Twitch announces new deal to pay streamers more

Streaming site Twitch has announced plans to share more of its revenue with creators as part of a shake-up.

Streamers make money through fans subscribing to their channel, which starts at £3.99 per month in the UK.

This is then split 50/50 between Twitch and the creator, after fees are paid.

Sweetheart deals have previously been given to the most famous streamers, but the new system means anyone with more than 100 paid subscribers will now receive 60% of the money fans pledge.

The news comes two weeks after parent firm Amazon announced it would axe more than 500 Twitch employees – accounting for a third of the people who work there.

Twitch chief executive Dan Clancy said at the time that the site had paid out $1bn (£780m) to streamers in 2023, but the site was struggling with making money.

“We’ve implied this before… but I’ll be blunt, we aren’t profitable at this point,” he said in a stream on the platform.

Meanwhile, parent firm Amazon made $9.9bn profit in July to September, according to its most recent earnings report – up from $2.9bn in the same period in 2022.

Twitch is a livestreaming platform, where people typically play video games while chatting to viewers.

The revamped system, called the Twitch Plus programme, will come into effect in May.

Twitch estimates this will mean “three times as many streamers” will benefit from better revenue shares than the default 50/50 split.

“Streamers and the communities you build are the foundation of Twitch,” Mr Clancy said in a blog post.

“We understand the important role the revenue you earn from streaming plays in each of your lives.

“These changes aim to create a long term, transparent framework for streamer compensation that rewards and encourages creators who are committed to live streaming.”

The new deal will keep in place the 70/30 revenue split offered to the site’s even more popular users, who have more than 350 paid subscribers each month.

That part of the new system was previously announced in June 2023, as part of what was then called the “Partner Plus” programme, which was met with a degree of criticism at the time.

Some felt that it was very difficult to reach the milestone, meaning the deal only benefitted those who were already popular.

Others called for the 70/30 split to be available to all creators, not just those making the most money.

Under the new rules, streamers will now need to achieve 300 paid subscribers to receive a higher payout.

As part of its new rules, Twitch is also abolishing a long-standing system which meant once its top earners brought in $100,000, their revenue split would drop back down from 70/30 to 50/50 – which could be seen as an effort to draw back some of those who left.

The firm may be concerned with the growth of rival platforms, such as Kick, which offer streamers a significant 95% share of the revenue they generate through subscribers.

Kick has poached several of its rival’s biggest names as it continues to grow, including Amouranth and xQc in 2023.

Meanwhile, YouTubers receive 70% of the revenue from their subscriptions, known as memberships. But YouTube also takes a 30% cut of donations from fans – whereas Twitch gives all donations to streamers.

And the announcement comes just two days after top YouTuber MrBeast announced how much money he was able to make from videos on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The social media platform is aiming to court content creators who use rival platforms by offering a large share of its advertising revenue.

While MrBeast seemingly earned a lot from the single video he posted – more than $250,000 (£197,000) – it pales in comparison to the millions of dollars he makes from YouTube.