Is there a single person in the world who wouldn’t like to earn a living from their online hobby? I think not.
But with the constant rise in the number of Twitch users the question arises – how to make money on Twitch?
Shortly, there are different ways to earn on the platform and they include subscriptions, ad revenue, selling customized Twitch merch, etc.
Table of Contents
How to Earn Money on Twitch
- Affiliate marketing
- Amazon Associates
- Brand sponsorships and partnerships
- Coaching
- Donations
- Game sales
- Merchandise
- Patreon subscriptions
- Tournaments
- Twitch Bits
- Twitch Partner Program and Ads
- Twitch subscriptions
- YouTube channel
You know the saying – Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day; Teach a man how to fish and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.
So let’s start this fishermen’s journey and learn how to make money on Twitch!
1. Affiliate marketing
We’re being alphabetical today, so let’s start from the top – affiliate marketing.
If you’re not familiar with this yet, it is a form of marketing where you recommend a certain product, and from every sale, you get a small commission. Or a large one! It really depends on who you’re working with.
What you can do to earn money through being one of a brand’s affiliates while streaming is to recommend certain products, which can be anything, really.
You can recommend the chair you’re sitting in, the mouse, headphones, keyboard, the shirt you’re wearing or the cup you’re drinking from.
You can also recommend software or programs, overlays and panels that you use, or anything, really.
But just recommending isn’t enough, as you would have to be registered as an affiliate and have your link through which people are supposed to buy a product.
Tip: You shouldn’t wait for brands to contact you (this happens very rarely and only if you’re already big), but instead reach out to those brands that you love and use regularly and try to come up with an arrangement that works for both sides, and if all works and you become one of their affiliates – awesome!
My main advice for you here is to recommend only the products you know are good, and those that you really use yourself.
Awareness of the products good and bad sides both and presenting it in the real light is always a plus!
You don’t want to cheat your followers into buying a crappy product, right?
It might get you a few $$ at first, but once your viewers figure out that you’re cheating them, you will lose your following base and the trust of your viewers and you can say goodbye to any income.
2. Amazon Associates
The most popular, or most widespread program with most affiliates all around the world, even though it doesn’t pay all that much, is Amazon Associates.
It might not pay much per single purchase, sure, but Amazon offers a wide range of products and your followers are more likely to buy from Amazon and fill their baskets.
And if they got there using your link, you can even get a commission from products you didn’t originally advertise.
So it can happen that you open your Amazon Associates profile and see that you earned a commission from someone of your followers’ regular basket including toothpaste, toilet paper, spice blends, and whatnot.
Neat, right?
And the more traffic you generate, the more you can earn!
3. Brand sponsorships and partnerships
As a small streamer on the rise, you can’t expect a sponsorship offer from any company.
Still, if your community continues to grow and expand, you can think about sponsored streaming.
Companies sponsor streamers to use their gear or promote their products and games, but as I mentioned earlier, this doesn’t happen to small streamers. You need to have built a name and a solid audience around that name if you wish for brands to seek you out.
The pay rate depends on the deal you make with the particular company and if you don’t like the primary offer made, you can always try to negotiate.
4. Coaching
If you’re good at what you do, your followers will want to be like you.
They will want to have your skills and knowledge, and some will also be willing to pay you for coaching.
So this isn’t something that you will earn from in the beginning, even if you’re extremely good at your niche, but if you manage to grow your channel and attract a wide audience, someone will surely reach out and ask for 1:1 lessons or coaching sessions.
As a matter of fact, you don’t even have to wait for someone to reach out.
You can start advertising and promoting your offer right away, and if someone of your followers notice you and come to you – all the better!
5. Donations
If you’ve been watching Twitch streams, you must have noticed how every now and again some donations are coming in for the streamer, right?
Well, you can do the same!
You can’t really set up different tiers for subscriptions at the beginning of your streaming career, but donations are something that works for everyone, no matter how big or small their channel is or the number of followers they have.
If your viewers like your content, the chances are they will donate you money to support you and the growth of your channel!
6. Game sales
Game sales are something that becomes available only after you become a Twitch Affiliate, but I’ll assume that you’re reaching for that and explain this means of earning anyway.
So, once you become a Twitch Affiliate this new dimension for earning money will open up and it’s actually very simple and very enjoyable!
What you will have to do is stream a certain game, any game, that’s available in the Twitch games store and a button saying “Buy Now” will automatically show up on your profile.
Again, the commission is not all that big – 5%, but it’s still earning money while you’re gaming!
So I can only say – choose the games you enjoy and present them in a fun and exciting way to your audience.
The more fun it seems and the more sales you have – the more you will earn!
7. Merchandise
One more way to earn money on Twitch that works better for those who already have a large followers base would be selling their own merchandise.
Sure, you can try selling your own merch even if you’re small, but the chances of someone buying are small.
However, what you can do is start building your own brand from the beginning – establish your style, colors, come up with a logo, and then later down the road, you can create your own merchandise that will be recognizable and that people will want to buy.
Tip: You can always hire a designer to help you create a logo, and later on, they can also help you create designs for your merch. Fiverr is a great place to find and hire really talented designers for this purpose.
Once you decide it’s time to start selling, use one of the print-on-demand services like Printful, CustomCat, TPop, and so on.
8. Patreon subscriptions
If you followed closely, you know that, as a new streamer, you can’t charge different tier subscriptions for your Twitch channel.
However, there are no limitations when it comes to Patreon and you can set up different subscription tiers for your fans.
Of course, you have to give them something more for every higher tier, like mentioning them on your live stream, playing with them, chance to participate in giveaways and so on.
And, naturally, once you get the option to set different level subscriptions on Twitch, you don’t have to close your Patreon account so you can earn some extra from both! 😉
9. Tournaments
If you’re good at your game of choice but not a professional player yet or a part of a professional team, you can always enroll in different tournaments, solo or with your team.
If you win – you get the prize!
10. Twitch Bits
One more of the perks of being in the Twitch Affiliates program is the so-called Twitch Bits.
This is similar to donations, but here, your followers don’t send you money directly, but “bits” that you can later exchange for actual dollars.
Bits are not worth a whole lot – one bit is worth $0.01 – but if you play a lot, connect with your audience, and they send you bits regularly, they can add up to make a sweet little addition to your other means of earning on Twitch, and then later on you can turn that into regular money and send it to your PayPal.
Tip: You can encourage your viewers to send you bits by playing different video games with them, taking bets, etc.
Now, how does one get the bits?
You can buy them or you can earn them by watching ads (🙄) or doing surveys (👍).
The bits are sent through the chat box, and in return, the sender will get different badges from the platform.
11. Twitch Partner Program and Ads
Once you become a Twitch Partner, which doesn’t differ much from Twitch Affiliate, you will get to earn a small revenue from Twitch ads as well, so I’m putting these 2 under one roof.
Anyway, to become a Twitch partner you would have to… pray to the stars, basically.
Jokes aside, the guidelines for getting to Twitch partner aren’t all that clear, but what you will surely have to do is:
- Have 75 viewers on average
- Stream for 25h (not consecutive!)
- Stream for 12 days
Besides this, you will have to be a well-liked active member of the community, have a lot of subscribers, stream different kinds of content, yadda yadda.
Anyway, once you decide to apply and get accepted (it is not unreachable!), as I mentioned, you get to run ads on your stream and earn a small part of the ads’ revenue for every impression on the said ad.
This is similar to YouTube ads and you never know how much you earn from it the same way you never know what exactly it is you need to do to become a partner.
Tip: Be mindful of how many ads you put in your streams. Adding more streams to get more impressions and earn more money might seem like a good idea, but you know it yourself (YouTube, I’m talking about you!), too many ads are extremely annoying and can chase away your viewers.
If you have a lot of viewers, this way of earning can bring you quite a few $$, but if not, it’s just a nice little addition.
12. Twitch subscriptions
The last one I will mention that requires you to be one of the Twitch affiliates is the Twitch subscriptions.
Once you become an affiliate, you will get to set different levels of subscription plans on your channel.
Three levels, as a matter of fact, all at different prices:
- $1.99
- $4.99
- $9.99
Of course, the same with Patreon, each higher level will have to offer something that the previous one doesn’t -subscriber exclusive streams, a chance to play with you, emotes, badge packs, etc.
13. YouTube channel
This may seem like a detour, but your YouTube channel can actually help you earn. Not directly on Twitch, okay, but related!
How to make money on Twitch using YouTube?
Well, never forget that YouTube is the world’s biggest video stock – use it to your advantage.
Tip: You can also use other social media accounts, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for self-promotions.
You can upload interesting parts of your streaming sessions (VODs), maybe even create a vlog about tips on gaming or whatever crosses your mind.
Another plus – your YouTube channel can easily be monetized, as well once your reach some conditions like having 1000 followers and 4000 hours of watch time.
When choosing what to upload to YouTube, remember that you don’t want to come off as boring.
Thus, try to create videos that aren’t too long, and that only contain the most important/ interesting parts of your streams.
Also, get familiar with the YouTube algorithm!
For example, if you don’t post frequently enough (once a week, for example), the platform won’t suggest your videos to the viewers.
Conclusion
The answers to the question ‘how do you make money on Twitch’ vary from one streamer to another.
Still, some common ways are mutual for all Twitch streamers.
They can earn money through subscriptions, donations, ad revenues, brand sponsorships, by promoting themselves on social platforms or selling customized merchandise.
In the end, all of these include persistence, strong will, and creativity, so get to work!
Related: How Much Do Twitch Streamers Make – The Best Guide to Earning on Twitch in 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Do Twitch Streamers Make?
Of course, the answer to this question depends on a lot of parameters (the number of streaming hours, streamer’s activity and popularity, etc.).
In general, Twitch streamers can make anywhere from 300$ a month up to an amazing 20 000$! Of course, these are some of the most popular streamers in the world.
Small Twitch streamers with around 100 subscribers usually make between 900$ to 2100$ monthly. Niche streamers are known to earn more. Still, their earnings depend on the particular deal they make with the platform.
How to Get Paid on Twitch?
There are different ways to make money on Twitch. Streamers earn from the viewers’ subscriptions, ad revenue, sponsorships, their customized merchandise, affiliate marketing, and other social networks, such as YouTube. To earn, you must be a Twitch Affiliate.
Is Making Money with Twitch Lucrative?
It is lucrative for some people. Still, the statistics show that only 10% of all streamers make their way to be very successful and earn a lot of money. The rest of them usually have only a small number of viewers and subscribers.
How Hard is It to Make Money on Twitch?
Just like any other job, becoming a successful Twitch streamer requires a lot of effort and work. To become popular, you need to be really good at what you do.
Not only that, you have to stay creative and innovative. Also, I advise learning some basic marketing skills if you want to earn money on Twitch because self-promoting will be one of your most important occupations.
