You’ve been grinding and you have finally been invited to join the Twitch Affiliate program! But should you take the offer?
In this article I will discuss some of the pros and cons of joining the Twitch Affiliate program and whether or not joining is the right decision for you.
Is Twitch Affiliate Worth It?
If you plan on streaming solely on Twitch then Twitch Affiliate is worth it because you will get access to things such as emotes, channel points and the ability to have subs on your channel. If you still want to stream on other platforms then you might want to hold off on becoming a Twitch Affiliate.
Lately there has been quite the buzz surrounding the Twitch Affiliate program and whether or not it is worth joining.
I myself recently joined the Twitch Affiliate program after letting it sit for a few weeks, but the decision was not easy.
Let me give you my pros and cons down below and then discuss whether or not I think it is worth joining given your situation.
Pros of Twitch Affiliate
Some of the benefits to Twitch Affiliate include custom emotes, channel points, people can sub to you, receiving Twitch bits and more.
And maybe these things are not all that important to you, but there is no denying that these things really do help to build a community.
I am sure you have been on other channels and have seen chatters type in emotes from other channels. It’s because they love that community!
Or better yet, there are people who like your content so much that they are willing to subscribe to your channel and pay you monthly so you can keep doing what you do. How cool is that?
All these really cool community building things begin when you join the Twitch Affiliate program. Joining is a major step on your streaming journey and one that should be celebrated.
I also feel like, and this is just TOTALLY my opinion as Twitch has never come out and said this, that Twitch pushes affiliate and partner streamers more than they do a regular ol’ stream.
Usually Twitch’s algorithm ranks channels according to viewers. The higher the viewer count the higher up you will rank on the different channel categories.
But sometimes Twitch will push the smaller streamers and that’s maybe where you will see a viewer or two pop into your stream.
And in my head, and if I am way out of pocket or crazy for thinking this forgive me, but wouldn’t it just make sense that Twitch would push a smaller streamer who is a Twitch Affiliate over a little dude who is just starting and is not an affiliate?
The reason being is that the Twitch Affiliates and Partners are what make Twitch all the money. So why wouldn’t they push people more to those who can make them some money over someone who can’t?
Again, just my thought and I have no evidence to back this up. But I will say that since I have joined affiliate it does seem like I get a few more people popping in. But who knows.
So just to summarize, the pros are you can begin to earn money through subs and bits, being an affiliate helps you to build a community and lastly it might (possibly) give you a more favorable ranking in Twitch’s algorithm.
But now let’s dive into some reasons why you may want to hold off on joining the Twitch Affiliate program.
Cons of Twitch Affiliate
The main con to joining the Twitch Affiliate program is not being able to multi-stream once you become a Twitch Affiliate therefore reducing your reach as a creator.
Multi-streaming is streaming to two platforms at once. If you want to know more about multi-streaming then you can check out my article on it here.
This may not seem like a big deal, but as a growing content creator it is a huge deal.
As you may already have heard, Twitch’s algorithm is terrible at pushing new content or content from smaller creators.
Their whole algorithm is based primarily off of how many viewers you have. The more viewers the higher you rank.
And so most people will tell you that if you want to grow on Twitch you will have to do so by doing things outside of Twitch such as Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
So with that in mind, many streamers have turned to multi-streaming to maximize their reach during the times they go live.
I like to think of it as fishing. You will probably catch more fish if you fish using 3 rods rather than 1. I am not a fisher but it makes sense.
So what streamers will do is during those three, four, five hours that they are live they will stream to Twitch, Youtube, Facebook, DLive or any other live streaming platforms.
More lines in the water, more streams going, more likely that you are to catch someone and pull them in right?
Well when you become a Twitch Affiliate you are no longer allowed to multi-stream. If you multi-stream and get caught you may potentially lose your Twitch Affiliate status.
On the bright side, you can still stream to other platforms, just not at the same time. So if you have the time you could stream for two hours on Twitch, end your stream, then stream for two more hours on Youtube but who really has that kind of time?
It is way easier to just do all your streaming all at once.
Again, that is the one major con that had me debating on whether I should join Twitch Affiliate or not. Now let me tell you why I decided to join and if it is right for you.
Should You Join Twitch Affiliate?
If you have no interest in streaming anywhere else other than Twitch then yes, you should absolutely join the Twitch Affiliate program.
You don’t have anything to lose. The only real downside is not being able to multi-stream and since you don’t care to multi-stream then join Twitch Affiliate right meow!
IF though you are interested in other platforms, and are not 100% sold on Twitch, then I recommend holding off and multi-streaming and see which platform you like the best as well as where you can pull in the most viewers.
And I think that is what sealed the deal for me. I tried to stream on Youtube, Twitch and Dlive and in the end, Twitch was my favorite and it is where I got the most viewers.
But don’t let money get in the way of your decision. As a small streamer who is new to Twitch Affiliate you will have very few if any subs. So why cut your reach for a few bucks you can make off Twitch? Not worth it.
I also think that Twitch has the best user interface when compared to the other platforms which I really liked as well. Trying to find streamers on other platforms is not nearly as good as it is on Twitch.
ALSO, another thing that made me hesitant to join Twitch Affiliate was that I didn’t want to not know how to use other streaming platforms. I have a blog (which you are reading) and a Youtube channel all about streaming.
I want to be knowledgeable about all the streaming platforms and not just Twitch. But given the fact that I can still stream to other platforms just to see how they work as long as I am not live on Twitch is what made me finally decide that it was safe to dive in and become a Twitch Affiliate.
I felt like I could still create helpful content as well as stream as an Affiliate and so I was all good.
Those are my thoughts on joining Twitch Affiliate. I hope I was able to help you with your decision. And feel free to stop by my Twitch channel here if you ever want to chat.
For even more streaming tips and how-to content check out my Youtube channel here. And if you want to check out my streams then stop by my Twitch channel here.
In the end, CONGRATS on being accepted to the Twitch Affiliate program. Streaming great and I wish you all the success in your streaming journey.
Good luck my friends!
Eric streams 3 days a week on Twitch and uploads weekly to Youtube under the moniker, StreamersPlaybook. He loves gaming, PCs, and anything else related to tech. He’s the founder of the website StreamersPlaybook and loves helping people answer their streaming, gaming, and PC questions.