Twitch introduces new revenue split for Partners, but there's a catch

Twitch has introduced a new Partner Plus programme with a higher revenue split, but its qualification criteria means most streamers will miss out.

Partner Plus is a benefit for existing Partners, offering the 70 percent revenue split on subscriptions that many streamers have been requesting for a long time but Twitch itself has denied.

The response from streamers to this news, however, has been mostly negative.

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Partners are the top streamers on Twitch. To qualify, streamers must hit a certain threshold of hours streamed regularly with an average of 75 viewers. Partners then receive a number of benefits, such as access to higher subscription splits for higher tier subs, more emote slots, and an increased likelihood of being approached by companies for sponsorship.

The Partner Plus programme will launch on 1st October, offering a 70/30 split to streamers who qualify by maintaining a subscription count of at least 350 recurring paid subscriptions for three consecutive months.

At this point, Partners will be enrolled for the next 12 months with the higher revenue split, even if subscription numbers dip below the required threshold.

However, a major caveat is the need for recurring paid subscriptions. That means that one-off gift subscriptions and subscriptions through Prime won't count.

As streamer Meg Mage noted on Twitter, this is a misunderstanding from Twitch on how communities work.

"How am I going to spend three months trying to encourage my chat NOT to gift subscriptions or use Prime," she said. "This feels impossible and weird."

Accessibility advocate Steven Spohn suggested this programme was a "good start" but that "it's going to be difficult for some disabled streamers with chronic illness/pain who may have trouble holding 350 unique subs for three months". Case-by-case exceptions should be considered, he added.

Further, removing gift subs from eligibility defeats the point of gift subs altogether. As streamer Toph points out: "Why introduce gift subs to Twitch when they don't count towards things like this? Twitch gets the same amount regardless."

There is a further restriction too: the revenue split will only apply for 12 months up to US$100k. So even if subscription numbers dip under the 350 threshold, streamers will need to maintain this for the following year.

Many of the top streamers already have specific contracts with Twitch with negotiated revenue splits and income that exceeds US$100k. Yet this new benefit won't apply for the vast majority of smaller streamers unable to hit the criteria.

So who is this for? As ex-Twitch employee djWHEAT noted on Twitter, there's a sweet spot for the Partner Plus programme to work.

Perhaps Twitch is testing the waters here to see how feasible a new revenue split could be. It also gives existing Partners a new goal to strive for to grow.

As Twitch Ambassador Jambo said on Twitter: "Ambassadors were part of discussions leading up to this, and while it's not perfect, it's a start - A START - to what I hope will be a path that changes the platform for the better, and I hope this shows Twitch (and its execs) that 70/30 is better for EVERYONE."

Ahead of the launch in October, Streamers who meet the qualification criteria in July, August, and September will be enrolled.

More information can be found on the Twitch blog.