Twitch expands ad programs to pay streamers more money

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

More creators will be paid more money and the ad incentive program will be expanded. In exchange for running a fixed amount of ads, select streamers were offered a flat, guaranteed payment. The program is being opened up to include more partners and the way payouts are structured is being changed.

The CPM model was used to calculate payouts for the ad incentive program. streamers would get a flat rate for every ad they watch.

According to Mike Minton, vice president of monetization at twitch, a fixed CPM model wasn't the most straightforward way to share revenue with creators. A new model that is easier to understand and increase ad payouts by paying creators 55 percent of the revenue for each ad that runs on their stream is being launched.

If they run three minutes of ads per hour, they will be eligible for 55 percent of ad revenue, even if they aren't included in the new program. Pre-roll ads for users who run ads for the same amount of time will be disabled on twitch.

Minton said that they are working to add less intrusive ads experiences for both viewers and creators.

The 55 / 45 split of ad revenue will ensure that price increases can be passed onto creators.

According to a report back in April, the company was looking at ways to increase earnings by decreasing revenue share with streamers. The report caused immediate backlash from the platform's best-known names, however, it has not been confirmed that it will make any changes to its current model. The expansion of its ad program might be a way to make up for any changes.

Income reliability is a big pain point for streamers. Some of the stress of not being able to calculate earnings was eliminated by the ad incentive program. Outside of a data leak that showed what some streamers were paid, we don't know what the average streamer makes. According to Minton, creators have earned over $1 billion in earnings in 2011. This increase is more than half a century old. It is not clear what that number is in relation to the money the streamers bring in for the company.