Right after the drama regarding the gambling side of Twitch, a new issue has risen that has people up in arms. Now, Twitch plans to lower the share of the revenue that its creators will get. Keep reading to learn more about the issue.
In a letter from Dan Clancy, Twitch's president, he said that the streamers who are enjoying the “premium” 70/30 revenue split will have it cut down to 50/50 starting next year: June 1, 2023. He mentioned that the change would not be immediate for them. These streamers will receive up to $100,000 from the 70/30 split and then switch to 50/50 after. On the surface, this does not seem to be such a bad thing. After all, most of the streamers who are enjoying the premium split are big-name streamers.
Most of the affiliates and partners on the platform, those who can monetize their content, are under the 50/50 split. However, most, if not all of these creators want to have that 70/30 split. A lot of streamers use Twitch as their main source of income. Because of that, having a larger share of the revenue will definitely help in the long run. In fact, back in 2020, user SaltyWyvern started a petition via Twitch UserVoice to make the split 70/30 by default, and to lower the minimum amount needed for payout. For reference, monetized streamers on Twitch need to earn at least $100 before they can cash out. The petition garnered over 22,000 votes.
In response to this petition, Clancy first tackled the minimum cashout. Clancy stated that they are already rolling out a change to the minimum cashout. Once it has been implemented in full, the cashout minimum will be set at $50, half of what it used to be. This would allow users to get their payouts earlier, instead of having to wait for the full $100.
Clancy then talked about the share change. He stated that the 50/50 share was more in line with how the website operated: Streamers would create content, and Twitch would support them. An equal relationship, so to speak. Clancy continued to say that over the past years, the investments Twitch has made it easier for streamers to earn. He said that Twitch's investments in Prime Subs, Gifting, etc have driven the revenue up over the years. To be exact, he said they earned “27% more streamer revenue per viewer hour every year over the last five years.” He explains that these investments have already given streamers more money than what a 70/30 split will give them.
Clancy also mentioned that the cost of service for Twitch is very expensive. He explains that streamers who stream to 100 people 200 hours a month costs more than $1000.
To summarize, Twitch needs money to cover the costs of the service, and as such is increasing its share. Streamer earnings should still be good as even with the lower share, they were earning quickly anyway.
Needless to say, people are not pleased with the decision.
Amazed that this blog post announcing creator pay cuts, also included mention the site’s owner: Amazon, a literal trillion dollar company. Servers that can’t even support streams over 8k bitrate. Youtube offers 70/30 revenue split, and over quadruple the bitrate. pic.twitter.com/BH0kBm7z9R
— connor (@ConnorEatsPants) September 21, 2022
Some streamers, like in the above tweet, have taken to comparing Twitch to other platforms like YouTube. Points of comparison include YouTube's 70/30 split for everyone, as well as better bitrates for streams. A lot of people don't seem to believe that Twitch is having problems with the high costs of service, seeing how Amazon owns Twitch.
All-in-all, the community does not like this sudden move by Twitch. Whether Twitch will change its stance, or keep going with its plans, only time will tell.
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