Twitch streamers have voiced their concerns with the platform’s plans for a new system around sponsorships, with many worried Twitch will be taking a hefty cut for themselves.
Even though Twitch has cemented itself as the go-to platform for the majority of streamers, there have been plenty of issues from them with the Amazon-owned platform.
Many of these complaints have centered around Twitch taking a big split of subscriber revenue, a massive increase in adverts, as well as numerous others. As ever, it usually boils down to things being about money.
Naturally, some of the biggest streamers look outside of Twitch for additional revenue streams, typically bringing in their own sponsors. Now, Twitch wants to revamp their own sponsor system, but streamers aren’t too pleased.
Twitch streamers hit out at new sponsor system
On April 4, the Amazon-owned platform announced that viewers and streamers may see sponsored streams starting to be tested, where sponsors have the ability to pay with gifted subscriptions.
This, naturally, raised some eyebrows given Twitch gets a cut of subscriptions anyway, and if they’re acting like a middleman to negotiate these deals with sponsors, they could be taking a big chunk away from streamers.
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“Whilst this may make things more streamlined for some people. It honestly sounds like you are just trying to take a cut from sponsored content,” Escape from Tarkov star Pestily said.
“No thanks, I like to manage my sponsorships and the income I personally derive from that work myself. cute idea though” PaladinAmber replied. “Could you start testing a way to stop taking half of my income instead?” added Bearki.
No thanks, I like to manage my sponsorships and the income I personally derive from that work myself 💖 cute idea though.
— Paladin (@PaladinAmber) April 4, 2023
Whilst this may make things more streamlined for some people. It honestly sounds like you are just trying to take a cut from sponsored content. Unless I'm misreading something…
— Pestily (@Pestily) April 4, 2023
Why would I want to give you 50% of my sponsorship money, Twitch?
— Steven Spohn (Spawn) (@stevenspohn) April 4, 2023
Rust streamer HJune added that he was “honestly bummed” to see “no integrity” around Twitch’s statements to increase pay for creators. “Sponsors paying via gifted subs sure sounds awful to me,” commented itmeJP.
Given the system is currently only in a testing phase, it remains to be seen just how far it gets in its current setup.
Though, it is pretty clear that streamers aren’t too pleased with how it’s looking, especially as Kick is incentivizing people to switch platforms with greater sub splits.