Have you heard of a platform called Twitch? If you have, are you confused as to what exactly it is? In this post, I will cover what the Twitch platform is, how it works, and how you can start using it.
Twitch: What is it?
Twitch is an online streaming platform with over 2 million viewers a day 1. It is the most popular streaming service currently active. Twitch was launched in 2011 is currently owned by Amazon. It initially started as a video game streaming platform. People would play games like Call of Duty and stream their gameplay to viewers. As the service became more and more popular, the categories of games expanded significantly as well as general categories. You can now find cooking streams, art streams, music streams, and even fitness streams! So this means that you can potentially make money to play video games, cook some food, or really whatever else you can think of!
Twitch streamers have exponentially grown as the service has increased in popularity. In August, there were over 7 million 2 streamers active; that’s more people than the population of Alberta! So if you want to succeed as a Twitch streamer, you have to stand out in the crowd (don’t worry – this will be covered in a future blog post from this series).
Twitch: How does it work?
So now that you know what Twitch is, would you also like to make some money while streaming something that you enjoy doing to potentially thousands of viewers? Here’s the lowdown on how it all works.
First off, you need an account, some streaming software (streamlabs OBS, streamelemnts, OBS), and at a minimum a microphone (cameras are strongly encouraged).
You don’t start making money until you reach affiliate level. To reach affiliate you need to reach a few requirements 3:
- At least 500 total minutes broadcast in the last 30 days
- At least 7 unique broadcast days in the last 30 days
- An average of 3 concurrent viewers or more over the last 30 days
- At least 50 followers
Twitch: But what about the money?
So you’ve made an account, you started streaming and you just made the requirements for affiliate. Now what? You can start making money!
Twitch is a subscription-based service. There are three tiers viewers can elect to subscribe to. Every tier has its own benefits and the cost goes up each tier. As an affiliate, you get half of that subscription cost and Twitch keeps the other half. Viewers can also purchase bits which are basically Twitch currency. The viewer pays Twitch a certain amount for a set number of bits, you get once cent per bit. Streamers can also connect their Paypal accounts to their streaming software to receive tips from viewers which do not go through Twitch.
If you do the math here, you can see that you need a lot of subscriptions and bits to actually make a living out of streaming on Twitch. If you consider the number of streamers for the month of August, you can see that it is extremely saturated. You need to go into this adventure with realistic expectations. Odds are you won’t become the next DrDisrespect but you can have fun, do something you enjoy, and make some extra pocket money while you’re doing it!
Stay tuned for another post in the Twitch: Everything you need to know series!
Have you ever considered streaming on Twitch? If you have, why haven’t you?
Are you a current streamer on Twitch? What would be your #1 advice to someone who’s just starting?
If this was your first time hearing about Twitch, are you interested in knowing more?
Facebook:
So you want to become a streamer? Check out this blog post series to find out everything you need to know. Don’t forget to subscribe to get notified when the next post gets released! https://algonquincollegesocialmedia.wordpress.com/?p=95239
Twitter:
So you want to be a streamer? Check this post to find out everything you need to know about #twitch. https://tinyurl.com/y4m8mwhv
References:
- Twitch statistics & charts. (n.d.). TwitchTracker. https://twitchtracker.com/statistics
- Twitch statistics & charts. (n.d.). TwitchTracker. https://twitchtracker.com/statistics
- Twitch. (n.d.). Joining the Affiliate Program. https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/joining-the-affiliate-program?language=en_US
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
Never heard of this platform! Thanks for the information.
You’re welcome! Maybe you fill find some streamers that you enjoy 🙂
Great introduction to Twitch! I’m a Twitch Affiliate myself and stream a couple times a week. It’s an awesome platform that I spend much of my free time on. My Twitch following isn’t incredibly large (my average sub count fluctuates between 30-50) but I only stream once or twice a week since I started back in January. The advice I’ve been following to help grow my Twitch channel is to set a streaming schedule as well as creating content on more discover-able platforms like Youtube. A great resource for aspiring streamers that I’ve found is the Alpha Gaming Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCATWC1JSlhzmYeDbjnS8WwA).
I love Alpha Gaming! Harris and Sam are great at explaining things and giving great tips. If you’re not on their discord, you should join for even more stuff!
I also stream on Twitch and I would say I am about the same level as you. I don’t have a schedule since COVID which is definitely a huge drawback to growing the stream but I mainly do it for fun.
Good luck with your channel! Let me know in the comments what your account is so I can check out your content!
I found your blog interesting as I have never heard of Twitch. I will now have to check it out. Thanks
I always assumed Twitch was just for gamers O_O Glad to learn otherwise — Do you think it is the next “up and coming” platform? Do you think it could eventually compete with youtube? I wonder if they will introduce a free subscription service that uses ads to pay the content producers? I’ve heard on some platforms similar to twitch people will literally just pay the subscription fee to just “tune-in” as people stream their day to day lives…what do you think? What initially got you interested in the Twitch platform?
I wouldn’t consider it an up and coming platform considering how many people use it on a daily basis. Twitch is the #1 leader for streaming by a long shot. Other platforms have tried to come in but I think that Twitch is so far ahead of the game and has so much advance on everyone else that they will stay in the lead for a long time. I don’t see them switching to a solely ad-based service. There are ads on twitch already; for example, a streamer can elect to run ads whenever they want, they can also remove ads for subscribers as well. I know a lot of people like to “lurk” which is basically tuning-in. They just have the stream on for background noise and go about their own daily tasks. Personally, I enjoy having streams on in the background when I do homework or play games as I need the background noise!
lol thank you for clearing up what Twitch is! Although I have no interest in it … I do like to have an idea what it is. I don’t think there’s anything I do in my life that people would want to watch … well – except for my cat Farley. He’s the man (cat) of the house! lol …
Really good read. I game a lot and I’m always considering trying my luck with twitch. With the popularity a lot of the games have, I often forget that Twitch can be used to stream pretty much anything and I don’t necessarily have to be put into one genre. Might have to start brainstorming