How much do you make roughly from streaming?

I make around R500 a week if its a good week, but i've been streaming on and off youtube for a year now. Started properly streaming 3 weeks ago and gaining quite a following from new and old returning viewers.
 
-Misfit- said:
If you want to earn money by streaming on twitch you will first need to gather enough of a following to get partnered. This will allow viewers to subscribe to your channel, to donate to you using bits and it allows you to play ads if you want. You can read more about it here: https://www.twitch.tv/p/partners/

Once partnered, the biggest income you can get is if you have subscribers. You get 50% revenue per subscription (twitch takes the other half), meaning for each $4.99 sub you get $2.50. This means if you can get to 1000 subs per month, you will earn $2500 per month, which is R35000 using R14 to $1 exchange rate.

Note that this is also before income tax, so you won't be able to pocket the full amount unless you plan on not paying income tax.

You also have to get to 1000 subs to get that kind of income, which will not be easy. Apart from the hundreds of popular streams that each have 100+ viewers, there are thousands of other streams that don't even break the 10 viewer mark. You need something to stand out from the competition and you need to be able to market yourself. This means you either need to be really good at a game that people like to watch (Dota, LoL, CSGO, WoW, etc.), or you have to be entertaining enough that people watch your stream for you, not just your gameplay. Another avenue is to play with a friend that already has a twitch audience and using that as a catapult to start your own stream (if people want to watch you).

This is incredibly hard to achieve and many people fail to do so. Ask any streamer that makes an income and/or devotes their life to streaming and they will 99% tell you that for you it's not possible to do. It's nothing against you personally, it just requires too much effort and luck. It's too risky, and you're far better off just doing it as a hobby while you earn income from a different more reliable source.

That said, nothing is stopping you from streaming in your free time, which can maybe lead to you generating some income from it (if you're incredibly lucky). But don't let it consume your life.

Good video on income from twitch:
Click to expand...

How does Twitch subscriptions work? Do you have to pay $5 per month, to subscribe to A channel? And then? What do you get from it that a non subscriber doesn't get?
 
Barbarian Conan said:
How does Twitch subscriptions work? Do you have to pay $5 per month, to subscribe to A channel? And then? What do you get from it that a non subscriber doesn't get?
Click to expand...

A bunch of useless crap

Emotes (ugh)
Subscriber only chat
Special events held by the streamer
competitions
And a warm fuzzy feeling inside that you are supporting a 'content creator'
 
ArtyLoop said:
I had a look, basically its the same thing as the "live streams" on DeviantArt and furry sites, but turned into a large-scale business streaming everything because, people these days are so vain they need an audience.

Sorry folks, not for me.
Click to expand...

No audience, no money :)

Twitch has come a long way from a platform for people streaming gameplay. I saw a dude on there streaming himself scamming scammers (those Windows support scammers that cold call people). A couple thousand people were watching and supporting him with subs and donations - it's pretty neat.

There's definitely a seedier side like chicks doing body painting while technically skirting the no nudity policy. There's a female streamer who lies to her audience about being single (she's married) so that she can keep those donations and subscriptions rolling in.

I'm interested in where Twitch goes...it's evolved into a platform for entertainers in general and not solely gamers.
 
If I can't sleep and am still awake at 2 in the morning I sometimes watch the 'just chilling' streams.
Met some Russian girl and chatted about Japanese rock music for some reason....
 
dotdan said:
I do not think South Africa is the right market to make it a viable full time income source. This country and its people are not financially able to spend on luxuries such as game streamers. First world countries are better for Twitch streamers, they have the audience, money and infrastructure. Remember that +- 40% of SA is unemployed..

I would not do this full time, rather as a hobby and see whether you are entertaining enough to gather supporters who will watch you, and start supporting you. (You will have to try get viewers in from UK as well).

Also keep in mind that only the top 10 Twitch streamers(worldwide) have Sub counts over 10K. The top 100 all sit between 500-10000 subcounts. To try and break into that top 100 to actually make money, will be tough.

Make sure you are entertaining, can talk well about all kinds of topics and whatever game you are streaming, be flippin good at it.
Click to expand...

don't listen to this oke. all you need is a reliable internet connection and you can stream to an international audience, that's the whole point of streaming, you're not subject to or focused on a specific country or market.

above is like saying "don't join a social network, because south africa sucks and you don't have that many people in south africa able to also join a social network"

you are not limited just because of your location.

So ignore this "advice" as most streamers also have merch and patreon and sponsors and does not only rely on donations through stream or subs
 
ArtyLoop said:
Excuse my ignorance but what are people doing on twitch? I presumed it was gamers streaming their l33t gaming skills all day long.
Click to expand...
lol no. watched a south african dude from cape town play overcooked 2 with a lady streamer from korea and it was loads of fun. anyone can stream.

and if you're a hot girl, and you play games anyway, why not stream while you play and make money.

as it's been mentioned, most streamers do it because they're already playing the game, so instead of wasting that time time, they make some money from it.

really not sure why all these negative nancy's are trying to jump all over this person's dream. Imagine this is your child and they say they want to be a pro gamer. what are you going to say? "no sorry son, the elite is already at the top, there is no way for you to win or upset those rankings because it's set in stone and impossible" ??????

no, hopefully you'll be more ****ing supportive than that
 
Beyond.Celsus said:
I watch twitch for the e-sports.
Best place to see most tournaments. CS. Siege. Dota. fifa. League. Fortnite.
Whatever your fancy.
If you fancy e-sports that is.

There are some people who stream general gameplay and some of them are very entertaining.
And that's all it is really.
Entertainment that's completely free.

fair enough if it's not for you.
Click to expand...
But I thought gaming was on a decline. How come you watch Twitch still? Isn't it a dead site by now?
 
X88Bass said:
Wow, that's at-least some good pocket money
Click to expand...
Yep, see, and he hasn't done it on a consistent basis either, only recently. Imagine if he does it like a job. people know what to expect and when, and those enjoying watching him will bother tuning in at the times he says. This isn't any different to making videos for youtube. If you're consistent with your schedule, even if it's "I stream weekends only", be consistent. Start at 7pm or whatever time you choose. stream for the time you said you will be and over time you gain audience/subs/etc.
 
Beyond.Celsus said:
A bunch of useless crap

Emotes (ugh)
Subscriber only chat
Special events held by the streamer
competitions
And a warm fuzzy feeling inside that you are supporting a 'content creator'
Click to expand...
no ads, as a streamer you can choose to roll ads during your stream
 
envo said:
really not sure why all these negative nancy's are trying to jump all over this person's dream. Imagine this is your child and they say they want to be a pro gamer. what are you going to say? "no sorry son, the elite is already at the top, there is no way for you to win or upset those rankings because it's set in stone and impossible" ??????

no, hopefully you'll be more ****ing supportive than that
Click to expand...

It's called setting realistic expectations. You can be anything from amazing to well below average at your typical job, and still make a living doing it.
With the "cooler" occupations like esports, streaming, musician etc, you need to one of the best to eke out a decent living.

I will encourage my kid to do whatever he wants, but when they comes to me telling me that he wants to make money from esports, I will tell them how hard it will be.

OP didn't tell us what his plans/hopes are, so people are giving a wide range of suggestions.
 
envo said:
really not sure why all these negative nancy's are trying to jump all over this person's dream. Imagine this is your child and they say they want to be a pro gamer. what are you going to say? "no sorry son, the elite is already at the top, there is no way for you to win or upset those rankings because it's set in stone and impossible" ??????
Click to expand...
As said by @Barbarian Conan , you need to set realistic expectations. It's all good and well if it's your son's dream to become a pro gamer, but he needs to understand that to make a living out of it he needs to not only be good at it but he also needs to be lucky. There are plenty of gamers that never make it no matter how good they are just because they don't get a lucky break. Some thing with people that want to be athletes or musicians for a living.

We're not trying to be downers and pissing on his dream. But if he realistically wants to make a living from streaming, he needs to know the risks. And it's very risky to try and base your sole income from streaming alone if you start from nothing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X