Twitch Affiliate vs Partner: What is the Difference?

Estimated read time 5 min read

In this article, we’ll examine the key distinctions between being a Twitch partner and an affiliate, particularly in terms of revenue: will you make significantly more money as a partner than as an affiliate? We will address all of your inquiries.

As you are already aware, joining the platform as an affiliate is the first step toward achieving a particular status. Becoming a partner, however, is even more exclusive and will increase your visibility as a streamer.

To become an affiliate, you will have to meet the following requirements:

  • Minimum 50 followers Needed.
  • Streamed a minimum of 500 minutes in total, during 7 individual days in the last 30 days.
  • Have an average of 3 viewers.

As you can see, they are not very demanding requirements either, while to get the Twitch partner, you will have to meet the following for at least 30 days:

  • Have streamed a minimum of 25 hours.
  • Average of 75 viewers.
  • Have streamed for 12 different days.

It is true that fulfilling these requirements does not ensure you will get a Twitch partner, particularly in light of the intense competition and large number of partner requests. The truth is that having a Twitch partner does not grant you the same level of “social status” as it did in the past.

Earn money as an Affiliate or Partner

Whether you are a Twitch affiliate or partner, you can start monetizing your streams in several ways. At the income level, then, you will have the same options as a partner as as an affiliate:

  • Subscription Program: Your followers will be able to subscribe to your channel and pay a monthly fee that is $4.99, $9.99, $24.99 and the free Twitch Prime subscription.
  • Bits: It is like the virtual currency of Twitch, and for each bit you will receive 1 cent. The bits can be obtained for free (by watching advertising videos) or by paying for them.
  • Advertising: You can also generate income thanks to advertisers, and as an affiliate or partner you can configure the number of ads you want to launch. The amount of money depends on the CPM and the campaigns that are active.

Differences Between Being a Twitch Affiliate and Partner

Being a partner has additional benefits that will increase your streaming quality, audience engagement, and visibility. The main advantages of becoming a Twitch partner are as follows:

Channel Customization: You can unlock up to 60 unique emotes as a Twitch member, make custom chat badges for subscriptions, and change the prefix code that appears at the start of your emotes. You can also use it to create cheermotes, bit emblems, and verified user emblems.

Free lifetime channel subscription for your chatbot and up to 3 additional free lifetime channel subscriptions for your friends or family (depending on the total number of subscribers they have).

Be a “Cover”: In order to spend an entire month on the front lines every six months, partners can request to be a Twitch cover once per month for a single day. In this manner, when users access the platform, they will see them as the first streamer. Twitch Partner provides its partners with a number of promotional advantages.

VoD features: Expanded VoD storage allows you to show new videos to your audience and rebroadcast older content for 60 days instead of 14 days like affiliates.

Subscriber Streams: You have the choice to host a stream for your community’s most active members thanks to subscriber streams (VIPs, moderators, etc).

Broadcast Delay: To ensure fairness during competitive play, partners may postpone their broadcast for up to 15 minutes. For games like Fortnite, this functionality can be very helpful.

Twitch Team: By making a request to the Partner Support team, Twitch Partners can establish their own stream team.

Video Transcodes: Partners will always have first dibs on the high-end options available on their channel. To ensure the best viewing experience, viewers can choose the quality at which they watch a broadcast using the quality options. Partners are guaranteed transcoders on all of their broadcasts, while non-partner channels receive transcoders based on available capacity.

Priority support: Although Twitch’s customer service is not its strongest suit, you will get a response from the team within 1-2 business days.

Table Comparison: Twitch Affiliates vs Partners

Twitch AffiliateTwitch Partners
BitsYes, without customizationYes, without customization
SubscriptionsYes, up to 60 custom emoticonsYes, up to 60 custom emoticons
AdvertisementsYesYes
TranscodeAvailable, priority accessFull access to transcoding options
Group StreamNoYes
Streams for subscriptionsYesYes
Broadcast DelayNoup to 15 minutes
VoD Storage14 days60 days
Reruns and PremieresYesYes
Payments15 days15 days
Payment feesCovered by the memberCovers by Twitch
Channel pointsYesYes
SurveysYesYes
Stream Team BuildingNoYes
PromotionNoYes
Emoticon Self-Service ToolNoYes
Customer ServiceStandardPriority
Verified Channel BadgeNoYes

As we have seen, being a partner or an affiliate offers exactly the same options for monetization. However, once you become a Twitch partner, you have a number of benefits that significantly increase your chances of becoming visible and well-known on the platform. 

Additionally, we are already aware of how the wheel spins: more viewers, followers, and money. The numbers will always be different and in the partners’ favor even though the source of income is the same.

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