Twitch Partners are no longer the only streamers able to access the service’s subscription program. This week, Affiliates will also earn the beloved subscription button—with all three tier options.
Subscriptions for Affiliates will be offered at $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99, just as with Partners. Affiliates, however, will only unlock one custom subscription emote per tier. Partners can unlock up to 50 subscription emotes. Twitch continues to offer more monetization options for Affiliates; the subscription button joins Cheering with Bits and game sales.
Eventually, Twitch Affiliates will also have access to ad support, though no timeline has been detailed for access to the feature. Up until recently, these features were reserved for Twitch’s Partnership program, which has more than 17,000 members. The Affiliates program, with less stringent requirements, opens up full-time Twitch streaming—or a path to full-time—to more streamers.
Related: Twitch Affiliates will “soon” get sub buttons and ad revenue
Lesser known streamers are given a boost with the new tools, and the Affiliates program is a game changer for smaller streams. Both the Affiliate and Parntership programs sound similar, but there are some key differences, however. Emote unlocks and payout timeframes are the biggest differences, though Twitch expects to roll out “premium features” for both game sales and ad support for Partners “soon.” Twitch has not commented on what, precisely, these features are.
“We designed the Twitch Affiliate program as a stepping stone to our Partnership program, which includes providing several means of monetization to those creators aspiring to reach the next tier in their career,” Twitch’s Ethan Evans said. “By enabling Affiliates to use Cheering, sell games, and now offer subscriptions, we are leading the industry in offering monetization options to creators.”
Twitch Partners receive a certain percentage of each subscription amount, while Twitch takes the rest. Depending on stream size, partners sometimes can negotiate different percentage shares with Twitch. It’s unclear if Affiliates will have this privilege, though with the number of Affiliates entering the program, it seems unlikely. Twitch declined to comment on the rates.
