The split of earnings from subscriptions is going to change for Twitch’s highest paid streamers. Under current arrangements most streamers split their revenue from subscribers 50/50 with Twitch. The biggest streamers however have a premium deal, giving creators 70% of the revenue and the other 30% going to Twitch. This is changing next year, as the premium deal terms will reduce the creator revenue for the biggest earners.
As of June 2023, the first $100,000 dollars earned will maintain a 70/30 split for those on a premium deal, but once this threshold is exceeded, the split will be dropped to 50/50. Twitch streamers on this premium deal will have the old rate until their contracts with Twitch are up for renewal after this date. At that point they will have to agree to this split in revenue to keep their premium deal, or revert to the standard revenue model. This change will only affect the top 10% of those on Twitch’s premium deal, according to President, Dan Clancy.
One of the reasons listed for this revenue share cut is the cost of using Amazon’s Web Services’ Interactive Video Service, or IVS. Interestingly, IVS is owned by Twitch’s own parent company, Amazon. Amazon is one of the richest companies in the world, being part of the exclusive Trillion Dollar Club for its market cap exceeding one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000). This announcement which cuts revenue shares for the highest earning streamers coming from one of the richest companies in the world has caused upset online, something Twitch is all too familiar with.
Twitch came under fire just this week for the amount of gambling taking place on the site, including the controversial gambling of cryptocurrencies. As of October 18, Twitch plans to ban streams of gambling sites that are not licensed in the U.S. or other jurisdictions with consumer protection laws. The official announcement says that sports betting and poker will still be allowed.
Do you think it’s fair for Twitch to cut revenue share with its highest-paid streamers? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news.
