How to Become an Affiliate on Twitch

With over 15 million active users each day, Twitch is one of the busiest hubs for content creators and consumers. Becoming an Affiliate means you gain access to more monetisation options, as well as benefits for your subscribers, meaning you can make the most of your viewer base.

The question, then, is how do you become an Affiliate? At MinMxD, we support content creators with achieving their goals based on our years of industry experience, and Affiliate (or even Partner) status is no exception. In this article, we’ll tell you what a Twitch Affiliate is, how to become one, and the benefits of doing so.

Get in touch today to unlock the potential of your channel, on Twitch and beyond.

A Twitch Affiliate is someone who has gone through the Twitch Affiliate Program to unlock methods of channel monetisation, and tools to help you continue your channel’s growth.

There are base requirements to become a Twitch Affiliate or Partner. You must follow the Twitch Community Guidelines, and any copyright or community strikes on your channel could impact your application. Fulfilling the requirements also doesn’t mean a sure pass into the program – you first must complete the onboarding process.

If you do fail, don’t be disheartened – keep trying to improve your craft, and you’ll be eligible to apply again a month later with renewed stats to back up your attempt. With that said, here’s what you need to do to become a Twitch Affiliate:

Requirements to Become a Twitch Affiliate

Becoming a Twitch Affiliate requires active participation on Twitch over a reasonable timeframe. As the entry level for partnership on the platform, the milestones you need to hit to become an Affiliate are quite generous and are things you’ll do over the course of a normal streaming career.

To become a Twitch Affiliate, within the same 30-day period you must:

• Have at least 50 followers
• Stream for at least 8 hours
• Stream on at least 7 days
• Reach an average of at least 3 viewers

The most challenging of these is typically the follower count, but if you’re providing consistent and high-quality content, this will be easy enough to achieve.

Twitch offers an “Achievements” section in the Creator Dashboard to help you track your progress towards Affiliate status. The particular achievement for this is the “Path to Affiliate”, which will show you how far along you are towards reaching your goal.

Twitch Affiliate vs Twitch Partner

Beyond Twitch Affiliate status lies Twitch Partner. This is a similar status, but comes with a few added benefits. Becoming a Twitch Partner is a higher hurdle than becoming an Affiliate, but the increased requirements are still along the same vein.

To become a Twitch Partner, within the same 30-day period you must:

• Stream for at least 25 hours
• Reach an average of at least 75 viewers on at least 8 individual streams

One notable difference between Affiliate and Partner status is the lack of focus on follower count. This is because Twitch focuses more on the quality and engagement with your content, rather than other metrics.

Twitch Partnership requires 17 more hours of streams and 72 more average viewers on these streams than being and Affiliate does. Additionally, these views can’t be from being on the suggested or featured feeds, from Raids, or from embeds – meaning it is harder to reach this status than it would be under Affiliate classifications.

Learn about requirements and benefits for other streaming platforms >

You might wonder: “Is becoming an Affiliate or Partner worth the effort?” To help you answer that question, here are the benefits that each status provides.

Twitch Affiliate Benefits

The main benefit of being a Twitch Affiliate is the ability to monetise your channel. There are three main ways that Affiliate status enables monetisation:

1. Cheering with Bits – a form of donation using a purchasable on-platform currency
2. Subscriptions – three different tiers ($4.99, $9.99, $24.99)
3. Paid ads

These, alongside other monetisation options like merchandise, sponsorships, external donation platforms, and more, all give Affiliate access to some great revenue streams.

On top of the financial reasons to pursue Affiliate status, you also get access to a huge array of other benefits, from video tools to enhance your stream to channel benefits like polls and stories. This all serves to help you engage your audience and make your channel grow.

Twitch Partner Benefits

Partner status offers many of the same benefits as Affiliate, but with quite a few instances of major improvements. Some of the key benefits of being a Partner are:

• Custom Cheermotes for Bits donations
• Up to 60 unlockable sub emotes (up from 5 at Affiliate)
• 60 days VOD storage (up from 14 at Affiliate, 7 by default)
• The option to add a stream delay of up to 15 minutes
• Pay-out fees covered by Twitch
• Priority customer support
• Verified channel badge

Since the benefits of becoming a Partner are substantial, it is worth the effort of pursuing this status after you have progressed through the Affiliate Program. If you’re consistent, committed, and produce quality content, you’re sure to find this status come naturally.

Make the most of your benefits with our top tips for streaming gaming content >

Even after you’ve gone through the Affiliate Program and gained your status, you still have to do a few things to ensure you keep it. Most of what would make you lose your Affiliate status boils down to common sense, but here are a few things to avoid doing if you want to keep on being a Twitch Affiliate:

Breaking Twitch’s TOS. By going against Twitch’s rules and violating their guidelines, you’re likely to lose your Affiliate status – or even your channel itself. It’s important to pay attention to the rules and follow them to ensure the best stability and results. This also includes being aware of the copyright surrounding the music and video you use, as a copyright strike can also be grounds for your status being revoked.

Inactivity or low viewer count. It’s important to maintain the required level of activity and engagement for being an Affiliate. If You’re inactive for a long time, or your channel is consistently dropping below the requirements for being an Affiliate, you’re likely to lose the status.

Exclusive content on other platforms. While technically covered under Twitch’s TOS, this is also important to highlight by itself. Twitch’s contract with you means that any content you stream on Twitch should be exclusive to the platform for at least 24 hours. This means no streaming simultaneously on other platforms like YouTube or Kick.

Other platforms have their own requirements to ensure you maintain your income – learn how to avoid demonetisation >

As there are no subscriber requirements to become an Affiliate or Partner, only viewership and streaming requirements, it can be difficult to tell how much an Affiliate will make.

The first way to determine the amount you could make as a Twitch Affiliate is to look at what different revenue streams you can benefit from. With access to three main on-platform ways to get money – Bits, subs, and ads – you’re sure to see at least some return, no matter how large you are.

Each Bit gives you $0.01, and each sub gives you a 50% cut of its cost (unless you’ve levelled up in the Plus Program) which is usually around $2.50. It’s important to note that pay-outs must be at least $50 (or $100 for wire transfers), so you’ll need to have built up a bit of cash before you get to see any of it.

Expert streamers can make well over $5,000 a month, but when you’re starting out its important to be more realistic. However, with steady progress, quality content, and the right support, you’ll see your channel grow and provide returns in no time.

Find out more in our article on revenue streams for gaming content creators >

Twitch Partner Plus Program

Originally known as Twitch Partner Plus, the Plus Program is a way for Twitch Affiliates and Partners to get more out of their efforts and subscriber-base. Rather than charging your loyal viewers more, this program gives you a bigger cut of each subscription.

Much like with subscriptions for viewers, the Plus Program gives you a variety of tiers:

• Base Level*: Less than 100 Plus Points, 50/50 shares of your subscription revenue. *This does not require being part of the Partner Plus Program.
• Level 1: 100-299 Plus Points, 60/40 shares of your subscription revenue.
• Level 2: 300+ Plus Points, 70/30 shares of your subscription revenue.

The Plus Points you have also change depending on which tier of subscription you’re receiving:

• Tier 1 ($4.99/mo): 1 Plus Point
• Tier 2 ($9.99/mo): 2 Plus Points
• Tier 3 ($24.99/mo): 6 Plus Points

Basically, the more subscribers you have – and the more that are subscribed at higher tiers – the more Plus Points you get, and the greater your cut of the subscription fees for your channel will be.

To achieve a certain level in the Plus Program, you must reach the associated number of Plus Points for at least three consecutive months. Only Recurring Paid Subscriptions give Plus Points – gift subs and Prime subs don’t. Additionally, your Plus Program level only affects the revenue from recurring and gift subscriptions.

Since May 2024, with the inclusion of Twitch Affiliates in this scheme, the Plus Program has become a great way for any Twitch streamer to increase the amount of revenue they’re receiving from their subscriber-base.

Becoming a Twitch Affiliate or Partner requires consistent viewership, quality content, and a strategy that’s aligned with your channel’s growth. As the first barrier to generating revenue through your streams, Affiliate status is an important milestone for any content creator.

Growing your channel even further is best done with the right information. Get yours with MinMxD – maximising your returns while minimising the effort and stress to get there. Contact our team today to find out more.

Read on with our complete guide to affiliate marketing for gaming influencers >

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