A Simple Guide to Becoming a Twitch Affiliate

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Besides being endlessly fun, gaming can also be quite profitable if you are persistent enough to actually monetize your efforts. Streaming is one of the most common sources of income aspiring gamers have at their disposal, and one of the best places to start earning money by doing what you love is Twitch, currently the leading live video streaming platform on the Internet. 

To make things even better a little over a year ago Twitch has launched the Affiliate Program that makes it much easier for gamers to monetize their live stream videos. So let's have a look at how you can stream gaming videos and earn money at the same time.

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What does it mean to be a Twitch Affiliate?

In April 2107 Twitch platform launched the new Affiliate program with the aim to make earning money on Twitch more accessible to streamers who don't have a lot of subscribers. The change of policy resulted in over 150.000 new affiliate accounts, in less than a year.

With more than 2.2 million monthly broadcasters Twitch is one of the largest video streaming platforms on the Internet, so the newcomers face the fierce competition. However, the platform's Affiliate program offers a unique opportunity to all new streamers that take what they do seriously, to earn a healthy income through Twitch.

What Do You Gain by Becoming a Twitch Affiliate?

Reaching the Partner status is the ultimate goal of every Twitch user who posts new content consistently, but in order to get there, you'll first have to become a Twitch Affiliate. Unlike with regular Twitch accounts, the owners of Affiliate accounts can earn money by gaining more subscribers or from the sales of the games and in-game purchases.

In addition to cheering, and showing support for Partner and Affiliate accounts, the Twitch Affiliates can also use Bits, the premium emoticons, to earn money, Both Twitch Partners and Affiliates earn 1 cent every time someone uses a Bit on their channel. The amount of bits you can get during a stream is directly related to the number of people following that steam and if you'd like to avoid being spammed, you can set the limit for the minimum number of bits during each broadcast. However, Twitch Affiliates can't use custom made cheermotes.

Requirements for Becoming a Twitch Affiliate

The Twitch Affiliate program is dedicated to community building, so gamers that are new to the platform can become its integral part in a shorter period of time. Every streamer that broadcasts 8 hours of content or more in one month and has at least 7 unique broadcasts can become eligible for gaining the Twitch Affiliate status.

In addition, your streams must have an average of 3 or more viewers and your account must have more than 50 followers. The key to becoming a twitch affiliate is to post new content consistently and to be active within the community. You'll gain followers faster if you often comment on streams you follow or if you have a recognizable brand name on several social media platforms.

You can monitor your progress in the Path to Affiliate tab, that can be accessed from the Dashboard on your Twitch account. The tab shows how close or far away you are from being invited to become an affiliate. It is worth noting that you can't apply for this status since you must receive an invitation from the platform. Also, if you don't post new content regularly or if your account becomes inactive over the period longer than 12 months, you can lose the affiliate status.

The amount of money you'll be able to earn as a Twitch affiliate is directly related to the amount of content you post on the daily or weekly basis. The affiliate status should serve as an encouragement on route to becoming a Twitch partner.

What's the Difference Between Twitch Partner and Twitch Affiliate?

The most popular live streaming service for gamers has only 27.000 Partner accounts. This statistic shows that getting an invitation to become a Twitch Partner is far from easy and that you'll have to work hard in order to start enjoying the privileges this type of account has to offer.

Owners of Twitch Affiliate accounts can't use ads in their streams and the VOD storage is limited to just 14 days. On the other hand, Twitch Partners can store their videos on demand for two months on the platform, and they can delay their steams for as much as 15 minutes, while the stream delay option isn't available to Twitch Affiliates.

The Payment Terms are much more favorable for Twitch Partners because the payout fees are covered by the platform and the Payout timeframe is just 45 days. The owners of affiliate accounts must cover the payment fees by themselves, and the payout timeframe is within 60 days.

Being a Twitch Affiliate means that you've reached an important milestone in the process of becoming a Twitch Partner. You won't have as many tools to earn money at your disposal, but this should only motivate you to continue producing high-quality content. Don't hesitate to contact the customer support if you are looking for ways to improve your channel because they might provide you with lots of useful information that can help you to become a Twitch Affiliate and a Twitch partner much faster.

Conclusion:

Streaming live videos requires much more than just broadcasting live the gameplay of the video games you play. Being a member of Twitch's community, connecting with people you admire, exchanging opinions or following the latest trends on the platform are all essential for ensuring the success of your live streams. Be consistent and strive to always offer entertaining and engaging content Twitch users are going to love watching.

In time as your audience grows you'll start earning money from your streams, but managing a Twitch Affiliate account is like having a part-time job. Live streaming can become a steady source of income if you approach it professionally and if you constantly work on becoming better.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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