‘Twitch’ Streamers Going Broke, Viewers To Pay Via Tips

When it comes to video streaming payouts, creators in places like YouTube get a cut from the site via shares from ad revenues. This is how it worked with “Twitch” before Amazon acquired it as well, and it seems the practice has continued since. Unfortunately, streamers are only getting a small percentage of the revenue and only the biggest channels can make a living off of streaming videos. For the smaller users, “Twitch” is instead instituting what they are calling the “Cheering” system where viewers will be paying the streamers similar to tips that waiters get.

The Verge reports the addition as a cheerful way to show support for the favorite streamers of users who are willing to pay for animated features called “Bits.” These “Bits” come in a variety of colors and complexity of animation, with the simplest being a grey triangle that doesn’t move around all that much and the most complicated looking like an acid trip screen saver.

These “Bits” cost money to use, though, and 100 of them cost about $1.25; a relatively miniscule amount to most “Twitch” viewers, to be sure. Once the users paid however much they did for however many they want all they have to do is type “cheer1” in the chat box to give one “Bit” and increase the number if they want to go higher. For the moment, it seems the maximum number they can give is 10,000.

Aside from the obvious financial benefit of the “Cheering” system, Engadget reports that the emotes can obviously help with the morale of creators by showing an actual, measurable way of giving appreciation. This, in turn, helps streamers become motivated to do even better with their content.

The creators won’t be the only ones to get a visible boost in exposure with the new feature either, since users who regularly purchase and share “Cheers” will be given special badges that classifies them as above the regular user. Will this spell class warfare? That remains to be seen.