Twitch is reportedly considering major changes to its monetization practices, including more ads and a pay cut for its highest-paid streamers. Last year, a data leak exposed the million-dollar incomes of some of the platform's largest streamers, and now they stand to lose 20% percent of their cut from subscriptions.
According to a new report by Bloomberg, Amazon, Twitch’s parent company, is considering a revamp of its partnership program to boost profits. Among these changes are a new revenue split from subscriptions, a new tier system, and incentivizing streamers to run more ads.
The site’s top streamers would reportedly see their share of subscriptions dip down from 70% to 50%, according to Bloomberg, and the new tier system would introduce new pay levels with different criteria required to qualify for each.
This comes as the streaming platform pushes its creators to run more ads, with Twitch incentivizing streamers by offering $100 for running 2 minutes of ads per hour.
Sources speaking with Bloomberg said that the company is also considering relaxing its exclusivity policy, allowing creators to stream on rival platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, potentially opening up additional streams of revenue.
Sources say the proposed changes could hit the website as early as this summer. None of the changes have been finalized, though, and are subject to change.
In October, a devastating hack exposed just how much some of the platform's top streams are earning. The hack included a list of payouts by Twitch to some of its highest-profile streamers over the last three years, showing just how lucrative streaming has become.
According to the leaked data, Critical Role, a group of voice actors who stream their sessions playing Dungeons and Dragons, topped the list of the highest-paid streamers. Twitch paid streamers $9,626,712 from August 2019 to Fall 2021.
The platform's pay structure is complicated, and pay doesn’t always correlate to subscriber count.
Left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker raked in nearly $3 million from his 1.5 million followers, while 20-year-old gamer Adin Ross earned just $1.6 million despite having more than 3.5 million more subscribers.
In 2022, Ranboolive took the crown of the highest-paid streamer on the platform. While his identity is shrouded in secrecy, his earnings are less mysterious. He reportedly rakes in almost $750,000 per month.