It’s the Perfect Time for a 70/30 Sub Split on Twitch

I’ve been streaming on Twitch for over 6 years now, and became a Twitch Partner in September of 2019. When I started, and for a few years while I was getting my channel presence solidified, Twitch was THE place to be, especially if you were looking to make a name for yourself in the gaming industry. Gradually over time, the “bleed purple” mentality started fading, the feeling of being the cool kids on the block along with it, turning into doubts among many of Twitch streamers that the platform still sides with the creators.

Most recently, Twitch announced new “sponsorship” guidelines, an announcement Zach Bussey, notable Twitch news figure, had to bring to us as it was information not made easily accessible by the streamers (aside from eventually letting us know via a notification on the website). After an overwhelming amount of public backlash, Twitch released some clarification tweets, noting that this these were guidelines meant for 3rd party advertisers looking to Twitch itself for ad space, not guidelines on how streamers run their sponsored campaigns. Though the updated guidelines wording seemed pretty targeted at the creators, the optimist in me wants to infer that the person who wrote these guidelines wasn’t up to snuff on the terminology for sponsorships/advertising/brand deals/etc., and if that’s the case…that was a miscommunication that caused some mass hysteria that we’re still recovering from.

In my opinion, Twitch is now in a position where they have to honor what they said in that tweet, so as far as our sponsorships, the expectation is that we’re still good to go. However, the whole sponsorship guideline mess, coming just off of a 400-employee layoff, on top of the general feeling among so much of the community that Twitch is no longer on the creators’ side, now would be the perfect time to give streamers better financial security on the platform.

We’re at a point now where if another platform is going to help pay our bills more efficiently, they’ve made it VERY easy for us to consider it as a viable option INSTEAD of Twitch. The bells and whistles of this site are no longer enough to keep us around. Now we need substance.

I personally think they should increase the sub split to at LEAST 70/30 for both Twitch partners AND affiliates. I wouldn’t consider going elsewhere if I got $1.27 more per sub. I’d even settle for 65/35, as that’d give us about $1 more per sub (Twitch really went and made this non-math gay have to do math to prove a point. The audacity!)

Now I’m no business expert, but from what I’ve seen compared to past years, people already don’t want to sub on Twitch. My sub count has gone down considerably over the last year, and I know I’ve heard my peers say the same. To make this a profitable career, streamers have had to elect to put on month-long events, streaming 24/7, producing the entire thing themselves (and maybe some of their moderators) just to perhaps stay afloat. Is that the kind of environment Twitch really wants? I’d sure hope not.

People are also leaning more and more into direct tips and 3rd-party platforms like Patreon and Ko-fi to monetarily support Twitch streamers. It’s hard for us to deny that a direct tip would help us continue to produce content full-time (or even part-time, for that matter) which would ultimately make for a better user experience, rather than a sub where the biggest perk for users is no ads on that channel, when ad-blockers are an incredibly common practice, and the streamer only gets half of the cut.

So sacrificing that $1.20 to sustain creators, in my opinion, could generate more subs overall, due to more people finding the sub split favorable for their business. Keeping the tier 1 subscription at $4.99, viewers can still consider it as an affordable option to improve their Twitch experience while watching their favorite creator, while also supporting a better split to help the streamer keep their lights on.

“But Jeff! Corporation bad!”

I’m aware! They make choices that are incredibly out of touch! But I know there are also some good people behind that corporation fighting a good fight, even if it’s hard for us to see, right now, and even if they’re not advocating for a 70/30 sub split, I have to hope that they’re advocating for our livelihood on the platform.

More people subscribing, even with less of the cut going to Twitch, in the wake of the lack of support for creators, could result in MORE subs overall for the platform. In turn, more people would perhaps consider using Twitch, which means more money potential! More people on the site! More advertisers buying ad space on Twitch because of how many people use it!

My thoughts on this might sound overly optimistic and naïve, and might not be substantiated in any way, but I feel like, with all the features that make Twitch stand out from other platforms, a favorable sub split for the streamer is now necessary, due to just how much our faith is wavering.

I didn’t think 50/50 was that bad when Twitch was THE platform to be on. Sure, it was only $2.22 of a $5 sub that went to us, but I felt the experience viewers were getting was at least good enough to acknowledge that, and still make the transaction. Now? So many of us are starting to look for greener pastures when our money-making opportunities on this website are becoming more and more uncertain. We want to feel secure, here, and despite the fact that they ultimately promised that our sponsorships are not about to be heavily restricted, it’s left us, yet again, nervous about the future of Twitch.

So many of us have years-long connections, of a community we’ve built, and of comfortability on Twitch. Deep down, I don’t think any of us want to fully jump ship when we have all of these accomplishments to consider.

Let’s be real: Twitch probably makes decent ad revenue. I’ve heard word of advertisers having pulled their ads from Twitch, but there will be companies that still want to advertise. 31 million people still visit Twitch daily, they will not hurt for advertisers.

We’ve seen the mount of ads we get as viewers. We’re well aware of their ability to get ad revenue.

However, wouldn’t a platform with more people wanting to stream on it because of a 70/30 sub split, ON TOP OF the features that set it apart from other platforms…potentially get MORE advertisers because MORE people are coming to Twitch? As streamers AND viewers?

That’s why I feel like the 70/30 split is a change that should be made ASAP. Probably even yesterday, but we’ll have to settle for ASAP (but as long as it’s soon, not soon™️. Preferably thinking about it NOW.)

We need this kind of security to keep a lot of us around. For a lot of us who have been doing this long-term, and want to continue a career in entertainment, we’re going to go wherever helps us pay our bills more, not those who promise some level of brand loyalty but continuing to be out of touch with its creators.

The “Bleed Purple” days have BEEN long gone. Platform loyalty is only as strong as the support and services it gives the creators that fuel the platform, because let’s be real: if we don’t use the platform, they don’t have content to monetize.

I’m not currently making any plans to stop streaming on Twitch, because I want to see what they do next after their HUGE “miscommunication” about sponsorship guidelines, but in my humble opinion, it’s about time that they provide us more financial security. For a good many of us, this pays our rent, feeds our families, and helps us plan for the future. Even if the they say the sponsorship guideline changes weren’t intended for the creators, it became a rude awakening that Twitch, at any point, can make it much harder for us to continue using the platform to provide for us and our loved ones. We need a substantial gesture of good faith to keep a lot of us around.

For the record, I don’t know that I actually expect Twitch to consider a 70/30 sub split as an option. I want to hope that they would, though. Even if they start with 60/40, or test 70/30 with just partners to start (because no, not all partners get a 70/30 split on their tier 1 subscriptions), something to get the ball rolling, something to give promise of change for the better feels mandatory, at this point.

Hope and optimism has gotten me through a lot of hard times, even if things ultimately didn’t go well, so I’m going to rely on them here.

I’m optimistic enough to write this whole piece about it, at the very least. It’s okay if you’ve lost your faith in Twitch, but I’ve seen, over the course of these 6+ years that I’ve been on the platform, that they CAN do right by creators. They can get back to it, as long as we, as a user base, continue to keep them accountable.

I’ve also seen several Twitch ambassadors (Lil_Lexi and Ashsaidhi being the ones I’ve seen speaking out, on my end) say that, after a meeting with Twitch staff about the sponsorship situation, they’re optimistic that they’re taking their suggestions to heart. It also appears that there will be more meetings about new contract changes Twitch is rolling out, so if anything I hope this was a huge wake-up call for Twitch to actually listen to those they elect to be representatives of the platform.

I personally haven’t met a Twitch ambassador I didn’t trust. If anything, I have faith because they do, and I hope any of us who are struggling to feel heard on this platform can look to what they’re saying to hope for a better future on Twitch.

(Edit: Since posting this, Twitch has issued an apology, essentially admitting that the guidelines they were going to implement would have harmed creators and their sponsorship campaigns. While this could have come sooner, I’m glad that they still said this, and am hoping the changes moving forward are more favorable to the creators.)