Twitch's ten years in the streaming market have seen the Amazon-run platform become one of the biggest streaming sites in the world with the platform becoming a home to some of the internet's biggest content creators like xQc, Asmongold, and Pokimane among others. With the platform offering many of its creators an effective way to make a living and turn their streaming passion into a career, monetization of the website has long been a hot topic among not only its biggest talents but Twitch itself. Now, a proposed change by the platform could see its structure shift significantly.
It's no secret that Twitch's top streamers earn massive paychecks for their streams on the website with creators like the previously-mentioned xQc and TimTheTatman earning millions of dollars from the popular streaming platform. Twitch's partner program giving creators a hefty cut of their subscriptions as well as the ad revenue system earned from playing ads on streams make Twitch a viable career option for many aspiring content creators. However, a recent report from Twitch has revealed the company may be massively restructuring its payouts, focusing more on ad revenue than subscriptions.
According to a recent report on Bloomberg from an anonymous set of Twitch creators, the Amazon subsidiary is considering making changes to its partnership program that would see creator revenues from channel subscriptions cut back from 70% down to 50% for the platform's biggest creators, similar to the numbers that lower-count streamers earn. While this change would likely damage Twitch's relationship with its highest-earning creators, the platform would allow creators to break their exclusivity contracts to stream on YouTube and Facebook Gaming, following a recent trend of major Twitch depatures.
Twitch's new monetization strategy would reportedly place a heavier focus on ad revenue with creators being encouraged to run more advertisements on their channel. A recent program started by Twitch earlier this year would give creators a monthly payout for running multiple ads per hour with the platform reportedly considering a revenue-sharing model that would provide more incentive for streamers to run ads. While Twitch hasn't made any official announcements about changes to its subscription model or monetization, the changes would likely be controversial within a community that is already split on ads.
While a new monetization structure would likely be a hot topic within the community, 2022 has already seen Twitch dole out a significant number of high-profile bans throughout the first few months of the year. Some of the biggest creators on the platform like DisguisedToast, Pokimane, and Sodapoppin have seen bans for everything from copyrighted to controversial content. While Twitch's new ad-based monetization system would likely be more sustainable for the popular platform, it would look to underscore a growing divide between the company and its top earners.
Source: Bloomberg