Affiliate Status in Twitch: Finally Hit My Numbers
Last Updated on August 4, 2020 by Michael Brockbank
On October 15, ColoradoPlays finally hit affiliate status with Twitch. Though, I’m not really sure what many people expect with this illustrious goal. Sure, it opens a few doors for monetizing, but is it really the beginning of a career?
For thousands of streamers, not really. And it’s not from a lack of trying. I’m sure there are a lot of great people out there on Twitch, or even YouTube.
But just because you meet the bare minimum for affiliate status, doesn’t mean you need to let up the reigns.
What Does Affiliate Status in Twitch Mean?
To achieve affiliate status in Twitch gives a bit of notoriety within the community. But most view it as a way to expand how they can make money while playing games.
For us, it’s more about gaining another method that can help us support various charities.
Whatever the motivation behind driving yourself to reach affiliate status in Twitch, There’s no doubt that it has great potential to bring in a few bucks.
However, there is far more work to do once you are accepted into the program.
Earning Money Through Bits
Bits are a way for viewers to cheer you as a broadcaster. In reality, these bits are valued at around $0.01 each. So if someone “cheers” you 100 bits, you make about a dollar before Twitch and PayPal fees.
If you use PayPal, that is.
Unless you’re pulling in a lot of bits, you’re not going to make tons of money. And then comes the fun part of waiting a couple of weeks for a payout IF you hit the $100 threshold.
However, it’s still a viable way to bring in a few bucks for doing something you love. So, there’s nothing wrong with that in the grand scheme of things.
It’s a dollar more than I had yesterday.
Setting Up Benefits for Subscribers
The next part of gaining affiliate status within Twitch is setting up subscriber benefits. After all, you need to give them a reason to fork over $4.99, $9.99 or even $24.99 depending on the tier.
Twitch has a few ways you can offer incentives but really doesn’t do a lot. Outside of commercial-free viewing, you can assign emotes and badges so subscribers can show off their love of your channel.
You can also set up loyalty badges, which gives supporters a way to express how long they’ve been subscribed.
But, we’re going to go well beyond just a few images and commercial-free programming.
Ad Revenue During Streams?
Something relatively new Twitch has implemented is ad sharing. In essence, you get a slice of the ad revenue pie from pre-roll and mid-roll ads.
It’s kind of like YouTube’s and Google’s Adsense program. However, the requirements to start making this money is far easier to achieve than on YouTube.
It basically breaks down to a split between yourself and Twitch. This means you’ll have a $3.50 CPM.
So, I’ll make $3.50 per 1000 viewers. This breaks down to about $0.0035 per viewer, which is close to what you’d get with something like Adsense through a blog or perhaps YouTube videos.
In other words, it will take a long time to see any serious money from Ad Revenue unless you become as popular as someone like “Ninja.”
In other words, I would need 28,572 ad views before I would make $100! Which is perhaps better than many Adsense-powered blogs.
However, the ads are simply another way I can make money on Twitch. Although I don’t plan to make a lot from ad rolls, they might bring in a few bucks every other month.
How Do I Succeed with Affiliate Status in Twitch?
Now comes the fun part…and perhaps the most stressful. Trying to come up with a plan that can propel affiliate status on Twitch to help drive additional donations to Extra Life, Geeks of Grandeur and all the other charities we support.
Becoming an affiliate means nothing if you don’t have people engaged in your live stream.
Find Games People Will Want to Watch
I often tend to play older games or titles that few people like to watch. As a result, I don’t often gain a huge audience. And if it wasn’t for the embedded video on this website, I probably wouldn’t have the watchtime to become an affiliate.
We might have to expand what games we play.
Later today, I am setting up a spreadsheet to track what games are best and at what times. So far, it looks like Diablo 3 gets the bigger audience. But we have a lot of games, so it’s probably going to take a while.
My point is just because I think the game is fun, doesn’t mean other people are going to watch. And if we’re trying to build an audience to increase how much we can donate, we need eyes and engagement.
Be More Engaging
I go back and watch previous streams to create strategies about how to improve. Volume settings, camera positioning, and even my attitude is scrutinized.
We are incredibly responsive to input from viewers. In fact, I thrive on being interactive. But I don’t know how to get the audience involved in what I’m trying to accomplish.
Perhaps if I ask more directed questions to viewers about ways to go about playing. Maybe that would get the ball rolling.
Another problem I have is separating the professional from the gamer.
You see, I maintain WriterSanctuary.com and its YouTube channel. I’ll also be doing WordPress tutorials in the near future for a web hosting company. In those instances, I am far more professional on camera.
I need to let my fun side out more.
Develop Special Emotes and Badges
The next thing I am doing either today or tomorrow is setting up those emojis and badges I mentioned earlier. I highly doubt I will have any subscribers tonight, but I don’t want to wait too long to get something up.
I want anyone who subscribes to feel appreciated from the first moment they hit that button.
The hard part is coming up with graphics that are fun but still related to the channel. I was thinking of just getting something up for now and then running a poll later to see what my viewers and subscribers would want.
There are a few ideas I’m playing with, but I’ll see what it looks like once I get them added to the channel.
Find a Reason for People to Subscribe
I want subscribers to have more than just emojis and badges. Why would people want to subscribe to my channel?
Why would I subscribe to a channel?
Now, I know Twitch has quite a few guidelines I have to follow regarding what I can offer. But perhaps I can do something fun, like run subscriber-only events or game invites.
Perhaps I can add them to a newsletter of sorts to help build a community.
I’m playing with a variety of ideas right now, but if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments down below.
Expanding How Often We Stream
Right now, I tend to stream on Tuesday and Thursday from 6 pm to 8 pm. Then, we’ll stream on Sunday nights when we feel like it.
Perhaps I can strive to hit Partner Status. That would be incredible given how many opportunities partners get as opposed to affiliate status in Twitch.
I’m pretty sure we can get the number of days in a month streaming, which is 12 total. But it’s the average viewership that will pose the biggest hurdle. To become a Twitch Partner, you need 75 average viewers.
Still, expanding the streams to four days a week might be doable if I plan it right. Maybe Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday?
Team-ups and Collaborations
One thing we love doing is teaming up with viewers or collaborations. Though, we haven’t done much of the latter. However, we might be able to join up with a few charities to expand both our audiences.
Unfortunately, most people who stream that are interested in these do so in the mornings or afternoons, when I’m usually working for my client or my own blogs and YouTube channels.
The awesome thing about my job, though, is that I can move the hours around as I see fit. As long as I hold my team meetings at 10 am on Mondays, I am pretty much open for changing my schedule around.
Driving Charities through Affiliate Status in Twitch
As long as I can maintain a positive attitude and not try to rush to success, I’m sure affiliate status with Twitch will offer some great rewards. It’s all about being patient and growing your audience.
Instead of focusing too much on becoming an overnight hit, let’s take it slow and just focus on the here-and-now. And right now, it’s time to make some emojis and badges.
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