Twitch just launched a new Partner Plus Program, and streamers are furious. Less than a year after announcing its new, very controversial revenue split policy for top streamers, it has announced that it’ll be giving certain channels a chance to reach the highly coveted 70/30 split, but with lots of strings attached.
Essentially, the program works like this: streamers can qualify by maintaining a subscriber count of at least 350 recurring paid subscriptions for three consecutive months. They’ll be automatically enrolled into this scheme for the next 12 months, even if they lose subscribers. However, they will only get a 70 percent share on subscription revenue up to $100,000, the rest of which will be subject to a 50/50 split. Gift subs and Prime subscriptions don’t count to the qualification criteria either. The money made from gift subs will still count towards that initial 70/30 split $100,000 though, meaning that Twitch is happy to take a cut of what streamers make from it, just not to count it towards qualification.
The requirement of having 350 recurring paid subscriptions means that most streamers won’t be eligible for this program, and those who want to be part of it will have to disincentivise gift and Prime subs, both of which are commonly used as community-building tools. The non-inclusion of gift subs, in particular, means that viewers who have the money and want to spend it gifting subs for their favourite streams are, essentially, being told that their money has no impact on the standing of streamers. They can still do it, but streamers won’t have a better shot at entering the program, and 50 percent of that money will still go to Twitch. This is probably to prevent streamers from buying themselves onto the program, but it still sucks for streamers who, without these subscriptions, will be stuck with the 50/50 revenue split.
It’s pretty clear that this move was geared at incentivising larger creators to stay on the platform, especially those that have been contemplating a jump to services like YouTube, which already has a 70/30 split, and Kick, which has a 95/5 split. Both have their own share of issues, with YouTube having a problem picking up steam with big streamers, and Kick being an ethical minefield that is somehow morally more evil than an Amazon-owned company. The program essentially gives top streamers the chance to make what they used to make, except with a cap. Meanwhile, smaller streamers are left in the lurch, and many feel ignored by a platform that takes half their income without valuing their role in Twitch’s success.
It’s tragic that a company that makes all of its money off streamers is treating them this way, but it’s not surprising – after all, this is a business we’re talking about. It is not, as much as streamers hope they will be, creator-focused. It is profit-focused. During a livestream about the new program, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said “We have a job here, which is to do whatever we can for you while running this business sustainably over time.” It seems that not even being owned by Amazon is enough to ensure this website stays sustainable. It’s a bad look for Twitch, the biggest streaming platform in the world.