It is common knowledge that Twitch has been a lucrative platform for its most popular streamers, but until recently, people could only speculate the earnings of their favorite channels. In October 2021, hackers infiltrated the video game streaming website and stole creator payout data, leaking Twitch channel earnings to the public.
Perhaps the most intriguing reveal about the leaked data was that half of all streamer earnings on Twitch went to just 10% of the streamers, effectively implying that Twitch was more interested in pointing its users towards the already established channels as opposed to promoting up-and-comers. This leaked data ended up serving as the foundation for Kapwing's study into the hourly earnings of Twitch streamers compared to traditional professions such as those in fields of education or medicine.
The data surmised that the highest-earning streamer on Twitch – as of the time of the leak – was Ranboo with an astounding rate of $2,398.62 per hour, with the Minecraft streamer's Twitch earnings coming up to $2,401,021.84 across 1001 hours. The study compared Ranboo's hourly rate to that of American doctors. Namely, a doctor earned an average of $35.90 per hour, and compared to Ranboo, would need to work 67 hours to make the same amount of money that Ranboo earns from one hour of streaming.
The study made mention of Pokimane as another example, pointing out that her hourly rate of $702.02 was 29 times higher than that of a teacher. Pokimane recently held a Tesla giveaway in celebration of her streaming platform's success. Asmongold, who made his career as a World of Warcraft streamer, was revealed to earn $869.97 per hour. Asmongold himself has been pretty honest and unapologetic about his lifestyle, pointing out that the money earned from streaming has allowed Asmongold to stay at home and take care of his mom, who unfortunately passed away a few months ago.
While the study's findings painted the earnings of Twitch streamers as lucrative and glamorous, it espoused the idea that the rest of the American workforce was grossly under-compensated, especially in fields that are considered essential to society. Of course, the main beneficiary of the popularity accumulated by Twitch streamers is none other than its parent company – Amazon – who is notorious for the callous treatment of its workforce, and the study makes a point that the business giant is not only failing to honor the low wages of its employees, but that it also fails in distributing wealth and opportunity to the content creators using the Twitch platform.
It is very likely that Twitch will remain exactly as is – at least for the conceivable future – an opportunity for people to earn their fortune through charm, entertainment, and knowing how to keep, build, and grow an audience.
Source: Kapwing