Twitch is making it really easy for streamers to earn tons of money now. At least, that’s what streamer Byron “Reckful” Bernstein showed in his latest broadcast, revealing that Twitch’s built-in sponsorship board was offering him $8,412 to stream League of Legends for an hour.
“You don’t have to get a manager or anything,” Reckful said shortly before showing Twitch’s “Bounty Board” live. Two other offers would give him $4,000 for watching a Street Fighter league live on his channel or for streaming one hour of Final Fantasy XIV Online.
The fact that the Bounty Board exists isn’t news, but the figures are surprising even for a streamer as big as Reckful, who used to get tens of thousands of viewers when he was streaming Hearthstone and World of Warcraft regularly. Earning $8,412 for an hour of work is something very few people can get in any job.
Twitch’s Bounty Board FAQ has an explanation of how sponsorship figures can get to that level. “Payout rates are initially calculated by factoring in the brand, your historical viewership metrics, and geographic location,” Twitch’s Bounty Board FAQ reads. Streamers have to meet certain goals to get the full value out of the sponsor. “You will receive the full payout for meeting the concurrent viewership requirement, while receiving a partial payout if you don’t meet the requirement,” Twitch’s Bounty Board FAQ reads. Any offer that appears on a streamer’s Bounty Board has already been approved for that person, so there are no additional steps to go through or be accepted by the sponsor. They can only activate that bounty and start streaming.
These figures might explain why big professional players have given up completely on their game’s professional scene to work exclusively with streaming. Félix “xQc” Lengyel, once a tank player in the Overwatch League for the Dallas Fuel, is now a substitute player for Los Angeles Gladiators’ Academy team in Contenders while streaming on Twitch full-time. He started streaming for a long period after being released by Dallas. Fortnite pro Turner “Tfue” Tenney, who’s qualified for the game’s World Cup Finals, said this event will be his last in the competitive scene because he’ll focus on streaming.
With players having such good offers on Twitch’s Bounty Board and living with the unpredictability of results in esports events, we might see more and more of them moving toward streaming if they have a good viewer base.
