You can understand why Twitch would want to distance itself from recent events. The Amazon-owned streaming platform ceased operations in Korea, laid off around 900 people, and swung back and forth on nudity policies before an embarrassing rollback. But the Twitch news keeps coming thick and fast, and this time, in a new blog, it announced a number of expansions to its Partner Plus Program. Come May 1, there will be numerous changes to the streamer payout program: starting with changing the name to Plus Program.
This is because streamers will no longer need to be Partners (those selected by Twitch to monetize their content) to qualify for the Plus Program. Affiliates (those with a smaller following who have access to more basic monetization options) will now be allowed to qualify, and a new level will be added to the program. This new level, Level 1, will offer a 60/40 revenue split for streamers who maintain 100 Plus Points for three months.
Then, for Level 2, the 70/30 revenue split threshold is set to be lowered from 350 to 300 Plus Points. Still, creators can earn Plus Points in the same way as they did before, by having viewers consistently watching and following their streams.
“When the Partner Plus Program launched with qualification set at 350 points, it made sense for the program to be Partner-only, as just about every streamer who would qualify was a Partner,” the company explained in the blog post. “With the lower thresholds, more Affiliates can qualify, and they deserve to be rewarded for the support of their communities.”
A second major change, which will come into effect immediately, is the removal of the current $100,000 cap on the 70/30 revenue split for streamers.
“Previously, after reaching $100K annually in net subscription revenue, the revenue share would revert from 70% to the standard rate of 50%,” the company explained. “We have received clear feedback that the $100K cap limited the earnings and growth opportunities for impacted streamers and served as a disincentive. This change is effective starting today.”
Twitch is also transitioning to a “fixed rate model” for Prime Gaming subscriptions (a free monthly Twitch subscription that Amazon Prime users receive) based on the country of the subscriber. The exact rate will vary based on the country the viewers are from, and Twitch plans to update the rates as needed once a year, with new rates being published annually. Unfortunately, it looks like that for some creators, this will result in a slight pay cut in Prime Gaming earnings.
For years, Twitch had a 70-30 revenue split deal with a select number of top creators. Then, in September 2022, the company made the controversial decision to change this revenue split to 50/50 across the board. Unsurprisingly, this caused a lot of backlash and is ultimately what led to the introduction of the Partner Plus Program in October 2023. It revoking the $100,000 cap and lowering the bar of entry for the Plus Program is arguably another attempt to try and restore trust among their creator communities.
“The changes we are announcing today are designed to create a transparent revenue share framework that can bring predictability to streamers’ careers,” CEO Dan Clancy said in a statement. “Twitch’s long-term success depends upon our ability to help these creators sustain their careers over time. At the same time, since our creators depend upon Twitch, we need to ensure that our revenue share structure is designed so that we can sustain the business and Twitch will be here 50 years from now.”
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