Change revenue split between streamers and lower payout minimums
I believe these recommendations combined would positively make a huge impact for every streamer and supporter.
Change the payout split between streamers and Twitch. Right now affiliates and most partners only get a 50% split from a Twitch subscriptions ($2.50 USD). I would like to see all streamers get a minimum 70% revenue split from subscriptions with a higher revenue split for all partners 80%. Currently both Facebook and YouTube streamers get a 70% split from subscriptions (and they have the option to create custom subscriber tiers with Youtube).
In addition, I would like to see Twitch lower its payout minimum which is currently $100 USD to $10 - $20 USD. A $100 USD payout is the equivalent to 40 subscriptions not including bits or ad revenue. For the smaller streamers to benefit from that financial support a viewer gives them, they need to be able to actually receive it in a reasonable amount of time.
To put this in perspective: Amazon Affiliates monthly payout minimum is 10 USD (they also give the option to pay out with gift cards) and Patreon's monthly payout minimum is only 3 USD.
SaltyWyvern
shared this idea
Hey everyone -
Firstly, we want to thank SaltyWyvern for posting this request, and the 22k+ of you who have supported it with your votes, comments, and shares. We have been blown away by the response to this post, and have been carefully considering it for the better part of the last year. As there are actually two asks in this post, we will address them individually.
For the primary request of increasing the revenue share split to 70/30, the standard revenue share for subscriptions is 50/50, and we do not have plans to change the standard revenue share. We understand that this is disappointing for many of you, but we’d like to provide some reasoning behind the decision. To quote our President, Dan Clancy, from the blog we posted today:
“When we first established a 50/50 revenue share split, it was to signal that we’re in this together. You all do the amazing work you do to create great content, engage with your audience, and grow communities. On our side of the partnership, it’s our responsibility to make continuous investments in the products and people that make your growth possible.
As you probably heard by now, we’re in the middle of rolling out the largest change to payouts in years by cutting the payout threshold in half to $50. This is an important middle step that will help streamers put money in their pockets now, while getting us closer to our goal of same day payouts and lower thresholds.
Investments like these are paying off for streamers. Products like Prime Subs, Community Gifting, Hype Train, and the Ads Incentive Program, to name a few, have driven an increase of 27% more streamer revenue per viewer hour every year over the last five years. This means the same viewer hour now earns you three times more money than it did five years ago, on average. Our investments into your monetization options have already and continue to put more money into streamers’ pockets than 20% more subs revenue share would have.
Prime Subs often get lost in the conversation when it comes to revenue share. For Prime Subs, we pay streamers the same amount they’d receive for a regular subscription even though it is included as an added benefit of their Prime subscription. Combined with other monetization products, Prime Subs increase your effective revenue share by approximately 15%, to about 65% total. This number varies by streamer size and location, but subscription revenue share is not the full picture on revenue share for streamers.
Lastly, we have to talk about the cost of our service. Delivering high definition, low latency, always available live video to nearly every corner of the world is expensive. Using the published rates from Amazon Web Services’ Interactive Video Service (IVS) — which is essentially Twitch video — live video costs for a 100 CCU streamer who streams 200 hours a month are more than $1000 per month. We don’t typically talk about this because, frankly, you shouldn’t have to think about it. We’d rather you focus on doing what you do best. But to fully answer the question of “why not 70/30,” ignoring the high cost of delivering the Twitch service would have meant giving you an incomplete answer.“
As mentioned above, we recently started a rollout for reducing the minimum payout threshold to $50. Although this does not fully meet the request of $10-20 today, we will continue exploring ways to bring your hard-earned money to you faster, and more efficiently and aim to continue to lower the payout threshold in the future.
While we are declining this request, it’s still crucial to know that the primary value of sharing your feedback on UserVoice is to have your voices heard and suggestions considered. We will not always be able to provide the desired outcome, but it’s important to us to be transparent and open when we can, and we will be focusing on providing more consistent updates on UserVoice as time goes on.
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TwasByDesign
commented
The fact that most partners only get 50% is a disgrace in my honest opinion. I've had surveys and talks with Twitch and brought this up to them every time and we're still at a 50/50. Twitch hardly do anything for their 50%, they provide the platform yes, but that's not really enough to justify such an insane margin. This model is unsustainable for the content creators and in the long run many of your favourite entertainers trying to make it will give up, pure and simple.
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SadminAxel
commented
Yes! This can be beneficial to so many streamers and in the long run will only be a win for Twitch as more people will begin streaming as they see the platform as a positive place to stream!
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ThePotterShift
commented
I've been an affiliate for over a year and a half and I am legit only got paid out once, I'm close to a second now, having it at around $25-$50 would be ideal for me personally as it's a little extra per month to help my growth to finally come out of work and be a full time content creator
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Nasheen16
commented
This can be so beneficial for twitch in the long run if they were to take over these new ideas!!!
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sarcasmrox3
commented
waiting months for a pay out as a small streamer because I haven't met the threshold is rough. It's a nice surprise when a chunk of money comes through but when streaming is only a hobby after work, it's not great having $75+ sitting in limbo.
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TheSalzerEffect
commented
I’ve been an affiliate for a year, I have received exactly one payout. I have people who have been subbed for months and months and months and I have yet to hit the $100 threshold a second time.
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marianxalejandra
commented
streamers deserve more. they’ve built the entire platform. that’s that on that.
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aGiLe_TV
commented
Many game titles can't get their streamers higher than a mid-tier streamer range, with anywhere between 100 - 800 views. The streamers will often retire not because they don't enjoy the game but because it doesn't bring enough stability to continue to focus on, ultimately killing off huge players in certain parts of the twitch community.
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ursagames
commented
Support this 100%. The most baffling part to me is the 50% cut from the $24.99 tier 3 subs. The $5 subs I can see them making processing fee excuses for, but not tier 3 subs.
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Bittie
commented
This needs to happen.
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Ginsan69
commented
They literally charge 50% and improve the subject of what it asks for in bandwidth YouTube widely surpasses them in that subject.
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AsteriaVT
commented
As a smaller streamer I have not made literally ANY revenue off twitch and... I've considered leaving the platform as a result, honestly. I hope they lower it.
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tashyuu
commented
I agree with the community! I understand Twitch allows strangers to use their platform for free, however without us, the platform wouldn't prosper. "If Twitch won't adjust the pay split, then lower the minimum amount needed to get a payout" is honestly the appropriate response.
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Jin_D3vil
commented
I agree with this on the basis of making the payouts more relfective of the support a streamer gets.
The smaller streamer, and frankly larger Twich base has to wait to see any real sense of their efforts and the support they are given. It's why a large part of people use externals systems to generate income as the Twitch payouts are not reflective of the larger userbase.
With the recent change to the cost of subs, the amount of subs a person needs now has also increased to basically break even. As a result smaller streamers are now waiting even longer for the same payout.
A better payout level to support the majority of streamers is essential. A better split will also help with the changes Twitch has made as well for those that are already struggle to grow in what is a gigantic platform already.
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JDzork
commented
Tell em to bring me my money😜
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sampanchung1234
commented
I think if Twitch won't adjust the pay split, then lower the minimum amount needed to get a payout
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imRioBop
commented
Agreed with this all the way down the board. A higher sub split would make streaming a more reliable means of income for a lot of the creators on the platform and keep Twitch competitive to bring more creators to the platform.
Additionally as a viewer, I would be more apt to gift out subs to my favorite creators knowing more of that money is going to the creators.
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bumblekeeegs
commented
It's difficult to begin a journey of making my hobby a reality for myself with the current pay split. As a small streamer it feels almost unattainable that I could make a living doing what I love on your platform. Make it right.
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yaboijayek
commented
Twitch doesn't exist without streamers and they deserve better than a 50/50 split.
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iElainee
commented
Agreed, I feel ripped off, and I feel like the people that gift subs are wasting half of their money..