User Power
Value/Post Ratio
243%
- Aug 1, 2016
- 35
- 85
- 31
Ok, wall of text incoming. TLDR at bottom.
I've got about 40k hours in the gaming industry (both consuming and producing) over the past 15+ years so I figured I'd put in my 2 cents. Yes, Twitch can make you a good amount of money but it isn't Fastlane because most of your revenue is not passive.
Think of twitch streaming in terms of becoming a pro athlete/entertainer. Yes, you can spend thousands of hours practicing over many years, but unless you are not the best of the best you aren't going to join the NBA.
To be a big money streamer you need to have many years of experience in a certain game AND be one of the best. If you don't fit into that category you'll certainly be making much less than a slowlane job. Conversely, if you do fit into that category you will increase your intrinsic value exponentially. (TMF explains that more)
For example lets talk about the popular streamer "Reynad". Before twitch was even a thing Reynad spent 10+ years of his life dedicated to playing Magic the Gathering and thousands of hours playing tournaments and theory-crafting the game. When Hearthstone came out a few years ago (a similar online variant to Magic) Reynad picked it up early in its Alpha stage and quickly become one of the best. He won a bunch of tournaments and was constantly highest ranked in the game. Without that previous experience, and without Hearthstone blowing up as a successful game, or twitch blowing up as a website, he likely wouldn't be anywhere.
One thing he has going for him is 10+ sources of income, some of which are completely passive, most require his time. I'm going to break down his sources of income. As you look at these ask yourself which are completely passive, and which require him to be at his computer constantly grinding away.
Reynad's sources of income (in no particular order):
1. Twitch Ad Revenue
Reynad averages about ~25,000 viewers every hour he streams. Lets say he plays 6 30 second ads per 1 hour. Let's also assume $.5 per 1k views (low end due to ad block prominence). This comes out to $75/hr from ad revenue. Not passive.
2. Twitch Subscribers
Reynad gets $2.50 a month for each of his subscribers. I'm am not subscribed but lets assume he is about equal in this number to streamers his size which is about 1k subs. This is $2,500 per month. Not passive. (If he stops streaming this number will approach 0 quickly.)
3.Hourly Donations
Reynad gets quite a lot of donations per hour. He understand his consumer base (young, many immature, low income) and has a "text to speech donation feature." What this does, is if you donate $2 or more, your donation is automatically read on screen by a text to speech robot. As you can tell, many viewers donate just to be in the spotlight, or make a joke about Reynad's appearance or in-game plays. A few months ago I watched him for one hour and tallied up his donations. $468. Not passive.
4. Paid Game Sponsorships
New, up and coming game companies like to pay top streamers big hourly figures to stream their games. Reynad is one of these and probably makes. It was leaked a couple years ago that a game he played on stream he was paid $100 per hour to play. (This may be low as twitch has blown up lately.) Not passive.
5. Paid Company Sponsorships
Top companies pay Reynad to sponsor part of the stream. For example, Amazon pays Reynad to have 1 hour of his stream be the "Amazon gaming hour" or something like that. Not passive. (If he stops playing games he will lose these sponsorships)
6. TempoStorm
Reynad created his own professional gaming company that now has teams/pros in 3 different games. When the team members get winnings from tournaments his company gets a cut. The site also has a web store and gets about 4.3 million page views per month. Passive.
7. Casting Gigs
Blizzard and other top companies/streamers host many Hearthstone tournaments that are shout-casted by certain pros. Reynad gets paid nice money to do this. Not passive.
8. Youtube
Reynad has 2 youtube channels (one personal and one for his business) that generate passive income. He probably hires someone to cut clips and upload them so he doesn't do any of this work. Partly passive.
9. Channel Sponsorships
Companies pay Reynad money to post their logo and a link on his twitch page, and directly on his stream. Some of these are G2A, Curse. Not passive.
10. Tournament Winnings
To date he has earned $19,124.53 from the tournaments he's played in. Nothing that breaks the bank but keep in mind he's only played in 3 tournaments in the past year or so as he realizes streaming is more profitable for his time. Not passive.
11. Miscellaneous
There are other small things, such as smaller streamers paying for him to "host" them, or basically advertise their stream. I'm sure there are other things I missed. Passive.
So what is his average yearly pay? Let's assume he streams 160 hours a month, and 10% (16 hours) is paid content.
Ad revenue : 160 * 75 = $12,000 per month
Subscribers: = $2,500 per month
Donations: 160 * 468 = $74,880 per month
Paid games = 16 * 100 $1,600 per month
Website ad revenue = $4,300 per month
Monthly gross: $95,280 per month
Yearly gross: $1,143,360 per year
Please note that this includes some estimates and averages and does not include some revenue sources like sponsors, etc.
So can you make good money playing games? Absolutely. But look at how much of his money is tied up with his own personal time. If he got bored of playing games, wanted to travel for a couple months/years almost all of his revenue would dry up. So good money, yes. But I don't consider it Fastlane.
TLDR: Yes, Twitch gaming can be very good money if you are the best of the best and know how to milk multiple revenue sources. That being said, it is NOT Fastlane due to the fact most of your income is tied up with your time.
I've got about 40k hours in the gaming industry (both consuming and producing) over the past 15+ years so I figured I'd put in my 2 cents. Yes, Twitch can make you a good amount of money but it isn't Fastlane because most of your revenue is not passive.
Think of twitch streaming in terms of becoming a pro athlete/entertainer. Yes, you can spend thousands of hours practicing over many years, but unless you are not the best of the best you aren't going to join the NBA.
To be a big money streamer you need to have many years of experience in a certain game AND be one of the best. If you don't fit into that category you'll certainly be making much less than a slowlane job. Conversely, if you do fit into that category you will increase your intrinsic value exponentially. (TMF explains that more)
For example lets talk about the popular streamer "Reynad". Before twitch was even a thing Reynad spent 10+ years of his life dedicated to playing Magic the Gathering and thousands of hours playing tournaments and theory-crafting the game. When Hearthstone came out a few years ago (a similar online variant to Magic) Reynad picked it up early in its Alpha stage and quickly become one of the best. He won a bunch of tournaments and was constantly highest ranked in the game. Without that previous experience, and without Hearthstone blowing up as a successful game, or twitch blowing up as a website, he likely wouldn't be anywhere.
One thing he has going for him is 10+ sources of income, some of which are completely passive, most require his time. I'm going to break down his sources of income. As you look at these ask yourself which are completely passive, and which require him to be at his computer constantly grinding away.
Reynad's sources of income (in no particular order):
1. Twitch Ad Revenue
Reynad averages about ~25,000 viewers every hour he streams. Lets say he plays 6 30 second ads per 1 hour. Let's also assume $.5 per 1k views (low end due to ad block prominence). This comes out to $75/hr from ad revenue. Not passive.
2. Twitch Subscribers
Reynad gets $2.50 a month for each of his subscribers. I'm am not subscribed but lets assume he is about equal in this number to streamers his size which is about 1k subs. This is $2,500 per month. Not passive. (If he stops streaming this number will approach 0 quickly.)
3.Hourly Donations
Reynad gets quite a lot of donations per hour. He understand his consumer base (young, many immature, low income) and has a "text to speech donation feature." What this does, is if you donate $2 or more, your donation is automatically read on screen by a text to speech robot. As you can tell, many viewers donate just to be in the spotlight, or make a joke about Reynad's appearance or in-game plays. A few months ago I watched him for one hour and tallied up his donations. $468. Not passive.
4. Paid Game Sponsorships
New, up and coming game companies like to pay top streamers big hourly figures to stream their games. Reynad is one of these and probably makes. It was leaked a couple years ago that a game he played on stream he was paid $100 per hour to play. (This may be low as twitch has blown up lately.) Not passive.
5. Paid Company Sponsorships
Top companies pay Reynad to sponsor part of the stream. For example, Amazon pays Reynad to have 1 hour of his stream be the "Amazon gaming hour" or something like that. Not passive. (If he stops playing games he will lose these sponsorships)
6. TempoStorm
Reynad created his own professional gaming company that now has teams/pros in 3 different games. When the team members get winnings from tournaments his company gets a cut. The site also has a web store and gets about 4.3 million page views per month. Passive.
7. Casting Gigs
Blizzard and other top companies/streamers host many Hearthstone tournaments that are shout-casted by certain pros. Reynad gets paid nice money to do this. Not passive.
8. Youtube
Reynad has 2 youtube channels (one personal and one for his business) that generate passive income. He probably hires someone to cut clips and upload them so he doesn't do any of this work. Partly passive.
9. Channel Sponsorships
Companies pay Reynad money to post their logo and a link on his twitch page, and directly on his stream. Some of these are G2A, Curse. Not passive.
10. Tournament Winnings
To date he has earned $19,124.53 from the tournaments he's played in. Nothing that breaks the bank but keep in mind he's only played in 3 tournaments in the past year or so as he realizes streaming is more profitable for his time. Not passive.
11. Miscellaneous
There are other small things, such as smaller streamers paying for him to "host" them, or basically advertise their stream. I'm sure there are other things I missed. Passive.
So what is his average yearly pay? Let's assume he streams 160 hours a month, and 10% (16 hours) is paid content.
Ad revenue : 160 * 75 = $12,000 per month
Subscribers: = $2,500 per month
Donations: 160 * 468 = $74,880 per month
Paid games = 16 * 100 $1,600 per month
Website ad revenue = $4,300 per month
Monthly gross: $95,280 per month
Yearly gross: $1,143,360 per year
Please note that this includes some estimates and averages and does not include some revenue sources like sponsors, etc.
So can you make good money playing games? Absolutely. But look at how much of his money is tied up with his own personal time. If he got bored of playing games, wanted to travel for a couple months/years almost all of his revenue would dry up. So good money, yes. But I don't consider it Fastlane.
TLDR: Yes, Twitch gaming can be very good money if you are the best of the best and know how to milk multiple revenue sources. That being said, it is NOT Fastlane due to the fact most of your income is tied up with your time.
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