The Commercial and Non-commercial Benefits of Twitch Subscriptions

Twitch has become an inseparable part of the eSports scene. The Amazon subsidiary which was launched in 2011 by Twitch Interactive owes its super-fast growth to video games. At the same time, it’s also true to say that the gaming culture wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for Twitch’s streaming service. 

You can read more on Twitch's impact on eSports in the last years here and see how the platform transformed everything from tournament prize pools to players’ salaries. The fact that eSports are now more popular than baseball and American football speaks volumes of the effect that Twitch streams had on what is now the 8th most popular sport in the world.

However, the advantages of this symbiosis don’t end there. The mutual benefits that streamers and eSports viewers get from Twitch subscriptions (subs) are yet another example of how fruitful this relationship is. The Twitch partner and affiliate subscription program enables streamers and viewers to get the most from subs and here are the examples of how this is achieved.

Mind-boggling Earnings for Top Streamers

Earnings from subs depend on how much money viewers pay per sub. There are three sub options for Twitch viewers:

• $4.99
• $9.99
• $24.99

The streamer and Twitch split this amount into two. This means that each subscription is divided right down the middle with the channel owner getting 50% and Twitch getting 50%. However, once streamers get popular, they earn more than that and their cut of the sub amount is increased to around 60%, while Twitch’s decreases to 40%.

Most Twitch subscribers (but not all of them) go for the lowest sub amount of $4.99. If you do some basic math and multiply the number of subs a streamer has with $2.54 (4.99/2=2.54), then you would get some ballpark figure of how much Twitch streamers earn from subs alone.

Of course, this estimate does not take include operating expenses for the streamer, so profits would be somewhat lower than what you would get by multiplying the two values. However, it also doesn’t take into account that there are some avid eSports followers who are ready to fork out $24.99 on a subscription. This would make those earnings substantially higher.

But let’s say all of the subscribers are on the basic plan of $4.99 and the streamer in question is TimTheTatman. TimTheTatman has around 50,000 subscribers right now. If you multiply these two values, this is what you get:

• TimTheTatman’s earnings from subs alone: 2.54*50,000=127000.

That’s $127,000 a month and more than $1,5 million a year for TimTheTatman. Those are some mind-boggling numbers and are on par with how much Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok earns. And he is the highest earning League of Legends player.

Benefits for the Viewer

Twitch subs wouldn’t be what they are if there weren’t advantages for viewers too. These range from exclusive chat rooms and competitions to viewing streams without ads. Things such as these are not as massive as those streamer earnings, but they make a huge difference for eSports aficionados.

Paying subscribers, for example, would often get a sub-chat room which is accessible only for them. This is especially useful when commenting on a popular streamer’s channel where comments can be lost in the avalanche of things hundreds of followers write. A sub-chat room would remedy this and would enable paying subscribers to get their voices heard.

Another advantage of being a subscriber is the fact that you can get access to exclusive competitions and contests that the streamer organizes. Similarly, a channel owner may also choose to award more entries to paying subscribers for contests that are otherwise open to all viewers. 

More entries here mean higher chances of getting your hands on some of the prizes on offer. These range from small objects such as signed or branded T-shirts to much more enticing rewards such as games or gaming consoles.

Finally, as most people know, ads can be a real nuisance when trying to have an unobstructed view of the action. That’s why some streamers decide to reward their loyal paying subscribers with an ad-free viewing experience.

Of course, ads are also an essential source of income for streamers and Twitch and many channel owners decide to keep them there all the time.