On October 6, a leak was released that showed the earnings of Twitch streamers. Twitch stars like xQc, the German MontanaBlack, or the controversial Amouranth earned millions of euros. But how much do ‘normal’ Twitch streamers earn in 2021 on the platform? How many of the streamers earn so much that they can live ‘well’ from it?
What are these numbers? On October 6, a major leak revealed the insides of Twitch, including the earnings of streamers. The media coverage at the time focused on a few tweets from a user, who showed the ‘top earners’ on Twitch.
These were high sums and many were shocked at how much money was involved. Especially since the leak only shows a part of the earnings and does not list earnings from sponsorship deals or exclusive contracts.
The Wall Street Journal examined all the numbers closely and came to astonishing results: They analyzed the earnings of almost 4.9 million accounts. About 900,000 accounts were excluded from the evaluation because they earned no money or even lost money between July 2019 and September 2021.
The gap between rich and poor on Twitch is wide
These numbers are remarkable:
- In 2021, a total of 889 million US dollars were distributed by September:
- 75% of all streamers earned less than 120 $ in 2021 so far
- 50% of all streamers made less than 28 $ – Twitch only pays out from 100 $.
- The inequality on Twitch is such that the top 1% of streamers earn 529 million US dollars.
- The other 99% together receive 360 million US dollars.
We have dealt extensively with the leak on MeinMMO in a podcast:
Only 0.06% can live ‘well’ from Twitch streaming
How many can live well from streaming on Twich? The Wall Street Journal calculated that only 0.06% of Twitch streamers reach an income of over 67,521 $. This is considered the ‘median income’ of a US household. That would be enough to live ‘well’ and support a family.
The median income of a US household corresponds to “approximately” the average gross income of a German private household. This was at 58,152 €, converted 66,068 US dollars (via bnp.de).
The 0.06% means that only 6 streamers out of 10,000 can live well from their stream. For the rest, streaming is more of a hobby, a side income, or perhaps a dream of working as a self-employed content creator that remains unfulfilled.
Indeed, this shows that the numbers of the top earners do not reflect the picture of the majority of users:
Streamer explains after major Twitch leak: 90% of streamers earn less than you think
