How to earn money on Twitch: The guide for 2025

Twitch has become one of the most important platforms for content creators in recent years. More and more people are discovering Twitch as a platform where they can not only live out their passion for gaming and live streaming, but also earn a living. In this detailed guide, I'll show you all the ways you can successfully monetize your Twitch channel.

The most important sources of income as a Twitch affiliate or partner

The path to monetizing your streams starts with achieving affiliate or partner status. This opens the door to Twitch's official monetization tools.

Affiliate status is the first important milestone. With commitment and the right strategy, you can achieve this status after just a few weeks. As an affiliate, you gain access to basic monetization options such as subscriptions, bits and advertising revenue. This allows you to gain initial experience with monetizing your content and build a foundation for your streaming business.

Partner status, on the other hand, is the next big step and is intended for established streamers. As a partner, you enjoy additional benefits such as better advertising revenue, more emote slots and higher streaming quality. Although this status is more difficult to achieve, it also offers you significantly more opportunities to monetize your channel.

Twitch advertising: Your first step towards monetization

Integrating advertising into your stream is often the first step towards monetizing your channel. As an affiliate or partner, you have the opportunity to insert ad breaks during your stream and earn money with them. It is important to find the right balance here - too much advertising can drive viewers away, while cleverly placed ad breaks are hardly disruptive and provide you with a regular income.

The best timing for commercial breaks can be found in natural interruptions to your stream. For example, while you get a drink or wait between two rounds of a game, your viewers can easily cope with the short break. For longer streams, we recommend scheduling regular commercial breaks and announcing them. This way, your viewers will know when they can take a short break themselves.

Twitch itself actively pushes streamers towards more advertising, as it's a win-win situation - both streamers and the platform benefit from the advertising revenue. Over time, you will develop a feeling for when and how often you can place ads without annoying your community.

Twitch subscriptions: Your most important source of income

Subscriptions, or "Subs" are at the heart of Twitch monetization and are becoming the most important source of income for many streamers. Twitch's subscription system is cleverly structured and offers different price levels that provide different benefits for your supporters.

Subs can be divided into 3 tiers:

• Tier 1: 5€ per month
• Tier 2: 10€ per month
• Tier 3: 25€ per month

As a streamer, you initially receive 50% of the revenue, whereby this share can increase with growing success and through programs such as Twitch Plus.

But what makes subscriptions so special? It's the combination of community loyalty and exclusive benefits. Not only do your subscribers get a special sub badge next to their name that identifies them as loyal supporters, but they also get access to your channel-exclusive emotes. These emotes are an important part of Twitch culture and allow your viewers to express themselves in a special way.

The sub-streaks are a particularly clever feature. If viewers remain subscribed for several months in a row, they receive special badge upgrades to show their loyalty. These gamification elements create a strong incentive to maintain subscriptions. Many viewers are proud of their long-term support of a channel and are happy to show this through their sub-badges.

Amazon Prime Subscriptions: The hidden treasure

A special form of subscription that you should definitely keep an eye on is the Prime Sub. As Twitch is owned by Amazon, every Amazon Prime user has the opportunity to subscribe to one channel every month for free. These "Prime Subs" are a fantastic way for your viewers to support you at no extra cost.

Many viewers are not aware of this option or forget that they can reassign their Prime Sub every month. Here it is important to remind your community regularly and in a creative way. A popular approach is to integrate a regular "prime reminder" into your stream. This can be a short overlay that appears once per stream, for example, or a friendly note when you thank other Prime Subs.

Bits: Twitch's virtual tipping system

Bits are Twitch's own virtual currency and work like a digital tipping system. This system is particularly cleverly designed, as it makes donating more attractive through playful elements and visual effects. When viewers "cheer" Bits in your chat, special animations and cheermotes appear, giving the whole thing a festive character.

The Conversion of bits in real money is as follows:

A particularly effective feature is the Bits Leaderboard, which Twitch automatically sets up in your channel. This leaderboard shows the most generous Bits donors and thus creates an additional incentive for your viewers to support you with Bits.

Twitch Plus: Increase your revenue quickly

The Twitch Plus program is an important step towards optimizing your revenue on the platform. While the standard split between streamer and Twitch is 50/50, you can get significantly better conditions by upgrading to Twitch Plus. On Level 1 increases your share to 60% of the net income, while you are Level 2 even 70% you receive.

This improvement in revenue split can make a significant difference to your monthly income, especially if you have already built up a larger community. Imagine you have 1,000 Tier 1 subscribers - increasing your share from 50% to 70% means several thousand euros of additional income per month.

Donations outside of Twitch bits

It is therefore advisable to use professional donation platforms such as StreamElements, Streamlabs or TipeeeStream. These services not only offer protection against chargebacks, but also a variety of additional features that can enrich your stream. These include customizable alerts for donations, detailed statistics and the option to set up different donation goals.

StreamElements has established itself as a particularly popular choice and is used by the biggest German streamers such as Papaplatte and EliasN97 used. The service impresses with its stability, good support and seamless integration into your stream. StreamElements also offers regular updates and new features that help you to keep your donation alerts and overlays interesting.

Patreon: Exclusive content as a stable additional income

Patreon offers you the opportunity to build up an additional, stable income alongside your Twitch activities. The big advantage of Patreon is the ability to offer different supporter levels with different benefits. Unlike Twitch subscriptions, you can be even more flexible in terms of which exclusive content and benefits your supporters receive.

Successful Streamers use Patreon often for offers that go beyond the normal stream. These can be, for example:

• Behind-the-scenes footage of your stream preparation
• Access to an exclusive Discord server
• Early access to new formats 
• Personal coaching in your area of expertise

The key to success on Patreon is to offer real added value that motivates your most loyal fans to give you additional support. A particular advantage of Patreon is the stability of income. While Twitch income can often fluctuate, Patreon supporters often stick around for the long term if they are happy with the extras on offer. This gives you as a content creator more financial planning security.

Amazon Wishlist: Donations in kind made easy

An Amazon Wishlist may not seem like a traditional revenue stream at first glance, but it can be an extremely effective tool for your streaming setup. Many viewers want to support their favorite streamers, but sometimes feel uncomfortable donating money. A Wishlist gives them the opportunity to help you specifically improve your setup.

The trick is to strategically design your wishlist. Add different products in different price categories, from small accessories to larger upgrade options. Make sure to include a brief explanation of how each item would improve your stream. For example, if viewers see that a new microphone would significantly improve the audio quality, they are more likely to contribute.

Professional monetization through sponsoring

Sponsorship deals can become one of your most lucrative sources of income if you implement them professionally and authentically. There are various forms of collaboration that you can choose depending on your target group and your content style.

Product placements

Product placements are often the entry point into the world of sponsorship. Companies pay for you to use and present their products during your stream. The key to success here is natural integration. Instead of obvious advertising blocks, you should incorporate the products into your normal content. For example, if you're promoting gaming peripherals, you can demonstrate the benefits of the products during your normal gameplay and talk authentically about what you like about them.

Brand sponsorships

Brand sponsorships go one step further and offer you longer-term partnerships. This type of collaboration is particularly valuable as it secures you a regular income and often also offers additional benefits such as exclusive products or event participation. Gaming organizations, hardware manufacturers or energy drink brands are classic examples of such partnerships.

Affiliate marketing: Passive income through clever linking

Affiliate marketing is an often underestimated way to generate additional income. The big advantage: you can recommend products that you already use and are convinced of. The Amazon Associates Program is particularly interesting, as it covers a huge range of products and Amazon is used by many viewers anyway.

It is particularly effective if you share your streaming setup via affiliate links. Many viewers are interested in your equipment and will use these links when they are looking for similar products. It's important to strike the right balance here - the links should be easily accessible, for example in your channel description or via bot commands, but not be intrusively advertised.

Selling your own merchandise: From stream to brand

The step towards own merchandise is an important milestone for many streamers. Examples of merchandise products are: Clothing, mugs or cuddly toys. With print-on-demand services, you can get started today without any major financial risk. The key to success lies in the quality and design of your products. Standard products with a printed logo are no longer enough - your merchandise line should reflect your personality and the special features of your stream.

Successful streamers often rely on limited collections or special designs that relate to stream insider jokes or popular moments. This creates a certain FOMO effect (Fear of Missing Out) and makes the products particularly desirable for your community. Seasonal collections, for example for Stream anniversaries or special events, can also be very successful.

Services and digital products: Monetize your expert knowledge

As a Twitch streamer, you not only build up a loyal community over time, but also develop valuable expert knowledge. You can turn this expertise into a lucrative source of income by selling services or digital products.

Coaching is one of the most obvious options. Whether it's gaming skills, streaming set-up or content strategy - others can benefit from your experience in your specialist area. A structured coaching offer with various packages, from a one-off session to intensive coaching lasting several weeks, appeals to different target groups.

Digital products such as e-books or video courses have the advantage that you can create them once and then sell them again and again. For example, a cosplayer could offer detailed tutorials on costume construction, while a gaming streamer could develop a comprehensive guide to their main game. The important thing is that your products offer real added value and stand out from free YouTube tutorials.

Content recycling: utilize your streams on other platforms

The beauty of streaming is that your content can be easily reused on other platforms. YouTube is the most obvious choice. Stream highlights, best-of compilations or thematically focused compilations can reach an additional audience here and be monetized through advertising revenue.

In recent years, TikTok has established itself as a particularly effective channel for short, concise gaming and streaming clips. The viral nature of the platform can help you attract new viewers to your Twitch channel.

Cross-platform promotion: strategically expanding your reach

Today, a well thought-out cross-platform strategy is essential for long-term success. Each platform has its own strengths: Instagram is great for behind-the-scenes content and personal insights, Twitter for quick updates and community interaction, and Discord for direct exchanges with your most loyal fans.

The trick lies in clever linking between platforms. Mention your other channels regularly in your stream, but make it natural and contextual. For example: "By the way, you can find the behind-the-scenes footage of this setup on my Instagram" or "The full tutorial will be on YouTube tomorrow".

On other platforms, you can also earn money through monetization and thus increase your income.

Tournaments and events: additional earning opportunities

The gaming and streaming scene offers numerous opportunities to generate additional income through tournaments and events. Influencer tournaments are particularly interesting, as they often offer high prize money and can increase your reach at the same time.

If you are particularly good at a certain game, it is also worth taking part in regular e-sports tournaments. Even smaller tournaments can serve as a springboard and get you noticed in the scene.

The key success factor for earning money on Twitch: Your viewer numbers

With all these monetization options, you must not forget one thing: Your viewership is and remains the most important lever for your financial success on Twitch. The more people watch you regularly, the more opportunities open up for you - from better sponsorship deals to higher advertising revenue.

The key to growing viewer numbers lies in authentic, high-quality entertainment. Focus on continuously improving your stream and building a real connection with your community. The money will often follow of its own accord.

Conclusion: The most effective ways to earn money as a Twitch streamer

1. Twitch-native monetization (subs, bits, advertising)
2. Donations
3. Sponsorships and partnerships
4. Affiliate marketing
5. Merchandise and own products
6. Cross-platform promotion and monetization
7. Tournaments and events

Whether you earn through advertising, subs, sponsorships or merchandise - there are many ways to earn money on Twitch. Build your community, maintain it and experiment with different sources of income. A loyal community is the foundation for long-term success and stable income on Twitch.

How Twitch pays out your money

To ensure that you actually receive your hard-earned income, here are the most important ones Information about the payout on Twitch:

• Minimum amount for withdrawals: 50 dollars (100 dollars for bank transfers)
• Various payout options available:
  • PayPal (fast and uncomplicated)
  • Bank transfer (secure, but higher minimum amount)
  • Check (less common, longer waiting time)