donations.

Many Twitch monetization options require you to become part of the Twitch Partner Program. You can learn more about the Path to Partner achievements on Twitch on their page for Twitch Partners.

So what are the Twitch monetization requirements?

1 – After creating an account, your first step will be to have 50 followers on your channel, so you must build up your community first. You also need 5 people chatting at the same time.

2 – The next step is to Affiliates, needing 8 hours of streaming on 7 different days with an average of 3 viewers overall. This will allow your viewers to cheer with bits!

3 – Finally, there is the Twitch Partner Programme. You need 25 hours of stream time, 12 different days, and an average of 75 viewers during this time.

We may follow up with guides on achieving these stats, but here are some great guides from other places!

YouTube Guide from “Stream Scheme”https://youtu.be/HZR5FaMg7LM Stream Scheme has good informative and self-aware video up at 650k views on YouTube. At 4:28, there is some excellent advice about including short content on YouTube Shorts and TikTok to attract users to any live streaming service.

YouTube Guide from “Trui”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sjfFpSaDqw Trui is a Dutch streamer with over 9000 followers on Twitch. Though her YouTube video has only around 2000 views, it covers some common mistakes people make, like not talking back to their chat. These tips would make a great series of sticky notes around your screen to remind you about community building.

11 Ways on How To Make Money on Twitch in 2024

1. Twitch Bits

One of the first places to start is with Twitch Bits. They’re a premium version of emoticons your viewers can use to highlight their message to you and everyone watching. Viewers will pay for them, and it acts as a tip for you. They pay about $0.01 per bit, so you’d need 100 to get $1. However, if you have an engaging stream or countless viewers on your stream, you can earn money from this method. Keeping a consistent streaming schedule to get return viewers and increasing your chat interaction with responding and custom emotes will get bits rolling in. One thing you might want to do is if you’re an artist is Sell Twitch Emotes and use Payhip as your online store!

To enable Bits, follow these steps from Twitch’s help section: help.twitch.tv/s/article/cheering-for-partners-affiliates

2. Twitch subscribers

The most consistent method on how to make money on twitch is with viewers who choose to subscribe to your channel. Streamers will earn 50% of the subscription fee of $4.99, whereas Twitch will earn the other 50%. So, when people subscribe to your channel, you’ll be able to make recurring revenue for the duration of their subscription.

You should also encourage viewers to use their Amazon Prime subscriptions by connecting their Amazon account to their Twitch. This will still net you the money and will give them the same subscriber badges as a traditional subscriber.

3. Twitch ads

https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitch-ads/ Has a very in-depth look into Twitch ads, utilizing ad breaks, and how to get monetized on Twitch with third-party companies.

You can earn money by running Twitch ads on your live stream. Twitch recommends running ads manually mid-stream for best engagement rates. For example, when you start a stream with an ad or end one with it, you’ll likely have fewer viewers.

Manually inserting ads into your stream in the middle allows you to have engaged viewership while making money from ad revenue. You can tell viewers when an ad will start to let them know and to keep the stream conversational. Running a 1-minute ad per hour is recommended for the best viewing experience.

4. Read comments for donations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHfMIfsHP80 – Cpaws Music created a great video on how to set up donations to make sure you’ve got things set up correctly. As he points out, you don’t have to be a Twitch affiliate to use this option!

Building relationships with your fans can be lucrative for making money on Twitch. You can get donations on the platform from your fans, but you’ll need to create exciting ways to convince people to want to donate to your channel.

You can ask for donations to read comments on your stream. This will help give your fans some visibility while with them and respond to their comments while streaming.

Alternatively, you can ask for donations to help you make decisions in a game. Sometimes, in video games, you’ll be given multiple choices. You can let someone who donates choose your path so they feel like they have some control over your gaming experience. It can lead to funny interactions.

Donations can also come from visiting certain websites or doing funny things in your stream to make people laugh. Twitch is all about the community, so if you want donations from the Twitch community, you’ll need to find engaging ways to connect with your channel’s subscribers and viewers.

Platforms like Twitch have terms of service that you’ll want to abide by, so pre-vetting websites or comments before showcasing it on a stream is a must. However, donations can be a fun method on how to make money on Twitch, and you can create a more interactive experience for viewers by requiring donations to complete a weird request or action on a live stream.

5. Earning affiliate commissions

 

You can earn a small commission from selling affiliate products on your Twitch account. Third parties sell affiliate products via a unique tracking link personalized for you.

You can earn a percentage of the sale using this affiliate link when someone purchases the product. For example, people always ask you where you got your gaming headset. You might add an affiliate link to that product in your feed or to your audience so that people can purchase the same one. Since you’re promoting it to the audience, you’ll get paid for your publicity, but you don’t have to do any work to create or ship the product.

You’re just the salesperson hyping it up simply by using it. Streamers often have equipment and other products they’ll use, allowing them to have opportunities for affiliate deals.

If there are products people always ask you about, you can contact the brand for an affiliate link or check their site for an affiliate program. You can use your live stream to talk about these products you find and to help you earn a bit of extra money. This works well in cases where you’re not yet big enough to get brand deals but still want to practice monetizing your audience so that when that great, big brand deal comes in, you’ve warmed your audience up to the idea of you selling interesting products to them.

Platforms like Twitch allow you to sell products via affiliate links, which could be an excellent way to earn extra money from Twitch. You may be asked to include the product in your overlay too, you can find these overlays or Sell Twitch Overlays on Payhip’s marketplace!

6. Getting sponsored by a business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=cznQNhsG-hM – Bricky is a Twitch streamer and YouTuber who has worked with sponsors like Gamersupps. Taking it a step further by doing a popular format of a tier list of the product.

Getting sponsorships on Twitch can be a huge deal. From making some money on Twitch to much of it, earning business money is the way to go.

This way of how to make money on twitch is with brand deals, you might have sales bonuses, but there’s no guarantee that you have to hit a specific target. So, unlike those affiliate commissions, where you’ll only make a percentage of what you sell, a brand deal requires no minimum sale.

You should still aim to promote the right product to your audience, but you can simply create the content or give a shout-out needed for the brand to generate hype for it. Keep in mind that only some brand deals should be accepted. You’ll still be liable if you promote the wrong product.

Disclosing your relationship with the brand is also necessary. You do need to admit you were paid, and it’s an ad. You should formally write a contract to discuss legal issues and risks. Your audience members will want to trust your recommendations.

So, test the product and look up possible negative aspects. Only mindlessly say yes to ample money opportunities if you do the research. Still, these businesses can become great partners for you. If you’re actively streaming, talking about the brand can come across organically.

7. Make money selling merch

You can start making money on Twitch through merch sales. You don’t need to pay for inventory online; you can use a print-on-demand process that only manufactures items per sale.

It can be a bit pricier but removes the risk of not selling through inventory. You don’t need to use a platform like Shopify, either. You can use platforms like Payhip to host your merch. The cool thing about Payhip is that you can sell physical products like merchandise and digital products like digital downloads, ebooks, and more.

If you’re really into gaming, you might create cheat sheets your fans can buy online. Or you can stick with the basics, like selling t-shirts with your common expressions or funny streaming moments.

Before you even ask how to make money on Twitch, you’ll need to ask yourself, “What do my viewers always ask me for?” and then create the product that solves that problem. If people always ask you for advice on streaming, you could take an online course on becoming a Twitch streamer.

The products you sell don’t have to be cliche things all streamers sell. Think about your specific audience and what they want from you. By doing that, you’ll be able to present offers they want to them so that you can make money on Twitch easily. Wait to come up with the product.

A popular YouTube channel was Unnus Annus, a viral sensation in which the channel only created videos for one year and was then deleted. Many people still talk about how they missed out on securing the limited-time merchandise: https://www.reddit.com/r/MementoUnusAnnus/comments/mxdzlp/mine_and_my_boyfriends_total_unus_annus_merch/

Figure out your audience’s problem or need, then build from there. You won’t need to take out loans to build a business on Payhip either. The Free Forever plan only charges a 5% transaction fee with no monthly subscription, so you won’t have to pay a recurring fee even if there are no sales for one month.

8. Promoting content on other channels

https://streamlabs.com/content-hub/post/how-to-promote-your-twitch-channel

Streamlabs is a tool that has helped many people set up multistreaming and as a simple streaming software.

One of the best ways to increase viewer engagement is cross-promoting your Twitch streams on other platforms to earn even more money from your streaming. For example, if you have YouTube content and are part of their Partner Program, you can upload your Twitch streams there to earn more money.

Cross-promoting affiliate links on both Twitch and YouTube helps you increase your odds of getting sales. Plus, if you have brand deals, you’ll further your reach by promoting in two places instead of just one.

Of course, it will be added work to upload content across platforms, and you will need to grow your subscriber base on YouTube as well. But if you’re going all in and streaming this year, you should cross-promote your content on other channels.

Short-term, it’s a lot of upfront work, but long-term, it pays off. Building audiences online can replace people’s 9 to 5 jobs. You’ll find tons of guides online on YouTube on how to grow your Twitch account and how to make money so you can expand your reach. If you want to take it further, you can also learn how to make money on Facebook.

9. Enter tournaments

https://twitter.com/LeagueOfLegends/status/1145746026533404672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Twitch has been mostly about games, so they naturally partner with many games to host tournaments and events. You’ll need to be a well-recognised streamer or highly skilled player to join the likes of these, but there will no doubt be other tournaments that are streamed on Twitch where you can make your name.

You’ll naturally be among the elite as a professional gamer when playing video games. Tournaments often have cash prizes that allow experienced gamers to earn money should they be good enough to compete professionally.

You’ll likely have experience playing games quickly to the end while achieving all game milestones necessary. You need a combination of both skill and luck to win a tournament. But if you’re looking for a way to make money from Twitch, your streaming can help you prepare for a gaming tournament to help you earn more money online.

You can read articles to learn how to enter tournaments and find as many as possible. You can receive a lot of cash by winning and entering multiple big tournaments.

10. Offer coaching

https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever – The Therapy Gecko is a user on Twitch who you may have seen pop up in short-form content. In the form of live anonymous life-coaching and pseudo-therapist sessions, it shows you can even dress like a gecko, as long as you’ve got a good head on your shoulders to coach and teach people.

You can make money on Twitch by selling coaching. If people want to become Twitch streamers or master a video game, you can offer lessons on approaching the mindset to become a better streamer or gamer as examples.

Sharing your experience and insights will allow you to earn money from 1:1 consulting lessons, an online course on becoming a streamer or a better gamer, or some other valuable lesson people often ask about. You can use a platform like Payhip to launch courses, offer coaching, and more to your viewers.

11. Stream trending games

https://www.twitch.tv/directory – Twitch’s top categories

Streaming trending games doesn’t give you an exact way to earn money, but you’ll amass a more extensive audience faster by diving into gaming trends. As soon as video games come out, those who play them can rank for keywords and hacks when sharing new tricks for new games.

This will give you a competitive advantage. If you create tutorial videos on YouTube from your streaming session, you can make some fast money from advertising, as people will be looking for those tips. You could share how to beat a boss or a hidden treasure you found accidentally.

As a streamer, you’ll be one of the first people to share how to beat a game, so sharing your knowledge with others can help you earn more if you know how to take your tips to market fast. You can repurpose your game time on Twitch and create tutorial content to earn even more.

Finally

There is a wealth of information online, and with everyone trying to become the next big thing, it is essential to follow the practices of those who are successful. One of the best things you can do is watch and analyze the people who get you inspired to stream and ask yourself some of the same questions we have gone through today.

What is their schedule like?

How do they interact with viewers?

What sort of monetization methods do they use?

How much time and effort have they put into getting where they are now?

Good luck becoming a streamer. On your journey, we would love to hear your feedback and perspectives to improve this article.

Most Asked Questions

How many followers do you need on Twitch to make money?

Reaching 50 followers and fulfilling the other requirements to become a Twitch Affiliate will give you access to most of the monetization tools on Twitch.

How old do you have to be to stream on Twitch and make money?

Anyone age 13 or older can be a Twitch Streamer under Twitch’s guidelines.

How to get paid on Twitch?

To get paid, you will need to connect a payment or banking system to your Twitch account and earn the money via various methods.