HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON TWITCH

Twitch is one of the most popular video streaming services that focuses on video game live streaming. It has over 130 million monthly active users. Therefore, it is a great place to generate revenue for your business.

Today we’ll talk about the most effective ways to make money on Twitch, boost your revenue, and grow.

1) BUILD AN AUDIENCE

The first thing you need to do to start making money on Twitch is to build an audience. Have an active and committed following to increase your chances of success.

Building an audience doesn’t happen overnight. You have to commit to the process, be patient, and keep your followers engaged.

The most important thing to do is to find a niche or pick a game that will help you attract lots of attention.

Identify trending games or ones everyone is talking about and use them to connect with your audience.

Remember, there’s too much competition for trending games so getting your audience to pick you over your competitors can be difficult. Especially since you are only starting. So, make sure you distinguish yourself and stand apart from other gamers.

Stream high-quality videos and ensure the audio is clear and not difficult to hear.

Interact with your viewers to keep them engaged and interested in following you. Respond to questions, ask questions, keep your viewers entertained and make sure you ask them to share your stream with their connections.

If you have a newsletter, make sure you convert new viewers into subscribers. Doing this helps you connect with your followers, form meaningful relations, and grow your audience.

Create a streaming schedule and stick to it. Make sure your viewers know when to expect a new video stream. Stream regularly. Decide how often you’ll stream and stick to your schedule. You can stream every day, 3 days a week on the same days, or during weekends only. The most important thing is to choose days, stream regularly, and ensure your followers know when you’re going to stream next.

Other effective ways to build an audience are promoting your streams on social media platforms and networking with other gamers or streamers.

2) GET MORE FOLLOWERS

Attracting followers can be difficult when you’re starting because there are over 7 million successful streamers. Which makes it hard for you to stand out and build a following. However, getting more followers and keeping them engaged is the only way to attract the attention you need, start making money, and succeed.

So, come up with an effective streaming strategy.

In addition to using Twitch for gaming, use it for chatting, podcasting, music, and so on. Consider your audience and their interests when choosing the type of content to share.

The goal is to create content that appeals to your target audience and keeps them engaged.

Attend streaming events and meet with other streamers. Network and learn from them to determine what works.

Attending streaming events and meetups also helps you gain more followers. All you need to do is show interest in what others have to say.

If you have business cards, give them out to people you meet during these events. Make sure your business card has your Twitch channel name, your real name, and social media handles.

Watch other streamers, follow them, join live chats, and show interest in their content to encourage them to do the same.

Get more exposure and attract more viewers and followers by streaming for at least 2 hours. Streaming for several hours helps with rankings and allows you to build a following faster.

Run giveaway contests to attract more followers. You can run the giveaway contest on your website, for example, and encourage users to follow you on Twitch or join your mailing list.

Make sure you give away something of value that encourages visitors to participate.

You can also guarantee followers by asking your audience to join the contest and win by following you on Twitch.

Other effective ways to get more followers are to create attention-grabbing stream titles, promote your streams in your newsletter, feature streams on your website, and stream on other sites. For example, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook Live, and DailyMotion.

3) USE DONATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS

Add a “Donate” button on your channel and ask for donations. If you already have a decent number of followers who love your content, they’ll be more than happy to make donations.

Add the “Donate” button via PayPal, Stripe, Donorbox, or third-party apps.

Encourage users to donate by setting a goal and mentioning why you need the donation. Have a donations goal or state the amount you need and show progress on your channel and site. For example, you can target 100 donations in 30 days and communicate daily or hourly progress. Make sure users know how many donations you’ve received and how far you are from reaching your target. Doing this helps keep your audience engaged and attracts more donations.

Use Twitch Alerts to encourage donations.

Another option is to leverage brand partnerships. If you have a decent following and an active audience, reach out to brands and promote their products to your Twitch followers. This is one of the best ways to make money on Twitch.

You get paid on commission.

You can target companies selling gaming equipment, phone or computer accessories, clothing, web hosting, and so on.

You don’t have to be a Twitch Affiliate to succeed. The most important thing is to have an active audience and be able to influence their buying decisions or the decision-making process. This is not difficult if you’ve built meaningful relations with your followers and they trust your opinion and like your content.

4) SELL YOUR MERCHANDISE

Create and sell merchandise to your audience. Know your followers and sell items they are interested in or ones they are most likely to buy.

If you have loyal followers who are actively engaged with your content, they’ll be more than happy to buy your products.

You can sell branded t-shirts, branded mugs, stickers, and so on.

Customize what you are selling and feature your brand logo, Twitch channel name, or your face. This works best if you have lots of followers, stream consistently, and have formed meaningful relations with your audience.

Build your store with Shopify or WooCommerce and add the URL on your Twitch page.

Promote your store on your business website, blog, social media channels, and Twitch page.

Advertise your products and tell your followers about new offers to attract sales. Be unique and creative about what you sell to ensure conversions.

Another option is to sell games on your Twitch channel to boost your earnings.

Stream yourself playing the game you want to sell to your Twitch followers to attract attention. Showcase interesting game features and moves gamers will love. This is a great way to get your followers excited about your game. It helps you capture attention, attract sales, and increase your conversion rates.

When you stream your game, your profile displays a “Buy Now” button automatically that encourages users to purchase the game. So, you don’t have to worry too much about advertising while streaming. Twitch does all that for you. All you need to do is showcase interesting moves, keep your viewers engaged, and influence buying decisions with your gaming skills.

5) JOIN THE TWITCH AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Join the Twitch Affiliate Program and make money selling games, in-game items, and Twitch bits.

All you have to do is stream regularly, get at least 50 followers, have at least 3 concurrent viewers, and increase your affiliate status.

To be eligible, you also need to broadcast 500 minutes in 30 days and on at least 7 days.

Once you become an affiliate, you can also make money through Twitch bits, Game sales, and Subscriptions.

When you are an affiliate, your viewers can subscribe to your channel and get exclusive bonuses charged monthly. Some of the benefits available to your subscribers are unique emoticons, merchandise discounts, exclusive chat rooms, and subscriber-only streams.

You earn 50% of what you make. This is more than enough if you have a decent number of subscribers who love your offers. The other half goes to Twitch.

Your subscribers can choose between 3 available packages. They can subscribe to your channel for $4.99, $9.99, or $24.99 monthly.

When you increase your Twitch affiliate status, you can enter the Twitch Partner Program. The partner program works like the affiliate program but offers more monetization opportunities and allows you to make more money.

As a partner, you can receive a share of ad revenue from your Twitch page, get brand sponsorships and endorsements.

If you want to become a Twitch Partner, you have to apply because it is strictly by invitation only. However, you can apply and ask them to consider you.

Twitch gets into partnerships with streamers that have lots of influence and a good reputation on their platform.

They also consider your content, streaming schedule or frequency, and average concurrent viewership.

Other ways to increase your chances of being accepted into the Partner Program are to stream for at least 20 hours, get an average of 75 viewers per stream, and stream on 12 different days.

Becoming a Twitch Affiliate also allows you to earn money with Bits and Cheers as well as Video Ads.

6) LEVERAGE TWITCH BITS

Leverage Twitch Bits once you are an affiliate. As a Twitch Affiliate, you can make money by accepting donations directly on Twitch.

Your followers or viewers buy Bits by completing surveys or watching ads.

Bits are virtual tips or cheers you get from your viewers when they enjoy your streaming. Most users want to support streamers and always send virtual cheers and tips. All you have to do is ensure you broadcast content they love. The kind that interests them and keeps them engaged.

Your viewers can pay via PayPal or Amazon Payments.

As a partner or affiliate, you get $0.01 for every Bit received or used. As you get more followers and viewers, the amount adds up. So, focus on streaming great content and getting more viewers.

Your viewers can also use Twitch Bits to buy emotes which can be used in a chat. The emotes come in different colors and sizes. The bigger and more animated emotes cost more Bits.

Twitch allows you to set the minimum number of Bits and the smallest emote viewers can use in your channel. This helps you avoid spam.

Viewers can also spend their Bits to receive badges that are displayed in the chat when they leave comments. The more bits they spend, the more badges and emotes they unlock. The more viewers chat and are active on your channel, the more Bits they spend. Which allows you to increase your earnings.

So, encourage them to leave comments and remain active in chats.

The viewers also earn a better Cheer Chat Badge as they continue to spend more Bits. Which encourages them to remain active in chats and continuously cheer you on.

To make more money, get more people to cheer you with bits.

7) RUN ADS

Run ads on your stream to make money. Share revenue generated from your ads with Twitch.

You get paid a flat-rate CPM or receive money for every 1000 views.

The ads are shown before your viewers join the stream or before the stream begins. However, you can also choose to run your ads during a stream. It all depends on what you want.

Rolling out ads during a stream is advisable when you want to take or move from your screen for a while. Maybe when you want to quickly grab a snack or take a bathroom break.

You can run pre-roll ads, mid-roll ads, post-roll ads, or all of them. Experiment to see what works for you and your audience.

The amount of money you make from ads depends on various things. Such as the number of concurrent viewers, the type of game being streamed, the viewer’s geographical location, the season you are in, and the viewers’ ages.

The ads are normally worth between $0.002 and $0.01 per view. This isn’t much but it adds up with time. Especially if you have a huge following. If you are only starting, this is not the most profitable way to increase your earnings on Twitch.

Another way to boost your earnings is to offer ad-free viewing to your subscribers. For example, you can remove ads when someone subscribes to any of the above-mentioned subscription packages.

People don’t like seeing ads every time they watch a video or want to access certain content. So, offering ad-free viewing to your subscribers can help you attract more subscriptions and increase your earnings.

The first step to making money on Twitch is getting more followers and viewers on your stream. When you achieve that milestone, you’ll be in a better position to start earning and boosting your income.

So, focus more on getting more viewers and less on trying out different monetization strategies. This doesn’t mean you should not apply the strategies mentioned. It simply means you have to connect with your audience first, get more followers, and get more views.

Some of the most effective ways to attract more viewers are playing games with more viewers than subscribers, talking while streaming, promoting your stream, and using high-quality streaming equipment.

You also have to get hosted on other streams, entertain viewers with your stream, ask viewers to invite their friends, be unique, join tournaments to attract new followers, and always do a test stream before going live.

Playing games with more viewers than streamers can help you attract new followers. It is the most effective way to connect with your target audience and turn them into engaged followers.

Succeeding on Twitch depends on how much you interact with your followers. So, avoid radio silence and talk while streaming. Keep your viewers entertained. Not just watching you and what you are doing.

Add interesting overlays to your stream to capture attention, retain your viewers, and get more followers. So, use free overlays to enhance your stream. Add a few animations to grab attention and retain it.

Be unique. Make sure you stand apart from other streamers. Have one thing that distinguishes you from everyone else to keep your followers interested in your content. You can start the stream with a joke, an update on the latest games, interesting gaming tips, and so on.

The goal is to have something that you do that helps your viewers connect with you at a personal level. Something that shows your character.

You can also guest stream on other websites to reach a different audience and find new followers.

BONUS

Enter tournaments, win, and earn money. You can either compete alone or in a team. Choose the right game or one you have lots of experience in and are comfortable with to increase your chances of winning. Broadcast the game as you play and get your followers to follow along and cheer you on.

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