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Twitch

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Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.

Overview

Twitch is a live-streaming platform owned by Amazon. Everything is built around the broadcast and the chat: the viewer watches not a finished clip but what is happening right now, and can intervene with a remark, with "bits" or with a subscription. Recordings and clips are secondary.

Games are the historical backbone, but not the only one: the platform's creator school lists among its directions IRL streams, "Just Chatting" (the conversational format), ASMR and talk shows, art, programming and collaborative work, co-streams, fitness, food and drink, music and DJing, and VTubers (Twitch 101).

Twitch's main difference from most platforms in the registry is that direct payouts to the author from the platform exist and are described publicly. In 2026 the rules for entering them were noticeably relaxed: the monetization tools were opened to all streamers, and the status thresholds were lowered.

Who's here

The numbers below are published by Amazon Ads and marked there as internal Twitch data for 2022–2023.

Amazon Ads reports "105 million average monthly visitors to the Twitch site" (Twitch data, worldwide, 2023) and "1.3 trillion minutes of content watched in 2023". On age it says: "70% of Twitch viewers are aged 18 to 34" (Twitch data, worldwide, 2022). Separately it gives an estimate citing GWI and Comscore: "65% of Twitch viewers are unreachable through leading social channels" (USA, 2022 and Q4 2022) (Amazon Ads: Twitch).

More recent figures come from the platform's report on its convention: over the past year "more than 36 million viewers claimed a Drop", and the record for concurrent viewing in France the platform puts at 1.4 million viewers at peak (TwitchCon Rotterdam 2026).

Getting started

Registration is ordinary — an account and a channel. You can stream, according to the creator school, from a computer, from a phone (including IRL and mobile games), from PlayStation and from Xbox (Twitch 101). Video goes to the platform over the RTMP protocol: the documentation describes an address of the form rtmp://<ingest-server>/app/<stream-key> (Video broadcast).

The important change of 2026 concerns the start specifically. Previously the support tools were switched on only after a status was granted; now the platform has declared that it gives "all streamers access to some of the best monetization and community-building tools, including Bits, subscriptions, emotes, badges and Channel Points". The rollout began on 13 May 2026 and ran "over the course of a week" worldwide. But receiving money still requires a status: for payouts you must "earn Partner or Affiliate status" (Monetization for All).

Among the technical novelties of the same year: 2K streaming (1440p) was promised "to all Partners and Affiliates in June", with the bitrate raised "to 9 Mbps for 1440p and 7.5 Mbps for 1080p", and simultaneous broadcasting in landscape and vertical format with transcoding on the platform's side (TwitchCon Rotterdam 2026).

What you can publish

The main format is the live broadcast. From it come clips, markers and recordings; recording storage differs by status: the partner programme page names "60 days versus just 14 days for Affiliates" (Twitch Partner Program).

What is forbidden is set out in the community guidelines on legal.twitch.com.

A separate restriction comes from the documentation — on rewards in Drops campaigns. A game developer is forbidden "transferable items" that "encourage farming behaviour where viewers create multiple accounts", items that give "an advantage over another player", and "any items that have monetary value" — including in-game items that can be bought or exchanged for real currency or cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency itself, and NFTs (Drops).

How to grow

Tools inside the broadcast

The platform's API shows what growth is made of: it is not the publishing of posts but the management of a broadcast — raids to another channel, polls and predictions, clips and markers, the stream schedule, work with recordings, chat moderation, channel goals (Twitch API).

In 2026 discovery mechanics were added. Automatic clips ("Auto Clips") were launched in beta, and the platform gives the expected effect: at present "50% of streamers have a clip they can share", and with the new feature — "85%". Also announced were subtitles for clips, short recaps of a broadcast for those who arrive mid-stream, and notifications about events during a stream (TwitchCon Rotterdam 2026).

What the platform promises in money from growth

Some of the new features the platform describes together with a measured effect. Of watch badges and gift subscriptions ("Creator Badge Drops") it says that in tests authors received "up to 50% more revenue from gift subscriptions on the first day"; separately mentioned are gifting "up to 1000 subscriptions at once" and an increase in promo hours "by 20% — to 96 hours" a year (TwitchCon Rotterdam 2026). These are the platform's statements about its own tests, not an independent check.

Path to monetization

Two statuses

The entry status is Affiliate. In June 2026 its requirements were lowered. The platform gives a comparison: streaming hours — was 8, now "4 hours"; days — was 7, now "4 different days"; viewers — was "an average of 3 concurrent", now "a minimum of 3 ACCV (across 4 different days)"; followers — was "50+", now "25+" (Monetization for All).

The upper status is Partner. The platform publishes no numeric thresholds on its open pages: you must "complete the Path to Partner achievement or demonstrate a large engaged audience on other services" and "maintain the criteria stated in the achievement on an ongoing basis". Review times are stated: an ordinary application — "up to 2–4 weeks", while those who have completed the achievement get "a response within 7 business days". At the same time "completing the Path to Partner achievement does not guarantee partnership" (Partner Program, Partnership FAQ).

What the income is made of

The partner programme page names the sources outright: viewer subscriptions at prices of "5.99, 9.99 or 24.99 dollars", "1 cent for every Bit" sent in support of the channel, and "a share of the revenue from advertising shown on the channel". From the same page come the accompanying perks of the status: "up to 50 channel emotes", a stream delay of "up to 15 minutes", guaranteed transcoding and support with a response within "1–2 business days" (Twitch Partner Program). Subscriptions can be gifted, and Prime Gaming "is included in Amazon Prime and gives one free channel subscription a month" (Bits and subscriptions).

A raised share of subscriptions

A separate programme is the Plus Program (until 2024 "Partner Plus"). At launch it required "at least 350 recurring paid subscriptions three months in a row" and gave "70/30 on net subscription revenue" for "12 months" and "up to 100 thousand US dollars" (Introducing the Partner Plus Program).

In January 2024 the terms were rewritten: a lower tier appeared — "60/40 on net revenue from paid and gifted subscriptions" at "100 Plus points three months in a row", the threshold for the upper tier was lowered "from 350 to 300" points, and the cap "of 100 thousand US dollars on net revenue at the 70/30 rate" was removed. Points are counted by subscription tier: "a tier 1 subscription — 1 point, tier 2 — 2 points, tier 3 — 6 points". The ordinary rate outside the programme is named there as well — "the standard 50%" (An update to several streamer payout programs).

Payouts

The platform states the payout threshold like this: "you will automatically receive a payout when you reach the minimum threshold of 50 US dollars, if you are eligible for it". For the USA "Spendable Balance" has been launched — the ability to spend an accumulated balance on Bits and gift subscriptions without waiting for the threshold; expansion to other countries was promised "within this year" (Monetization for All). For EU streamers the platform promised to remove the euro conversion fee on payouts through SEPA "this summer" (TwitchCon Rotterdam 2026).

Indirect money

Drops campaigns bring the streamer no direct payouts: the platform describes the benefit as "growth in the number of followers, viewers, and in the case of subscription Drops — channel subscribers" and, as a consequence, "gross revenue" (Drops). Extensions earn separately: the "Bits Support configuration allows an extension to use the API to request Bits from a user", and microtransactions are mentioned as well (Extensions).

Tools and automation

The official API

Access is built on OAuth 2.0; extensions additionally need JWT tokens (Twitch API). The entry procedure is described step by step: register an application, set the OAuth redirect addresses, obtain a Client ID and a secret, then take an app token with a POST request to https://id.twitch.tv/oauth2/token (Get started).

The limits work like a "bucket of points": an application has its own bucket for requests with an app token and another for requests with a user token, and "for requests with a user token the limits apply per client ID, per user, per minute". Emptying the bucket produces a 429 response. The state is returned in the Ratelimit-Limit, Ratelimit-Remaining and Ratelimit-Reset headers; in the documentation's example the limit value is 800. Lists are served page by page, through a cursor and the after, before and first parameters (API guide).

Events

To react to what is happening there is EventSub: "EventSub subscriptions let an application listen to events happening on Twitch". There are three transports — webhook, WebSocket and Conduits (EventSub). The restrictions are named with numbers: "there is a limit of 3 subscriptions with identical type and condition values"; over WebSocket "you can create a maximum of 3 connections with enabled subscriptions", each with "a maximum of 300 enabled subscriptions", and "max_total_cost equals 10" across all subscriptions (Manage subscriptions).

Extensions

An extension is "a web page that lives inside Twitch". The types: a panel below the video, a transparent overlay on top of the video, and a component that "viewers can hide". Since 9 July 2024 "an Apple developer account is no longer required", and all extensions are available on iOS and Android (Extensions).

Note the character of the API: it is not about publishing content but about running a broadcast. There is no scheduling in the usual sense here.

Limits and rules

  • A status is needed for money, not for tools. The tools are open to everyone, but payouts require Affiliate or Partner (Monetization for All).
  • The payout threshold is 50 US dollars; "Spendable Balance" is so far only for the USA (the same source).
  • Recording storage depends on status: 60 days for Partners versus 14 days for Affiliates (Twitch Partner Program).
  • Drops rewards cannot have monetary value, be transferable or give a game advantage (Drops).
  • Partnership is not granted by a formula: a completed achievement gives priority in review, but no guarantee (Partnership FAQ).

Who it's for

Twitch is worth considering if your product is time on air: regular multi-hour broadcasts, live conversation, reacting to chat. The entry threshold for monetization after the 2026 changes is noticeably lower than before, and the monetization itself is built into the platform rather than moved outside.

It suits poorly the "publish and forget" formats: the API is not about publishing but about running a broadcast, and automation will not replace a human on camera. It will not suit those who need predictable income either: both the revenue-share rate and the status thresholds have changed several times in recent years. For developers the platform is interesting separately — through extensions and Drops: it pays not only the author of the content but also the author of the tool.

Tools for this platform

The list is built from the tools' own facts: every line is a tool's statement that it supports the platform, with the source named. A tool missing from the list only means we have no such statement.

Scheduling and publishing:

Statistics and analytics:

Automation:

Social listening:

Other tasks:

Verified data

The checked data this deep dive rests on.

Who's here

Amazon Ads, in its section on advertising on Twitch, reports 105 million average monthly visitors to the site (Twitch data, worldwide, 2023), 1.3 trillion minutes of content watched in 2023, and that 70% of viewers are aged 18 to 34 (Twitch data, worldwide, 2022)

All the figures are marked as internal Twitch data for 2022–2023. A separate estimate citing GWI and Comscore: 65% of viewers are unreachable through leading social channels (USA, 2022). When read from our region the page was served in German

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform reports that over the past year more than 36 million viewers claimed a Drop, and that subscription Drops brought streamers 11 million US dollars

The platform's statement about its own statistics

source, checked 2026-07-28

Account and access

Confirming the phone number in the Security and Privacy settings — Twitch names this as a condition outright: «The user sending the whisper must have a verified phone number (see the Phone Number setting in your Security and Privacy settings)»

The condition is named by the platform itself in its developer documentation and concerns sending whispers. Conditions for other features (chat in particular channels, streams, partner programmes) may have been described in the help portal, which could not be read — see the note to the new_account_limits line

source, checked 2026-08-07

the review time for a partnership application: up to 2–4 weeks in the general case and within 7 business days for those who have completed the Path to Partner achievement

source, checked 2026-07-28

Sending private messages (whispers) is closed until a verified phone number is linked to the account. Verbatim from the Twitch API reference: «The user sending the whisper must have a verified phone number (see the Phone Number setting in your Security and Privacy settings)». The same place, verbatim, on the 401 error: «The user in the from_user_id query parameter must have a verified phone number». General whisper limits not tied to account age are named separately, verbatim: «You may whisper to a maximum of 40 unique recipients per day. Within the per day limit, you may whisper a maximum of 3 whispers per second and a maximum of 100 whispers per minute»

This is the only restriction based on account state that could be read in Twitch's official documents. The help portal help.twitch.tv and safety.twitch.tv are built on Salesforce and return to a client without JavaScript only the heading «Twitch Help Portal» and the message «CSS Error» — the texts of the articles could not be read, so the list of restrictions is knowingly incomplete. Read in full: the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv, help.twitch.tv, dev.twitch.tv and legal.twitch.com (all allow crawling), the Twitch API reference, the Chat & Chatbots section and the Terms of Service

source, checked 2026-08-07

the platform publishes no numeric partnership thresholds: you must complete the Path to Partner achievement OR show a large engaged audience on other services and maintain the criteria on an ongoing basis; completing the achievement does not guarantee partnership

__

source, checked 2026-07-28

What you can publish

differences by status: recording storage of 60 days for Partners versus 14 days for Affiliates; up to 50 channel emotes; a stream delay of up to 15 minutes; guaranteed transcoding; a support response within 1–2 business days

source, checked 2026-07-28

from June 2026 all Partners and Affiliates were promised 1440p streaming, with the bitrate raised to 9 Mbps for 1440p and 7.5 Mbps for 1080p; simultaneous broadcasting in landscape and vertical format with transcoding on the platform's side was announced

The remaining encoding requirements live in the help centre, which cannot be read statically

source, checked 2026-07-28

Text length. A message in chat — "The message is limited to a maximum of 500 characters". An announcement in chat — "Announcements are limited to a maximum of 500 characters; announcements longer than 500 characters are truncated". The title of a scheduled broadcast — "The title may contain a maximum of 140 characters". The description of a marker on a broadcast — "The maximum length of the description is 140 characters". The reason for a block or a timeout — up to 500 characters

the limits are given separately by kind of entry; no limit for the title of the current broadcast (Modify Channel Information) is announced in the API reference

source, checked 2026-08-04

The protocol for receiving the signal is RTMP: "Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP)", an address of the form rtmp://<ingest-server>/app/<stream-key>(?bandwidthtest=true). The developer documentation gives no numerical requirements (bit rate, resolution, keyframe frequency, codecs) and refers further on: "For more detailed recommendations and codecs, please consult the Twitch Broadcasting Guidelines"

that very "Broadcasting Guidelines" page (help.twitch.tv/s/article/broadcasting-guidelines) returns only a loading stub without scripts being executed, so the figures for the bit rate and the resolution have remained unverified

source, checked 2026-08-04

Content

Abuse of fakes is prohibited: "Creating “deepfake” videos to insult or abuse another person" (in the section about bullying, next to "Sharing negative doctored or artistic content to abuse or degrade another person"); "Creating or sharing doctored or ‘deepfake’ intimate images of an identifiable person" (in the section about sexual harassment). Nothing is said separately about the voices of real people, elections and medical claims in connection with AI; there is a general ban on "Impersonation of another person, company, or organization" and on "Harmful Misinformation Actors", not tied to the way of production

The word "deepfake" is the only indication of AI in all the community guidelines. Both prohibitions are worded through harm to a particular person, not through the way of production

source, checked 2026-08-04

the directions named by the creator school: games, IRL streams, the Just Chatting conversational format, ASMR and talk shows, art, programming and collaborative work, co-streams and sidecasts, fitness and health, food and drink, music and DJing, VTubers

You can stream from a computer, a phone, PlayStation and Xbox

source, checked 2026-07-28

Promotion

There is a separate document, "Recommendations On Twitch". Word for word: "Shelves, shelf order, and channels within the shelves are selected based on your device, engagement with Twitch, language, login state, and region. They are also based on your watch history if you have visited Twitch before, and on your age if you are logged in. For all Twitch shelves, and for all the left navigation, browse page, and search bar discussed below, live channels are more frequently given higher priority than non-live channels." Search: "the search results you see will be divided into channels, categories, and past videos, and they will be ordered based on live channels, popularity, and search query matches." About the main carousel it is separately stipulated that it is not automatic: "The carousel displays both content curated by Twitch staff and content selected programmatically"

the document is marked "Last modified on 09/22/2025". The document is open at the address https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/, which redirects to legal.twitch.com; the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv does not forbid that path and does not mention Claude's agents. The robots.txt of the help centre help.twitch.tv and of safety.twitch.tv permit crawling ("Allow: /"), but their pages return only the stub "Loading… Sorry to interrupt CSS Error" — the content is drawn by a script

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is one — a separate document, "Recommendations On Twitch" (https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/), broken down by place of display: the main carousel, the shelves of the home page, the left column, the browse page, the search bar, notifications, the feed in the mobile app. The document has an archive of previous versions ("See prior versions of Recommendations On Twitch")

of the twelve platforms Twitch is one of four with a separate document specifically about recommendations (alongside YouTube, Dzen and Pinterest as regards the limiting of distribution). The document is open at the address https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/, which redirects to legal.twitch.com; the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv does not forbid that path and does not mention Claude's agents. The robots.txt of the help centre help.twitch.tv and of safety.twitch.tv permit crawling ("Allow: /"), but their pages return only the stub "Loading… Sorry to interrupt CSS Error" — the content is drawn by a script

source, checked 2026-08-05

Word for word: "Twitch gives logged-in users the ability to control their experiences. After logging in, you can remove channels, categories, and other recommended items from shelves and mobile content feeds. To do so, you can click the three vertical dots next to any of these recommended items and then click “Not Interested.” This prevents that item from ever being recommended to you again. If you change your mind, you can remove this restriction in your Account Settings." On content labels: "if you choose to filter out streams that are labeled with certain Content Classification Labels, our systems will not recommend those streams to you." On the feed of videos: "Clicking “Thumbs Up” will result in the feed featuring more content from the channel you liked, and clicking “Thumbs Down” will result in the feed not showing content from the channel you have disliked for a period of time." On blocking: "When one user blocks another user, neither user's channel will ever be recommended to the other user"

it is stipulated that the control is available only to those logged in: "Twitch gives logged-in users the ability". The document is open at the address https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/, which redirects to legal.twitch.com; the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv does not forbid that path and does not mention Claude's agents. The robots.txt of the help centre help.twitch.tv and of safety.twitch.tv permit crawling ("Allow: /"), but their pages return only the stub "Loading… Sorry to interrupt CSS Error" — the content is drawn by a script

source, checked 2026-08-05

the discovery mechanics announced: automatic clips in beta (the platform estimates that at present 50% of streamers have a clip to share, and with the feature it will be 85%), automatic subtitles for clips, short broadcast recaps, notifications about events during a stream; promo hours for streamers increased by 20% — to 96 hours a year

The platform's statements about its own tests; there is no independent check

source, checked 2026-07-28

The platform does not promise reduced distribution as a separate measure; removal is named. Word for word: "Our recommendation systems are designed with focus on your safety, so we may remove content that we determine has violated Twitch's Community Guidelines or Terms of Service." The only thing resembling a reduction is the priority of a live broadcast over recordings: "live channels are more frequently given higher priority than non-live channels"

the community guidelines, where measures such as the limiting of distribution might be, lie on safety.twitch.tv and help.twitch.tv — both return only the script stub, the content has not been read. The document is open at the address https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/, which redirects to legal.twitch.com; the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv does not forbid that path and does not mention Claude's agents. The robots.txt of the help centre help.twitch.tv and of safety.twitch.tv permit crawling ("Allow: /"), but their pages return only the stub "Loading… Sorry to interrupt CSS Error" — the content is drawn by a script

source, checked 2026-08-05

Twitch has no hashtags in the usual sense — there are channel tags, and they are named as a means of search, not of increasing distribution. Word for word: "you can search for content either by category or tag (short descriptors of the creator or their content), or scroll through a directory of categories or live channels, which you may sort by the number of viewers or by Twitch's recommendations"

neither a number of tags nor a statement about their influence on recommendations is present in the accessible document. The document is open at the address https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/, which redirects to legal.twitch.com; the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv does not forbid that path and does not mention Claude's agents. The robots.txt of the help centre help.twitch.tv and of safety.twitch.tv permit crawling ("Allow: /"), but their pages return only the stub "Loading… Sorry to interrupt CSS Error" — the content is drawn by a script

source, checked 2026-08-05

The platform does not write directly about the time of going live, but states that a live broadcast gets an advantage over a recording: "For all Twitch shelves, and for all the left navigation, browse page, and search bar discussed below, live channels are more frequently given higher priority than non-live channels". In search it is the same: "with live content always listed first"

the platform names neither "best hours" nor days of the week. The document is open at the address https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/, which redirects to legal.twitch.com; the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv does not forbid that path and does not mention Claude's agents. The robots.txt of the help centre help.twitch.tv and of safety.twitch.tv permit crawling ("Allow: /"), but their pages return only the stub "Loading… Sorry to interrupt CSS Error" — the content is drawn by a script

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no direct admission of "we do not disclose the mechanics"; the document itself is built as a disclosure. Word for word: "This article goes over our approach for making content and creator recommendations and provides information on how you can influence them." At the same time the lists of signals are given without weights and without an indication of completeness, and the working of the main carousel is described as manual selection: "The carousel displays both content curated by Twitch staff and content selected programmatically"

the document is open at the address https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/recommendations-on-twitch/, which redirects to legal.twitch.com; the robots.txt of www.twitch.tv does not forbid that path and does not mention Claude's agents. The robots.txt of the help centre help.twitch.tv and of safety.twitch.tv permit crawling ("Allow: /"), but their pages return only the stub "Loading… Sorry to interrupt CSS Error" — the content is drawn by a script

source, checked 2026-08-05

Analytics

In the Twitch API reference the Analytics section consists of exactly two methods: "Get Extension Analytics — Gets an analytics report for one or more extensions" and "Get Game Analytics — Gets an analytics report for one or more games". Separately there is "Get Bits Leaderboard — Gets the Bits leaderboard for the authenticated broadcaster"

the reports are given not as figures but as a link to a file: the method "returns a URL that you can use to download the CSV files"

source, checked 2026-08-05

The threshold for a game report is named as a number: "a report is available only if the game was broadcast for at least 300 minutes (5 hours) over the time period covered by the report"

fewer than five hours of broadcast over the period and there is no report at all

source, checked 2026-08-05

"Clips data is available via the Get Videos API endpoint" — the game reports contain no data about clips; "New data fields may be added in new versions of the report"

the composition of the report is not fixed and may change from version to version

source, checked 2026-08-05

Game reports cover "the past 365 days". Data on extensions is available "from January 31, 2018 onward"

a year for games and a fixed start date for extensions

source, checked 2026-08-05

The reports are given as CSV files: the method "returns a URL that you can use to download the CSV files"; for extensions there is a "Download CSV" button in the developer console. "Format: CSV files containing one row per day"

there is an export, but only for extensions and games, not for a channel

source, checked 2026-08-05

Data on both extensions and games is collected with a delay of a day: "a one-day delay"

a report for yesterday appears no earlier than the following day

source, checked 2026-08-05

A game report requires the developer to "have registered an organization and claimed their game via the Twitch Developer Console"; reports on extensions require the access of the extension's developer. The analytics is tied not to the author of the broadcast but to the developer of the extension or the rights holder of the game

at Twitch the analytics available through the API is addressed to developers, not to streamers — this sets the platform apart from all the others in the set

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no API access to the statistics of one's own channel — views, viewers, subscriptions, stream time — in the Twitch API reference: the Analytics section contains only reports on extensions and on games

the conclusion is drawn from the complete list of methods in the reference; Twitch publishes no separate stipulation that channel statistics are unavailable through the API. This is exactly the case for which the sprint was started: an analytics tool cannot give a figure that the platform does not have in its API access

source, checked 2026-08-05

How the money works here

to start earning you first have to obtain Affiliate status

source, checked 2026-07-28

Ways to earn. ways to earn: subscriptions (several tiers, with gifted ones and ones through Prime Gaming), Bits, advertising, extensions, sponsorship integrations

source, checked 2026-07-28

the subscription price is tied to the cost of living in the VIEWER's country: “Twitch subscription prices are adjusted to reflect the cost of living where subscribers reside”

An author's income depends on the geography of their audience, not only on its size

source, checked 2026-07-28

for extensions the platform names two ways to earn: requesting Bits from a viewer and microtransactions; the documentation gives them a separate “Monetization” section

The earnings of the extension, not of the broadcaster: as with Odnoklassniki, the developer is paid

source, checked 2026-07-28

rewards in Drops campaigns must have NO monetary value: items that can be bought or exchanged for real money or cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency itself and non-fungible tokens are expressly forbidden by the developer agreement

The ban is specifically on monetary value, not on value as such: cosmetics and codes are allowed

source, checked 2026-07-28

the broadcaster's revenue from Drops is described by the platform as INDIRECT: growth in the number of channel subscribers and, through that, of gross revenue; there is no direct payout for taking part in a campaign

source, checked 2026-07-28

channel goals are counted not by the number of subscriptions but by points based on the subscription tier: a tier 2 subscription adds as many points to the goal as are assigned to it, not one

Once again the unit of counting is not what it seems: “100 subscribers” and “100 points” are different goals

source, checked 2026-07-28

Creator's share. The percentage is not named in the agreement; it is moved to the dashboard: "You may receive a fee equal to the percentage set forth in your dashboard of Net Revenue from paid or gifted Channel Subscriptions". Net Revenue itself is defined: Twitch's revenue less payment and licensing fees, ad sales costs, taxes, refunds, chargebacks, exchange-rate and bank fees

the share is individual and is not fixed in Twitch's public documents

source, checked 2026-08-04

When they pay. «Program Fees payable by Twitch to you will be paid to you on a monthly basis, within forty-five (45) days after the end of each calendar month, and in United States Dollars, unless otherwise indicated by the payment service»

monthly, within 45 days of the end of the calendar month, in US dollars

source, checked 2026-08-04

Twitch Affiliate and Twitch Partner: "you are not eligible for payout of Program Fees unless and until you qualify as a Twitch Affiliate or Twitch Partner and the Payment Threshold is met". The sources of income under the agreement: Bits ("cheering"), Channel Subscriptions (paid and gifted), Advertisements; before the status is obtained, accruals are available only as a Spendable Balance for purchases on Twitch

two tiers of the program plus an internal balance for those who are not yet an Affiliate/Partner

source, checked 2026-08-04

What must be disclosed. "you promise to use Twitch’s Branded Content tool to disclose the content to viewers"; the tool "provides a written disclosure to viewers that your live stream contains Branded Content". Beyond that: "you are solely responsible for ensuring that your Branded Content complies with any and all applicable advertising laws, regulations, and guidelines, including without limitation the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Guidelines"

the Branded Content tool plus the creator's responsibility for complying with advertising law, with the FTC named directly

source, checked 2026-08-04

the requirements for Affiliate status updated in early June 2026: 4 hours of streaming, 4 different broadcasting days, a minimum of 3 average concurrent viewers (ACCV) across those 4 days, 25 or more followers

MORE RECENT THAN THE PREVIOUS DATA: before the change 8 hours, 7 different days, an average of 3 concurrent viewers and 50+ followers were required. The window over which the metrics are counted is not named in the announcement

source, checked 2026-07-28

from 13 May 2026 the platform opened Bits, subscriptions, emotes, badges and Channel Points to ALL streamers (a worldwide rollout over a week), but PAYOUTS still require Partner or Affiliate status

The split is substantial: the tools are available, the money is not. The earlier entry “to start earning you first have to obtain Affiliate status” is refined by this fact

source, checked 2026-07-28

Payout minimum. the minimum payout threshold is 50 US dollars; on reaching it the payout arrives automatically, if the streamer is eligible for it

source, checked 2026-07-28

the Spendable Balance feature lets you spend an accumulated balance on buying Bits and gift subscriptions without waiting for the 50-dollar threshold; it is available only to streamers in the USA, with expansion to other countries promised within the year

The geographical restriction is named outright by the platform itself

source, checked 2026-07-28

channel subscription prices are 5.99, 9.99 or 24.99 US dollars; the broadcaster receives 1 cent for every Bit sent in support of the channel and a share of the revenue from advertising shown on the channel

The percentage of the advertising share is not named on the page

source, checked 2026-07-28

the Plus programme: at 100 Plus points three months in a row — a 60/40 share of net revenue from paid and gifted subscriptions; the threshold for the upper 70/30 tier was lowered from 350 to 300 points; the cap of 100 thousand US dollars on revenue at the 70/30 rate was removed on 24 January 2024; the ordinary rate outside the programme is 50%

The expanded terms took effect on 1 May 2024

source, checked 2026-07-28

Plus points are counted by subscription tier: a tier 1 subscription — 1 point, tier 2 — 2 points, tier 3 — 6 points

The unit of counting does not match the number of subscribers: 300 points and 300 subscribers are different quantities

source, checked 2026-07-28

at the launch of the Partner Plus programme at least 350 recurring paid subscriptions three months in a row were required, and the 70/30 share applied for 12 months and up to 100 thousand US dollars

Given for the record: the terms were rewritten in January 2024

source, checked 2026-07-28

Prime Gaming is included in Amazon Prime and gives one free channel subscription a month; such subscriptions do not renew automatically

source, checked 2026-07-28

the streamer's benefit from Drops campaigns is described as indirect: growth in the number of followers, viewers and — for subscription Drops — channel subscribers, and through them of gross revenue

There is no direct payout for taking part in a campaign

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform announced the removal of the euro conversion fee on payouts to EU streamers through SEPA — “this summer” (the announcement was made on 30 May 2026)

The exact date it takes effect is not named

source, checked 2026-07-28

the Partner Plus threshold is named in two different units: at launch in 2023 as «at least 350 recurring paid subscriptions», and in the 2024 update as «lowered from 350 to 300 points». This is not a discrepancy: a point equals a tier-one subscription, tier two is 2 points and tier three is 6, so 350 tier-one subscriptions are exactly 350 points

Compiled from three database entries: partner_plus_original, plus_program_2024 and plus_points_values. Without this line a reader of the first two would conclude «the threshold fell from 350 subscriptions to 300 subscriptions», which is wrong

source, checked 2026-08-07

Who is admitted. The Monetized Streamer Agreement sets no numeric thresholds: "To be eligible to participate in the Program, you must submit a complete and accurate application… and then be approved by Twitch to participate. We will determine your eligibility at our sole discretion". The minimum age under the Terms of Service: "You promise us that you are at least 13 years old (or the minimum age required where you live if it is older than 13)", "the age of 16 in Australia"

the numeric Affiliate thresholds (subscribers, minutes streamed, unique days, average audience) are published at help.twitch.tv/s/article/joining-the-affiliate-program — that page is served by script and the article text cannot be read by WebFetch or by curl

source, checked 2026-08-04

Payout minimum. The amount is not named in the agreement: "until the payment threshold noted on your dashboard (the “Payment Threshold”) has been reached, you will have no claim on such accruals, and Twitch will not be obligated to make a payment to you. The Payment Threshold indicated on your dashboard is hereby incorporated into this Agreement"

the specific amounts (including different ones for bank transfer and for other methods) are published in the article help.twitch.tv/s/article/minimum-payout-threshold, which cannot be read by machine

source, checked 2026-08-04

Sponsored and advertising content is allowed: "Twitch allows you to publish Branded Content using the Twitch Services provided that your Branded Content complies with these Terms of Service and applicable law". Branded Content covers "any User Content featuring, using, discussing, or promoting products, services, or specific content in exchange for something of value… includes without limitation paid product placements, endorsements, and sponsorships". The Terms of Service have no separate rules on affiliate links as such

the phrase "affiliate link" does not appear in the Terms of Service; for giveaways a separate disclaimer is required: "This is a promotion by (Your Name). Twitch does not sponsor or endorse this promotion and is not responsible for it."

source, checked 2026-08-04

Restrictions

the platform advises avoiding transferable items (they encourage creating several accounts to inflate views) and items that give an advantage in the game

The reason is named outright: not “unfair” but “encourages farming”

source, checked 2026-07-28

there are no country sections in the terms: a document of 15 thousand characters contains neither sections by jurisdiction nor caveats about supplementary terms taking precedence

source, checked 2026-07-28

API access

How it connects. OAuth 2.0; extensions additionally require JWT tokens

source, checked 2026-07-28

Capabilities. the API covers not the publishing of content but the running of a broadcast: launching raids, polls and predictions, creating clips and markers, the stream schedule, fetching videos, EventSub for events

source, checked 2026-07-28

video is transmitted over the RTMP protocol to an address of the form rtmp://<ingest-server>/app/<stream-key>

The page passes detailed codec recommendations on to the help centre, which is unavailable for reading

source, checked 2026-07-28

limits on a “bucket of points” model: separate buckets for requests with an app token and with a user token; for user requests the limits apply per client ID, per user, per minute; emptying the bucket produces a 429 response; the state is returned in the Ratelimit-Limit, Ratelimit-Remaining, Ratelimit-Reset headers (in the documentation's example the limit equals 800)

Paging is cursor-based, with the parameters after, before, first

source, checked 2026-07-28

for access you must register an application, set the OAuth redirect addresses, obtain a Client ID and a secret, then take an app token with a POST request to https://id.twitch.tv/oauth2/token

source, checked 2026-07-28

EventSub: three transports — webhook, WebSocket and Conduits; a limit of 3 subscriptions with identical type and condition values; over WebSocket a maximum of 3 connections with enabled subscriptions, each with up to 300 subscriptions, and max_total_cost equals 10

Subscriptions that require user authorization in the application cost nothing in the cost count

source, checked 2026-07-28

EventSub lets an application listen to events happening on Twitch and receive notifications when they occur

source, checked 2026-07-28

three types of extensions: a panel below the video, a transparent overlay on top of the video and a component that takes up part of the screen (the viewer can hide it); since 9 July 2024 an Apple developer account is no longer required, and mobile extensions are available on iOS and Android

source, checked 2026-07-28

the API covers not the publishing of content but the running of a broadcast: raids, polls and predictions, clips and markers, the stream schedule, work with recordings, chat moderation, channel goals; authorization is OAuth 2.0, with JWT additionally for extensions

There is no scheduling in the usual sense on the platform

source, checked 2026-07-28

metrics

In game analytics a view is not unique, verbatim: «Live Views — Number of times any stream of this game was viewed on Twitch, live. This includes live streams and Premieres. If someone watches a game 5 separate times in a day, that counts as 5 views»; for extensions a view is the visibility of part of the screen, verbatim: «Number of times that 75% or more of the extension iframe was visible in any viewer's browser». No threshold in seconds for viewing a stream is published

partial: the definitions are given in the developer docs (game and extension analytics); the channel analytics help article help.twitch.tv/s/article/channel-analytics is a Salesforce SPA and returns only «CSS Error» without JavaScript

source, checked 2026-08-07

Unique viewers are counted by devices rather than by people, verbatim: «(Unique Viewers) are collected based on device IDs. At a given moment, a device ID is assigned to a single hardware device. For example, if someone loads an extension or watches a game on 2 devices, that involves 2 device IDs and counts as 2 Unique Viewers»

partial: Twitch does not use the term «reach»; the nearest is Unique Viewers; the definition comes from the developer docs, and the channel help centre (help.twitch.tv) is unavailable without JS

source, checked 2026-08-07

Catalogue section: all similar See also: catalogue index · region: USA and Canada · scheduler comparison · find by situation · platform restrictions