It used to be that only Twitch Partners made money directly from Twitch when streaming. But with the Twitch Affiliate program, streamers can monetize their streaming career sooner. Want to learn more about what it takes to be a Twitch affiliate? Read on!

What is a Twitch Affiliate?

The Twitch Affiliate Program helps streamers make a living from streaming while building their audience. Streamers in the program can monetize directly through Twitch with:

• Twitch Subs
• Bits
• Ad Revenue 

You’ll also get access to new features from Twitch and some bragging rights. 

Requirements

To get an invitation to the Twitch Affiliate Program, a streamer must meet a few basic requirements. Right now, Twitch invites broadcasters to the Twitch Affiliate program when they have:

• At least 500 total minutes broadcast in the last 30 days
• At least 7 unique broadcast days in the last 30 days
• An average of 3 concurrent viewers or more over the last 30 days
• At least 50 Followers

This means that within 30 days, you need to stream ~ 8.33 hours over 7 unique days to an average of 3 viewers watching you the whole time. You also need at least 50 followers. Once your channel is eligible, you will receive an invite in your email and Twitch notifications.

Reaching the requirements for the Twitch Affiliate Program is achievable for anyone willing to stream consistently, create strong content, and promote themselves and their stream.

Should you join?

Like we said before, anyone can put in the work to become a Twitch Affiliate. But should you join just because you receive an invitation? To decide if the Twitch Affiliate Program is right for you, let’s check out this highlight from the Affiliate Program Agreement. 

2.2. Live Content Exclusivity

In other words, Affiliates must keep new Twitch streams exclusive on Twitch for 24 hours after the live broadcast is over. So you can’t stream to Twitch and other platforms at the same time, and you can’t upload your broadcast as a public Youtube video immediately after your stream. You can still stream to other platforms, just not at the same time as you stream on Twitch.

If you can wait 24 hours and not multi-stream with Twitch and other streaming platforms, then becoming a Twitch Affiliate might be a worthwhile next step in your streaming journey.

Becoming a Twitch Affiliate

After accepting your invitation to the Twitch Affiliate Program, go to your SETTINGS. You will have to complete a short process so you can start monetizing your Twitch account.

You will provide basic information to register into the program, sign your Twitch Affiliate Agreement, give Amazon your tax information by completing both the Royalty and Service Tax Interviews (TIMS), and tell Amazon where to send your payments by completing the Tipalti form.

Payment methods include:

• Direct Deposit to your bank account
• Wire
• PayPal
• Check
• Hold Payments (Held while waiting for Affiliate to specify new payout information)

You’ll also need to set up two-factor authentication on your Twitch Affiliate account. All in all, this process only takes 10-15 minutes. Once you complete those steps, you are a Twitch Affiliate! Congrats on taking your streaming career to the next level! 

After you join

Once you become a Twitch Affiliate, lots of new features are available to you and your community. 

• Upload emotes and earn new emote slots for your community. 
• Encourage your community to cheer bits. 
• Let your viewers earn bit tier rewards like badges and more emotes. 
• Activate hype trains with your community or have them compete for your leaderboard.
• Your viewers will automatically start earning Channel Points. 
• Grant your viewers Loyalty Badges, depending on how long they have been a subscriber. 

Customize these features to fit the branding and style of your stream, but that means you have a lot of work to do! Try to not get stressed by all the different graphics. If you need help, consider hiring a graphic artist to help you with the workload. You could hire your artist friends, connect with an artist on Discord, or ask for recommended Twitch artists on Twitter!

How do payouts work?

Once a Twitch Affiliate has accrued at least $100 in revenue, they are eligible for a payout. If you don’t make over $100 in a month, the balance rolls over until this minimum is met. At the end of each calendar month, Twitch will check who had reached that $100 threshold. Then payment is scheduled for 15 days after the end of that month.

Important Note: Even though your viewers pay $5 for subscriptions, you are only paid 50% of that from Twitch. You can always track payout history on your Channel Analytics page to see how close you are to the next Twitch payment. We also want to note here that becoming a Twitch Affiliate is cool, but it’s not an answer to making lots of money. 50% of Twitch Affiliates make under $100 on Twitch each month. (CreatorHype, 2018).

Should you push for Partner right after reaching Twitch Affiliate?

New Twitch Affiliates sometimes think that after reaching Twitch Affiliate, they should dive in and start pushing for Twitch Partnership right away. As a friendly reminder, the requirements for Twitch Partnership are:

• Stream for 25 hours
• Stream on 12 different days
• Average of 75 viewers (concurrent viewership excluding hosts, raids, and embeds)

The first 2 requirements aren’t hard, but 75 average viewers is difficult for most new affiliates to achieve. Not to mention these are the minimum requirements to apply. There are no guarantees Twitch will accept your application. Many streamers who meet the requirements aren’t partnered the first time they apply. With that in mind, don’t feel like you have to start pushing for Partner as soon as you reach Affiliate. It might take a while before Twitch Partner is a realistic goal for you, and you should spend that time enjoying being a Twitch Affiliate.

Enjoy!

Choosing to take advantage of the Twitch Affiliate Program is a personal decision based on your vision for your stream. That said: this is a great stepping stone for streamers who are making great strides in the streaming world.