Those who live stream their gaming on Twitch as their full time job obviously need a way to make money. Sure, there are sponsorships, but it’s always nice when the community helps out too, and Twitch introduced an official way to tip broadcasters last year through a feature called Cheering.
Now it looks like the folks at Twitter are looking to do the same with their live streaming platform, Periscope, as they have since announced an official method of tipping which is through a new feature called Super Hearts. The concept is similar to Twitch’s Cheering where users can purchase Super Hearts using real money, and then sending those hearts to their favorite broadcasters. Essentially you’re kind of like buying credits, with Twitter paying creators every month based on the number of hearts they’ve received.
Given that these hearts are purchased in-app, there will be a usual cut taken by either Apple or Google, and whatever’s left will be split 70-30, where 70% of the cash value of the hearts will be given to broadcasters, while Twitter will keep the remaining 30%. As it stands it seems that this feature is only available to those living in the US, so if you’re streaming in another part of the world, you’ll have to continue to rely on more “traditional” ways of receiving tips, such as through PayPal or maybe even setting up a Patreon.