As major streamers flee the platform, Twitch is introducing new monetization features. Introducing hype chats—or YouTube Super Chats with a worse revenue split.
YouTube first announced its Super Chats feature back in 2017 and Twitch has decided to ‘gently borrow’ the feature for its own platform. Streamers can set minimums and maximums for these pinnable chats, designed for fast-moving chats of streamers with lots of followers.
“Higher value hype chats will stay at the top of the chat longer, have longer allowed character counts, and have more standout designs,” Twitch says when describing the perks of the new feature on its blog post. The feature is only available on the web version for now, though a mobile version will likely follow. So what’s the revenue split on this?
Twitch is offering a 70/30 revenue split on hype chats following a net payment cost of 5%. YouTube currently covers transaction costs in its revenue split with its streamers, leading many to continually be unhappy with Twitch’s monetization practices. Twitch says the new hype chats can’t be turned off, only disincentivized by setting a high amount (maximum $500).
As it stands, YouTube’s platform offers a far more attractive general audience for people looking to livestream music, music creation, DJ, or other forms of live entertainment. Twitch may have opened up during the pandemic to more than just gamers, but even gamers are fleeing the platform now. Top Twitch streamers xQc and Amouranth have both left the platform for upstart rival Kick.
Kick reportedly offered Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel a $100 million deal to stream on the platform to his legion of fans. Amouranth’s hot tub streams necessitated a ‘hot tub streaming‘ category on Twitch—and now she’s leaving too. While the terms of her deal weren’t disclosed, we’ve seen major stars depart the platform for lucrative cash deals before. Ninja left Twitch for Mixer at the height of his popularity and now he’s streaming away on Kick.