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.
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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TeallyVT commented
I couldn't have worded this any better. You put pretty much my thoughts and a lot of others into words !
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sipsipstefen commented
Just hit 5K <3 Twitch needs to see this, we work hard and we bring in viewers from other platforms, the least they can do is reward us for that!
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plihal203 commented
This need to happen NOW
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martillodeobsidiana commented
Totally agree. This measures also makes more atractive for new streamers for entering into twitch, making more and better content for the platform, and helping them grow. The breach bretween amateurs and professional streamers is huge, unless they have a previous fanbase or a huge personal monetary investment into stream assets. Getting a little revenue would be a huge impact
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MsNintendique64 commented
Twitch has the highest cut in tech. Not even Apple believes that they could get away with taking half of their creators (app developers are creators) revenue. The high payout and outrageous split keep talented and diverse creators of this platform and makes twitch worse. 70%/30% for Affiliates is what should be happening. I honestly don't push subs because why should my viewers give a company who can't keep its contractors save 50% of their hard-earned dough.
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TimeTravelKey commented
ABSOLUTELY AGREE. The current model is an exploitative out dated model. Most services have much more supportive set ups. Digital content that we create deserves payment. Twitch is only hosting, it wouldn't have subscriptions if there were no content creators. We are the bread and butter
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KyuuTpie commented
As an affiliate ive had revenue just sitting there for months (july 2021 to January 2022) just because its not at $100. Ive been sitting on $50 for months now. The fact that twitch is taking half the revenue and only giving us a platform in return is a slap in the face. Its like having a job pay you 50% less than what was promised because they give you a place to do your trade. Without us streamers there would be no Twitch.
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FatPidgeyBirb commented
I have depended on Twitch payouts as a secondary income since I am a disabled person. Streaming is something I love to do, and I have seen more and more people shy away from Twitch and support of Twitch because of Twitch taking too much money from creators that often work far below minimum wage for what they do. 70% and a $20 pay out would ensure I am able to put food on my table, and have less anxiety if an emergency comes up. Please make this a reality.
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Whoh commented
Crazy that this should even be voted on.. Not a single streamer in their right mind would agree that Twitch should take half of their revenue.. We only remain on the platform because it's all we have and it sucks that they don't reat us fairly at all no matter what these other streaming platforms are offering. No viewer in chat want's half their payment to go to Twitch they want to support the streamer.
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SwordsOfJoshtice commented
Its not fair to work so hard to have so much taken from you. And its not fair on the donators either who think their money is going to the streamer but in fact they're paying half to amazon.
And the $100 payout minimum, as a small streamer is so hard to hit. It needs lowering.
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lgyt19 commented
This, as a small streamer, would help me pay off my debts. I had to rely on streaming for a while due to not having a job. This split stopped me from being able to afford some necessities. It needs to change.
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ShuruiMio commented
here here!! The number of times I take time off streaming and miss the $100 payout hurts. I don't understand the 50/50 split considering the creators are the ones doing 90% of the work.
Even if it was just once you hit $100 the first time, its lowered. as a way to prove your serious about streaming or whatever. -
DuccVT commented
This would be life-changing for me and my family.
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cahill_comicz commented
i'm a smaller streamer and for both reasons have used paypal as a means of making somewhat of a living, because of both the split ratio and the way payouts work. Honestly i feel twitch would see even more activity if this happened.
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hey_its_kay_streams commented
As a viewer, I'd rather give in other ways knowing twitch takes so much of sub revenue. Other than my monthly prime and gifted subs, I've never subbed to a channel. I do bits when I can afford to, but it isn't often. As a streamer, I want to turn off the option to sub to me cuz while I appreciate the support from my community but not the needless 50/50 split
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RenniGlo commented
So many streamers work so **** hard to only get 50%?! Come on twitch. The platform is big enough that a min 70/30 split is NOT a big ask. It's the basics that almost every other platform is doing.
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GameWithGibson commented
Completely agree with the above. Twitch please do better.
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bug929 commented
I think a change in the payout split with small streamers in mind would help a lot. Also, some transparency on streaming costs (e.g. cost per streaming hour), would go a long way to improving the Twitch to streamer relationship.
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Zefrine commented
I agree with the idea that Prime subs should be kept 50/50, but standard subs should be 80/20 or 90/10, to the streamer and Twitch respectively. I would also love to see the option of withholding taxes as well.
I am fortunate to have been a full time streamer for two years now... and this change would be life changing for so many who are already full time and also for some to make that jump more confidently. This may arguably be beneficial (longer term) to Twitch as well, as community support has a tendency to increase once a streamer is full time. I feel that announcing a larger cut for streamers would impact that as well.
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Ultra_Pancake commented
Since I became affiliated I always had at least one subscriber a month. With how low the pay split is and the $100 min threshold for payout, I didn't see any money for almost TWO YEARS. Imagine having a job that doesn't pay you until two years after you've done the work.