Last year Twitch introduced a new feature called “Cheering”, which is basically a way for viewers to tip their favorite streamers. However instead of giving money directly to streamers, viewers would have to purchase animated emotes called “bits” and send them to streamers, after which it would then be converted into cash for the streamers.
So how well-received was this feature? According to Twitch, they claim that 590 million bits have been sent. According to the folks at Engadget, they have calculated that this equates to about $5.9 million worth in revenue, which they have since confirmed to be correct with a Twitch spokesperson.
However it should be noted that not all streamers were part of this as it was only available to Twitch Partner streamers who participated in the bits beta. Out of the 2.2 million streamers that are hosted on Twitch, only 17,000 or so are considered to be Twitch partners. As Engadget points out, bits/Cheers aren’t the only way for streamers to make money.
There are third-party services that allow viewers to donate to their favorite streamers, and there are also subscription plans where viewers can subscribe to Partnered streamers at $5 a month. However if anything we guess the $5.9 million made from the program goes to show that it is relatively successful, and it will be interesting to see how well it will do this year.
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