Twitch expands program for improved revenue share to more streamers

Twitch is expanding its Partner Plus program to allow more streamers to benefit from its higher revenue share.

The program was introduced last June and offers a 70 percent revenue split on subscriptions rather than the standard 50 percent. However, its criteria was particularly stringent, meaning many streamers did not qualify.

From 1st May, a lower threshold will be introduced and Affiliates will also be eligible – it will therefore now be known as the Plus Programme.

There will be two levels to the program.

The first will offer a 60/40 revenue share in favor of streamers with a threshold of 100 Plus Points. The second will offer a 70/30 revenue share in favor of streamers with a threshold of 300 Plus Points.

Plus points are awarded as follows:

• Tier 1 subscription = one point
• Tier 2 subscription = two points
• Tier 3 subscription = six points

Twitch claims this change will “allow three times as many streamers to have premium net revenue share rates.”

Two further changes are also being made.

Firstly, Twitch is eliminating the $100k revenue cap. Previously, after reaching this figure in net subscription revenue the split would revert to the standard 50 percent rate. Effective today this will no longer be in place as feedback claimed this “served as a disincentive” for growth.

Secondly, subscriptions through Amazon Prime will transition to a fixed rate based on the country of the subscriber from 3rd June 2024.

“While streamers make money from many sources, the income they make directly from Twitch is a significant part of how they fund their lives,” wrote CEO Dan Clancy in a blog post on the changes.

“Twitch's long-term success depends upon our ability to help these creators sustain their careers over time. At the same time, since our creators depend upon Twitch, we need to ensure that our revenue share structure is designed so that we can sustain the business and Twitch will be here 50 years from now.”

Twitch streamers have long-requested an improved revenue split from the standard 50 percent, which Twitch previously stated was “not viable in the long term.” The introduction of the Partner Plus program was aimed at alleviating concerns, but was heavily criticized by streamers as “anti-community”.

More recently, Twitch laid off over 500 staff members earlier this month, with Clancy admitting the Amazon-owned platform isn't profitable.