Have you ever thought of playing games and streaming them on Twitch? If you are a keen gamer, you should also know that this activity allows earning money. Moreover, Twitch broadcasters can earn big money and the experience of the ten best gamers of the platform confirms this fact. You may wonder ‘how much do Twitch Streamers Make?’. In fact, it is difficult to tell exact numbers but some broadcasters have shared their income amounts and explained how they manage to get them. You will agree that beginner streamers can’t get such unbelievable money from the very beginning, but what is an average Twitch streamer salary?
Look: this article will shed you some light on an income of Twitch streamers.
Sources of Income for Twitch Streamers
Twitch is a widely-known and popular live streaming platform where people who play games can share their experiences and even get money for that. But what exactly can bring about money on Twitch? In fact, there are several sources of income:
- Subscriptions
- Donations
- Game sales and sponsorship
- Advertisement
- Winning money in the tournaments
How Much Money do Twitch Streamers Make
It goes without saying that the income of every streamer depends on many factors. It is not enough to broadcast games round the clock to get money. To be able to get funds you should become first a Twitch Affiliate and then a Twitch Partner. It is possible to get Affiliate status if you attract 50 followers, broadcast your gaming for at least 500 hours within the last 30 days, have not fewer than 7 unique streaming days for the month, and have 3 and more concurrent viewers during this period.
You can become a Partner of the platform and receive access to different monetization methods. For this purpose, you should meet the following requirements:
- Spent a minimum of 25 hours and 12 unique days streaming for a 30-day period;
- Increase the number of average viewers by 75.
When you manage to reach these requirements, it is necessary to apply for this status and you may get within 7 business days. Only then you can speak about getting money for your streaming.
How Much do Twitch Streamers Make per Sub
One of the biggest parts of Twitch income constitutes funds paid by people who subscribe to the channel they like watching. All video game streamers receive from 50% up to 70% of the fee paid by every subscriber. The amount depends on the number of subs and the top Tier ones get the highest percentage. There are three types of subscriptions for viewers that cost $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99 and only partners and affiliates can take advantage of this type of income.
It is possible to count an approximate amount of money a gamer gets if you are aware of the exact number of his or her subscribers. In fact, this information is known only to a streamer and the platform does not share it with others. Some people believe that the number of subscribers and followers indicated at the top of the profile page is the same, but it is not true. You will agree that a streamer earns $2.49 per every Tier 1 subscription, $5.99 per every Tier 2 subscription and $17.49 per every Tier 3 sub.
Streamers who want to get more subscribers of a higher Tier can encourage them with sub emotes that are unlocked for the Partners.
Money from donations
Viewers can express their appreciation to the gamers they like by donating Twitch digital currency called bits. They can buy bits for real money and tip their favorite broadcasters. In addition to bits, there are unique animated emojis known as Bit gems and Cheermotes that are worth different amounts of bits too. This number varies from 1 to 10,000 bits depending on the Bit gem selected.
A viewer who sends bits, bit gems or cheermotes to a streamer provides the last one with additional income. They get 1 cent per every bit sent by viewers and followers. It means that you will get $1 per every 100 bits sent to you as a streamer. When it comes to the percentage of money received by streamers for bits is about 81%. If a viewer buys 1,000 bits for $11, a streamer will not receive all this money. A viewer donates all or some of them to streamer by sending emojis, and a gamer receives a certain percentage of money to the balance for that.
Funds from Game sales
Gamers can earn funds from selling newly released games and other game-related merchandise. They suggest viewers watching the game streamed on their channel first and then purchase it if they liked it. Gamers start playing the game offered and viewers see an advertisement about the sale that appears during the stream. It is enough to make a click on it to be redirected to the store.
Usually, these are games that have been just released and streamers are paid to popularize them. Not only games but also game-related items can be sold in this way and streamers get about 5% of the revenue.
Sponsorship via streaming
Twitch streamers can earn money on sponsorship like Instagram and YouTube influencers. Naturally, they advertise game-related products and attract companies and brands working in this direction.
How does it work? Companies usually turn to broadcasters with a huge audience and encourage them to become influencers. The amount of such earnings is difficult to predict, but brands are ready to pay from one cent to one dollar per every view per hour. You can calculate that 100 views per hour will bring about from $1 to $100 to a broadcaster.
It is enough to remember several vivid examples of streamers who have won a fortune performing orders of companies and brands. A famous streamer known as Ninja has received 1 million dollars from Electronic Arts for playing their game called Apex Legends and it is really unbelievable.
Amount of Income from advertising
Many companies invest in advertising huge sums of money and attract streamers who generate high traffic to their videos. Similar to Youtubers they get money for advertising products. Of course, they may also face a problem of ad blocking but since they influence their viewers significantly, they can ask them to turn off the block.
Twitch platform features standard IAB pre-roll and display ads opportunities and payouts are made for every 1,000 views. Streamers get money via CPM (cost per impression) and get from $2 to $10 per 1k impressions or 10k views. The highest-paid months are June, October, November and December and it means that streamer earnings can be different all around the year. Naturally, the rule that you get more if you have a bigger number of followers works in this case too.
How much can a streamer win?
Being highly skillful players many streamers participate in e-sports competitions and receive money prizes if they manage to win. There are hundreds of tournaments taking place on a daily basis and they offer significant cash prizes. The last ones can be estimated at several million dollars depending on the size of the tournament and the number of participants.
One of the popular streamers is Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi who is a skillful Dota 2 player. He has participated in several dozens of tournaments and won prizes in 13 of them. As a result, the amount of his winnings is estimated at over $2 million.
Naturally, the success in tournaments and games attracts a bigger number of followers who are interested in high-quality gaming, so talented players increase the number of followers and subscribers in this way too and their earnings from the channel grow as well.
Average Twitch Streamer Income
It is worth mentioning that Twitch income can be calculated personally for every broadcaster and only he or she knows exactly how much they earn. Therefore, it is very difficult to indicate exact numbers when it comes to the average money received by them. It goes without saying that if to include earnings of top streamers, the average income of a streamer can be estimated at $15,000 – $20,000. At the same time, a huge number of gamers receives only several hundreds of dollars for their live videos which can be considered only additional revenue.
Only a persistent and goal-oriented person can start earning funds on the platform. If you manage to attract 50-100 subscribers to your channel, you can earn about $500 per month. The example of Disguised Toast shows that with 4,000 subscribers your income can be as high as $14,000 a year only for a subscription. He also gets about $2,500 from donations and over $10,000 from advertising and sponsorship. As you can see, it is a great add-on to a salary if you are involved in your favorite activity.
According to statistics, Twitch can boast 14 thousand elite players who have gained popularity and are considered to be the best in this sphere. Their annual income for 2019 was about $60 billion. However, there is a viewpoint that a broadcaster who produce about 40 hours of video every week and have already received Affiliate or/and Partner status can earn from $3,000 to $5,000 a month only for the subscription to his or her channel. Additionally, this gamer will get about $250 per every 100 subscribers from advertising.
As you can see, it is impossible to count the exact amount of money received by streamers on average, but taking into account the following information, it is possible to be rewarded for your favorite activity in cash equivalent.
Highest Paid Twitch Streamers
If you believe that streaming is done only for fun, this is no longer the truth since there are people who have made it their dream job. Top broadcasters of the platform do not need to spend years studying and building careers since their love for playing computer games has already allowed them to become prosperous. It is worth saying that the highest-paid Twitch streamers have already joined millionaires. Naturally, each of them has his own story of success and their current income earned from streaming is estimated at hundreds of thousand dollars monthly. Who are they? How much do they get? Here are some details.
Ninja
The widest known name of the player on the Twitch platform is Ninja. His real name is Richard “Tyler” Blevins and his passion is to play the most exciting and popular game called Fortnite. Currently, he can boast over 12 million subscribers and his annual income received from broadcasting is estimated at over $5.5 million. Naturally, the biggest part of this sum is received from subscription and it is a bit less than $4 million. Advertising has brought Ninja over half a million dollars and the average sponsorship is estimated at about this amount too. Over $300 thousand were received from donations and he has also got a YouTube compensation of about $36 thousand. Naturally, it is only an approximate estimate but let’s agree that these amounts sound unbelievable if to remember that this money is received for playing a favorite game and talking during this process.
Shroud
One more young man from Canada has managed to get a net worth of $6+ million playing esports and sharing this video on Twitch and other platforms. Known to the public as Shroud Michael “Mike” Grzesiek has been playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive since 2013 and broadcasting his excellent skills on Twitch. Being a member of the professional esports organization called Cloud9 Shroud joined the platform and began to show his game-related experience to viewers. As a result, he has attracted over 850 thousand followers for a week only. Nowadays, there are over 7 million followers and over 365 million views on Twitch, let alone YouTube videos and Twitter activities. It was estimated that Shroud’s earnings from streaming in 2019 have been estimated at over $3 million.
Tfue
One more professional esports player who has been holding the title of the highest-earning Fortnite and esports players for several years is Tfue. His full name is Turner “Tfue” Tenney and the total amount of money prizes won by him in tournaments is estimated at $600k. When it comes to Twitch, the total number of his followers has already beaten a 7.2-million record and the number of subscribers has reached 50,000 people. Experts have counted that his yearly income from streaming is about $4.4 million.
TimTheTatman
A popular gamer known on the platform as TimTheTatman has been born with the name of Timothy John Bater. The games that have brought Timothy incredible popularity online are World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Counter-Strike. He streams videos 6 days a week and manages to get 25,000 views on a weekly basis. The number of his subscribers has already gone over 35k threshold and only these people let Timothy earn over $1.8 million a year. If to add cooperation with such sponsors as Monster Energy and Audio-Technica, Cyber power PC and Razer, his annual income is estimated at over $2.7 million. Moreover, he is active on YouTube where he shares the best episodes of his streams and the number of viewers following him there are about 1.8 million people.
DrLupo
The path to DrLupo’s success was not that easy from the very beginning, but he managed to increase his popularity rate almost overnight when he played a game with Ninja streamer, the best-known gamer in the world. Benjamin Lupo has attracted viewers playing such games as Fortnite, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Escape from Tarkov, and Destiny as well as known as a commentator on popular esports tournaments. Currently, the number of DrLupo’s followers on Twitch has exceeded 4 million followers and he can boast over 5 thousand concurrent viewers per every stream which is a great achievement. Experts estimate that his income from streaming has almost reached $2 million. At the same time, such huge earnings have not spoilt Benjamin and he has become a philanthropist who shares his money to help others.
Conclusion
The gaming industry has become incredibly popular nowadays and not only game develops manage to earn huge money on their products but also people who play these games. Twitch has made it possible for talented and skillful players who are not afraid to show the way they behave playing their favorite games to others to get revenue. Every person who will attract viewers with his or her unique manner of playing computer games and achieving high results in them can also be rewarded with money for that. It is natural that the amount of earnings on the platform depends on many factors and it is necessary to work hard to achieve success there, but the example of the highest-paid streamers proves that it is possible, so why not try your luck?
