How To Make Money On Twitch Without Being a Partner in 2022?

While thinking about making money online, you found your creative part and you are wondering how to make money on twitch.

Perfect, because in this post I am going to tell you exactly that.

First of all, let’s get basics out of the way.

There are several streaming platforms that you can go with. Youtube Gaming, Mixer (by Microsoft) and Twitch. Out of these three, Twitch is superior in terms of viewers and streamers.

Platforms are in a kind of war with each other. For example, Mixer signed two big streamers from Twitch recently. So when choosing where to start your streaming career, you must consider several factors.

For example, since Mixer belongs to Microsoft, the majority of games are Xbox based. The viewers are the same. LOL or DOTA are not that popular there.

On the other hand, MOBA games are extremely popular on Twitch. Just open both platforms and see what ranks for yourself.

For the purpose of this post, I am going to explain how to make money on Twitch – the most popular streaming platform at the moment.

 

What is Twitch.tv and how does it work?

Twitch is a  video streaming service owned by Amazon (which bought it for $970 mil.). At the moment of writing this post, Alexa ranks Twtich as 38 most visited websites worldwide. Also, there 1,2 mil lief viewers watching right now…

That is very impressive.

If you want to get a better idea oh how big twitch is – go to twitchtracker.com.

What does Twitch do? As mentioned – it streams but with a twist. It is primarily focused on gaming. There is a section for overall chit chat, but the most dominant part is people streaming their gameplay.

You do not have only to play games. People do yoga, play an instrument, tell stories… anything goes.

The way it works is very simple. You stream what is happening on your PC. You can also stream the video of yourself through webcam. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. More about it later.

So, if there is a platform that is able to gather such a big audience. Keep it engaged and keep it growing. It must have a way to make some great income out of it right?

Right.

In case you are wondering if it is possible to make some serious money on Twitch, short answer – yes.

Look up Ninja (who joined Mixer recently) or DrDisRespect. Both of them are taking home several million USD per year. In some cases even tens of millions. I will probably make a separate post about it later, so this one stays on topic. So check out for updates!

Let’s get into it.

How To Make Money On Twitch?

There are several income streams when we are talking about Twitch earnings.

But before you will be able to make a single cent, you must gather an audience.

Beauty fo Twtich si that anybody can start streaming today, with no costs. That is also the negative side.

The barrier of entry is very low so the competition is quite high. It is not enough to just play something or do something online.

You have to stand out.

Maybe it is your personality that is charismatic and engaging.

Or may you are just so good at a particular game that watching you is similar to a learning process for other players.

You will just have to find your angle and most importantly – start.

It makes sense to think about the end goal before you get started. That is usually how to make money out of it.

Maybe you will be so good that you will be able to quit your day job and stream full time (like many others do).

Here are several main ways to make money on Twitch.

 Subscribers aka Twitch Partner Program

Listed as number one, as it is by far the most important revenue flow for streamers.

Sure, people can watch you play for free. They just click on your stream and start watching (we will discuss how they are monetized later).

As your audience grows, there will be viewers that will want to support your channel. The easier way to do it is to make a paid subscription.

Twitch has three levels of premium subscriptions. $4.99, $9.99 and $24.99. When you are just getting started, Twitch is going to take around 50 percent from your subscription earnings.

When you will become a more dominant force on Twitch platform, you can push your earnings even towards 100 percent. At this point, Twitch will be earning money from your stream through different channels. They will want to make sure you stay on the platform. You will feel their “love” through bigger earings, which is great!

In order to start making money from subscribers, you have to get invited into Twitch Partners Program.

Sure, it is a little bit tricky on getting in, but this plays a crucial role in your streaming business. Why?

Because subscribers’ income is reoccurring. It gives you the stability to expand. It allows you to know how much are you going to earn in a particular month.

So what to do before you get approved for the Twitch Partners Program?

Twitch got you covered.

Bit Donations

When you are just getting started, one of the streams of income that you have to rely on are Bit Donations. Bit donations are made by your viewers. They are a form of virtual currency to show their support and of course, keep your channel going.

For each “Bit” that you receive, Twitch will pay you $0.01. It does not seem like that much but you need to get 10 000 Bits to have $100 a day.

Get 100 000 Bits a day and you have $1,000 per day.

That is why Twitch has so many “girls” streams with no real content – do not be like that.

Make Money On Twitch with Ads

Before you start making serious reoccurring income with subscribers, there are built-in ads to keep you afloat.

It is estimated that Twitch pays out some something around $250 for 100 subscribers through ads.

There are pre-roll and display ads. You get paid on the so-called CPM – you get a particular amount of USD for every 1,000 views of your stream.

Many people are using ad-block, decreasing your revenue stream. The only way to stop it somehow is to ask you, viewers, to switch if off. At least while they are watching the stream.

Get More Viewers Support with Patreon

In case you do not know what Patreon is – you can check it out here.

It is a platform for creators of various content, on which their fans can support it.

I think that Twitch has enough built-in monetization methods, but in case you feel that you could benefit from the integration, consider mixing it in.

Monetize You Twitch Stream With Teespring

I already wrote a post on how Teespring.com works.

When your audience is big enough, you can start selling merch. Teespring makes it very easy to make your own designs. Most importantly you do not need any money upfront to get your merch ready.

You get paid for each item that your viewers order, without any costs on your side.

Teespring has all the tools to integrate your Twitch stream with no problems.

Your viewers will also get an actual item rather than just a good feeling because they “support you”.

Make Money on Twitch with Sponsorships

Once you built a big enough audience you can start considering doing sponsorships and product placements.

How would this work?

Well, let’s assume that several thousands of people watch you when you stream.

Your shirt, headphones, drinks, gaming chair. All of it is seen by your audience.

For instance, Ninja is sponsored by Redbull and Maxnomic. So you see their brands for 100% of his streaming time.

The bigger you are the better deal you can get.

Even when your audience is still quite small and growing, you can start talking to brands that you like and see if they will sponsor you.

Make Money With Affiliate Marketing on Twitch

Essentially, affiliate marketing allows you to post a link to a product or a service. In case your viewer clicks on it and makes and action (registration, purchase, etc.) you will get a commission.

There are payments for leads, sales or reoccurring leads for a subscription.

The variety of products is endless.

Starting from Amazon Associates, through Commission Junction and many other affiliate platforms. The choice of the products that you can promote is endless. Books, gamepads, keyboards, courses, comic books, etc. Those are only just a few possible promotion ideas.

Selling Your Own Products on Twitch

You can write a book (as Ninja did…but make it better if possible :). You can make a small cool figurine of your self, you can make a branded mouse or a keyboard.

Maybe you want to make your course on how to get better in the game.

You can start coaching people.

The possibilities for the potential products of your own are wide.

Most importantly, you keep all the profit.

Get Signed To An Esport Team

This is more of a lottery ticker idea but still…

As your audience grows, you get more exposure.

You will become more visible to pro teams with more exposure and more viewers.

Google how much pro-players are making. Salaries go anywhere from $50,000 to several million $ per year.

Being a part of a pro team has its pros and cons. You can get more exposure and a nice salary, but the team will dictate you the rules to abide by and take a chunk of your earnings.

…but there is enough time before you will have to worry about that.

Recycle your content on Youtube, and make money there

Twitch stores you stream for some time. But you can record them and keep them all stored away. Why would you need them?

Repost them on Youtube. Or rather, make a compilation “Best XY of XZ” and post videos a couple of times a week.

Youtube loves compilations. You can market your channel to your viewers and create an additional income stream there.

You can apply all the points above to your Youtube channel.

More views = more clicks = more sales.

You already have several hours of streams, why not recycle it and make a cools content for viewers to consume on a different platform.

Also, Youtube pays for views!

So you are getting paid for your content on Twitch. While you are also getting paid for the compilations from that exact content on Youtube.

Double cash!

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Don’t forget to monetize them too.

As you will have more and more followers that will enjoy watching your content, you will want to keep in touch with them at all times.

Ask your viewers to follow you on other social media.

By doing that you are creating a cycle. Viewers from Twitch are joining your social media. At the same time, bigger exposure on social media is driving new viewers to your Twitch channel.

(Going viral with user-generated content is a whole another topic, so the possibilities with social media are truly limitless.)

Again, More views = more clicks = more sales.

Get paid for Shoutouts

This one is closely related to sponsorships, but I wanted to point it out separately nonetheless.

It does not have to be a huge brand that you are promoting. Maybe there is a small shop that wants more viewers.

Or a twitter channel that needs more exposure.

People may approach you and offer your money for a shoutout.

Shoutout essentially means that you would (in some way or form) quickly mention the thing you are promoting.

Depending on the size of your audience you may be getting anywhere from $xx per shoutout to $x,xxx.

You have to be careful though. Not everyone in your audience will enjoy that. So you must make sure not to abuse this too much.

Also, check the thing you are promoting before actually doing it.

You have a responsibility to your viewers.

The audience is hard to build and easy to lose. As your reputation.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways how to to make money on twitch, and subscribers contribution is far from being the only one.

We haven’t even touched on repurposing your content for podcasts or YouTube, to leverage not your monetization but significantly expand your audience too.

If you are still on the fence about whether to go on Twitch or not – just try it. It is completely free, the software that you need for streaming is free too. There is no downside!

FAQ