In this day and age, streaming platforms are a major way for content creators to share their work with the world. While YouTube is the usual go-to, there’s a new(ish) player in town — Twitch. This live streaming site where people can watch gamers, artists, and other types of content creators offers an excellent platform for making some extra cash. Wondering how to become a Twitch affiliate? We got you covered in the article below.
What Is a Twitch Affiliate?
In short, a Twitch affiliate is someone who has been approved by Twitch to join their program and share links and other promotional materials on their channel to make money. Affiliates receive a percentage of the revenue generated from people clicking on those links or watching content through the affiliate’s channel. So, it’s a pretty good deal if you’re looking to make some cash on the side.
Twitch Affiliate Requirements
There are a few requirements to become a Twitch affiliate. The first is to make sure that your account is in good standing and that you’re following all of the platform’s rules and regulations. While becoming a Twitch partner still requires quite a bit of effort, it is slightly easier to achieve affiliate status.
To become an affiliate, you must have at least 50 channel followers, have spent at least 500 minutes broadcasting over the last 30 days, stream on seven different days, and have at least three concurrent viewers.
While this may seem like a lot, it is actually fairly achievable if you are dedicated to growing your channel. Of course, once you become an affiliate, there are still many opportunities to grow your channel and reach partner status. For example, you can continue to increase your average concurrent viewers, total broadcast time, and the number of new followers.
Ultimately, whether you become a partner or an affiliate will depend on your own dedication. Keep in mind that you can not be both partner and affiliate simultaneously, so make sure that you evaluate the Twitch affiliate vs partner pros and cons before deciding and check all the latest Twitch statistics.
How to Check Twitch Affiliate Progress?
Overall, checking your Twitch affiliate progress is a quick and easy way to stay on top of your affiliate marketing efforts. Just follow the steps below.
First, open Twitch in your preferred browser and sign in to your account. Then, click your avatar located in the top-right corner of the home screen and select Creator Dashboard from the list of options in the menu.
Click Insights from the left sidebar menu in the Creator Panel, then select Achievements. After that, click on the achievement called Path to Affiliate to expand it.
And there it is your Twitch affiliate program requirements progress in front of you to see and track.
Once you’ve completed the application process, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be accepted — it all comes down to whether or not Twitch thinks you’re a good fit for the program.
If you are selected for the affiliate program, you’ll receive an email and a Twitch notification. From there, it’s just a matter of completing some final tasks (like setting up your payment information) and then you’re ready to start earning! Keep in mind that it can take up to three weeks from the time you complete the tasks required.
Pros and Cons of Becoming a Twitch Affiliate
Becoming a Twitch affiliate is a great way to monetize your content and get closer to becoming a Twitch partner. As an affiliate, you can earn money in multiple ways, but the most popular and rewarding method is by accepting channel subscriptions. Subscribers get access to special features like exclusive emotes, and they help support your content creation. Other affiliate perks include one global subscriber emotes for all subscribers, earning from Twitch Bits system donations, earning through the advertising system, and getting closer to earning a Partnership with Twitch.
The downside is, when you become a Twitch affiliate, you are no longer able to multistream. Multistreaming is when you broadcast the same content to two different platforms simultaneously, like Twitch and YouTube. While this can be really beneficial for smaller content creators because it helps them build a larger community, it is a surefire way of losing your affiliate status on Twitch since you will be breaking the Twitch affiliate rules.
Earning With Twitch
As an affiliate on Twitch, you have the potential to earn money through subscriptions from viewers. There are four subscription options available — $4.99, $9.99, $24.99, and the Prime Free subscription — and affiliates have access to all of them. You also get one global subscriber emote for all subscribers, plus the option of adding two more for $9.99 and $24.99 subscribers.
In addition, you can enable Bits to Cheer on your channel, which are virtual goods that viewers can buy to support you. Bits come in the form of animated gem emotes or Cheermotes, and you receive a portion of the revenue from every Bit that is used on your channel.
If you’re a gamer, there’s a good chance you’ve considered streaming your gameplay on Twitch. But did you know that you can actually earn money from game sales on Twitch? That’s right — as an affiliate, you can receive a 5% revenue share of any games or in-game items that are purchased by viewers on your channel. So if you’re regularly playing popular games on stream, this is a great way to generate some extra income. Plus, your viewers will be rewarded with a Twitch Crate for any purchases they make — so it’s a win-win for everyone involved! Just keep in mind that channel ads are off-limits for affiliates — so don’t expect to make any money from those.
The process of getting paid is pretty simple — you generate revenue and then get paid according to how you set up your account. The only difference is that with Twitch, you need to provide tax information before getting paid. Lastly, it’s important to remember that you must generate at least $100 in revenue before Twitch will issue a payment. Payment methods you can use are:
- Direct Deposit to your bank account
- Wire
- PayPal
- Check
- Hold Payments
Generally, payments are issued within 30 days of the end of the month in which you generated the revenue. For example, if you generate $100 in revenue in January, you will receive your payout in early March. However, if you generate $100 in revenue in December, you will receive your payout in early February since January is considered a ‘slow month’ for Twitch due to the holidays.
Twitch Affiliate Tips
Take a look at Twitch’s guidelines, rules, and regulations before you start streaming. This way, you can avoid any copyright claims that could prevent you from becoming an affiliate. Use high-quality music to help you stand out from the crowd. Stream often to build up your fan base, and promote your streams on social media, in forums, and so on. Make sure that your streams are good quality, both in terms of audio and visuals. You don’t need to spend a lot of money, but we would recommend getting yourself a microphone.
If you want to make it as a streamer, you need to put in the work. That means finding the right game that will engage your audience and coming up with new and interesting content to keep them coming back. But it’s not all about games and content. You also need to build a rapport with your audience and be communicative and friendly. If you can do all of that, then you’ll be well on your way to becoming an affiliate on Twitch or even a partner.
Being a Twitch affiliate is all about building a community and connecting with your viewers. One of the best ways to do this is to reach out to your friends and family and let them know about your channel. Not only will they be some of your first viewers, but their social proof will make your channel more interesting to others. With a little bit of planning and a bit of luck, you can be a Twitch affiliate in as little as a week. However, it typically takes the average streamer 2-4 months to reach this milestone.
Things to Watch Out for as a Twitch Affiliate
First and foremost, if your account is inactive for a set period of time, you will lose your affiliate status. To avoid this, make sure to keep your channel active by regularly uploading content. Additionally, when you first become an affiliate, there is an exclusive period during which you cannot stream or upload your content to any other site. After this period ends, you are free to do as you please with your content. There is a $25 maintenance fee if your account gets closed.
Lastly, remember that the Terms and Services for Twitch affiliates are always subject to change, so it’s important to stay up to date on the latest agreement.
In Conclusion
Congratulations on making it this far! Learning how to become a Twitch affiliate and taking the leap is no easy task. It takes dedication, passion, and hard work. But the benefits are worth it. Not only will you be able to make some extra money from your streams, but you’ll also have access to a host of new tools and features that can help take your streaming career to the next level. Keep up the great work, and we can’t wait to see what you achieve as a Twitch affiliate.
Twitch Affiliate FAQs
How long does it take to become a Twitch affiliate?
Becoming a Twitch affiliate takes time and effort, but it’s definitely worth it. The time it takes varies depending on how much effort you put in and how successful you are. But generally, you are looking at one or two months of consistent streaming.
How hard is it to become a Twitch affiliate?
Becoming an affiliate on Twitch is not as hard as it seems. You must be an approved partner, and you must have a following of at least 500 viewers. You also must be streaming content on a regular basis. If you meet all of these qualifications, then becoming an affiliate is easy. All you need to do is apply on the Twitch website, and if you are approved, then you can start streaming with the affiliated badge.
Keep in mind that Twitch has the right to revoke your affiliation at any time if they feel that you are not meeting their standards. Ensure that you follow all of Twitch’s rules and regulations and stream with integrity to ensure a long-lasting partnership.
How old do you have to be to be a Twitch affiliate?
To become a Twitch affiliate you have to be 18. This is because Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon, and as part of Amazon’s terms and conditions, you have to be 18 or older to have an account with them. There are some specific exceptions for 13 and 14-year-olds in certain countries, but generally, you can’t be an affiliate if you’re not eighteen.
This rule was put into place in order to protect both Twitch and Amazon from any legal issues that could come up. Because Twitch relies on Amazon for its payment processing, it’s important that all its users meet the same age requirement. This also extends to things like the Amazon Prime subscription service, which is why minors can’t sign up for it even if they’re over the age of thirteen. This means the first thing to mind when looking into how to become a Twitch affiliate is your age.
