Twitch Could Alienate Top Talent With Revamped Creator Pay Structure

Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch could soon change how it pays creators on its site, a move that would boost the company’s profits but risks alienating the people who have helped build its following to this point, people familiar with the plans told Bloomberg Wednesday (April 27).

Among the updates being considered are giving streamers incentives to run more ads during their live broadcasts and reducing how much Twitch’s top performers get from subscription fees, dropping their share from 70% to 50% or creating a tier payout structure, the report said.

Twitch could also offer its top performers the option to stream on YouTube or Facebook, removing exclusivity restrictions.

Some of the proposed changes could be implemented as soon as this summer, sources told Bloomberg, but the updates could also be abandoned completely. Bloomberg’s efforts to contact Twitch for comment on the plans were unsuccessful.

Twitch has more than 51,500 people in its partnership program, according to research from TwitchTracker. Viewers can subscribe to an individual streamer for $5 to $25 a month and earn digital badges, custom emoticons and other perks. Streaming partners get half of the subscription revenue from their channels, but Twitch often gives its top performers more.

In addition to subscriptions, partners also earn $3.50 to $5 for 1,000 ad impressions for running ads on their channels. Earlier this year, Twitch said creators who stream at least 40 hours a month could receive $100 for running two minutes of ads per hour.

Last May, Twitch changed its subscription plan to make it more affordable to people in other countries while also upping the money it gives to its creators.

Related: Twitch Drops Subscription Prices But Says Creators Will Earn More

Twitch charges about $5 per month for a subscription no matter what country people reside in, but the company said it realizes that the pricing might not be fair to some regions.