Twitch streamers reveal big pay bump from new “ad incentive” offers

Many partner and affiliate-level Twitch streamers have received improved offers for running ads in the month of September 2022, signaling an overall bump in the payout for ads per hour.

Twitch started the ad incentives program in June 2022, giving some streamers improved rates of pay if they ran a certain amount of ads and streamed a certain number of hours. Recently, streamers were also offered increased revenue split from ads for running more of them.

Although this was a welcome change for broadcasters, some complained that the money offered wouldn’t justify the nuisance to viewers of increased ads during their streams.

However, with September’s ad incentives now rolling out, it appears that at least for some streamers, the offers are more substantial.

Twitch increases ad incentive pay for streamers

Although it’s not known if the pay increase is widespread and across all regions, it’s certainly the case for a number of channel owners who have posted about it on social media.

Gothalion, a Destiny streamer with almost 1 million followers on Twitch, revealed that his September offer was over $20,000 for streaming 133 hours, with 3 minutes of ads per hour.

I’m not a fan of automatic ads buuuuuuuut…. Chat. pic.twitter.com/kc4U3JBAMj

— Gothalion (@Gothalion) August 28, 2022

And it’s not just big-name streamers with tens of thousands of viewers. Twitch partner ‘Duck’, who has just under 20,000 followers, said their new monthly ad incentive was “serious money.”

So I just checked out my ad incentive offer from twitch for september and it's pretty serious money this time around. Anyone on here opt into that thing? Is it totally gonna ruin the stream experience? I have some time to think about it, wanna hear some opinions.

— Duck (@twitchduck) August 29, 2022

Viewers notice increase in ads

Of course, on the other side of the equation are the viewers, who may now be subject to more ads as they watch their favorite streamers.

Some have already noticed an increase in how many ads are interrupting the content. Streamer Angelicaftw said that she would leave streams if served six “back to back” ads – to which fellow streamer Toni responded, “Twitch is actually playing streamers crazy well for once so I encourage people not to complain.”

Have you seen the ad incentive program? twitch is actually paying streamers crazy well for once so I encourage ppl not to complain. A lot just run ads once an hour in a block rather than spread out throughout the stream which is where the 6 ads in a row complaints are stemming

— toni △ (@toniftw) August 21, 2022

But, viewers are complaining nonetheless. ‘DisgruntldGamer’ on Twitter said the platform is “completely unwatchable” due to the ads, but isn’t mad at the creators themselves.

This may be a hot take but @Twitch is completely unwatchable with this new ad incentive. And I’m honestly not mad at the creators. Y’all make your money. But watching multiple 8/9 ad breaks an hour is no way to promote your platform. I’ll just watch cable television.

— Monty (@DisgruntldGamer) August 28, 2022

For some streamers, they have built up a rapport with their audience that ads are a part of the stream, and some fans will even make sure to turn off ad blockers to support them.

While the money on offer is great, one downside to the ad incentive program is that the ads are automatic – meaning they will run without the streamer’s control. This can be extra frustrating for viewers as they may run at a very crucial moment in the stream. No one wants the final 1v1 clutch situation spoiled by a 3-minute ad break.

In another boost to streamers though, Twitch updated its rules on exclusivity in August, allowing partnered streamers to broadcast on other platforms too, with some limitations.