Twitch launched their new Affiliate Program yesterday, with the goal to provide a stepping stone before becoming a fully partnered streamer. This helps aspiring streamers as it adds a level of progression that you can attain, as the streaming landscape grows and becomes more competitive. Being an Affiliate immediately allows for monetization through Bits, and soon, Subscriptions, Ads, and Game Sales coming within the next few months. Transcoding priority is also given to Affiliates as they’re available. Finally – payout fees are borne by the Affiliates, as opposed to getting covered by Twitch for Partners – which means additional costs that come with the monetization.
What does it take to become a Twitch Affiliate?
Twitch has provided a criteria list, which may change over time, to become a Twitch Affiliate:
- 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
With the increasingly competitive streaming landscape, this additional program is great to sustain smaller streamers who put a lot of work into streams. I personally hope this helps the streaming landscape, and allow for more people to have a sustainable streaming career. For those eligible, the first batch of invitations have been sent out – and will be sent in batches over the next few weeks. If you haven’t received your invite, fret not!
Below is the comparison table, taken from the Twitch FAQ Page:
| Feature | All Streamers | Twitch Affiliate | Twitch Partner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monetization Tools | |||
| Cheering with Bits | No | Yes, No Custom Cheermotes | Yes, With Custom Cheermotes |
| Subscriptions | No | Coming Soon, 1 Sub Emote | Yes, Can Unlock up to 50 Sub Emotes |
| Game Sales | No | Coming Soon | Yes, Premium Features Coming Soon |
| Ads | No | Coming Soon | Yes, Premium Features Coming Soon |
| Video Tools | |||
| Transcodes | As Available | As Available, with priority access | Full access to Transcodes |
| Past Broadcast Storage | 14 Days | 14 Days | 60 Days |
| Stream Delay | No stream delay option | No stream delay option | Stream delay up to 15 minutes |
| Payment Terms | |||
| Chargeback Protection | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Payout Timeframe | N/A | 60 days | 45 Days |
| Payout Fees | N/A | Covered by Affiliates | Covered by Twitch |
| Customer Service | Standard Support Queue | Standard Support Queue | Priority Partner Support, Access to Partnerships Team |
| Verified Chat Badge | No | No | Yes |
| Channel Page Icon | No | No | Coming Soon |
Do let us know your thoughts on this! If you’re a streamer from Southeast Asia, we’d like to feature you on our Streamer Index on http://gameishard.gg/streamers/ as well. Sign up to be a part of the index, and we’ll get in touch with you for a feature!
