Twitch has never been profitable, and now it’s passing that problem on to viewers by upping subscription prices again. U.S. users just saw the mobile Tier 1 subscription price jump from $4.99 to $5.99 in July, and now it’s going up a further $2, making a Tier 1 sub to any streamer a whopping $7.99 per month.
That’s $100 a year for a basic channel subscription, which gives the subscriber access to things like exclusive emotes and ad-free viewing. $100 a year per creator.
There is one thing to consider: while the previous $1 change was sitewide, on desktop and mobile, this $2 upcharge is only on mobile, and it’s a response to Apple and Google‘s 30% cut for paying through iPhones and Androids. Platforms and app developers have battled this cut for years now, but it’s not going to change anytime soon, so mitigation is the only way to survive. And Twitch’s mitigation method is to raise sub prices.
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Doing the math, a $7.99 subscription made through a mobile device will now see roughly $5.59 go through to Twitch, which then splits it either 50/50 or 70/30 with streamers. (More on that contentious practice here.) If it’s a 50/50 split, the streamer makes $2.80. If it’s 70/30, they make $3.90. Before July, they would’ve gotten $1.74 and $2.40, respectively.
To be clear, we do, of course, think creators should earn good money from their content. But raising sub prices this significantly in such a short period of time is likely to result in sticker shock for both established and prospective subscribers, resulting in an overall drop in subscriptions–at least temporarily–for streamers.
Twitch doesn’t publicize data about how many subscriptions come in through mobile versus desktop. We also don’t know how many people might be willing to dodge the upcharge on mobile by switching to desktop and buying there, rather than not buying at all.
Either way, streamers are worried, too:
Please stop increasing prices on subscriptions. It hurts small streamers! So many regular subscribers had to cancel renewing subs when you bumped it up to $5.99 and mobile pricing is already ridiculously high! Now you’re increasing mobile pricing even more?
— KibblesAwoo (@KibblesAwoo) August 21, 2024
how do you guys keep managing to stack up L’s after L’s? it’s shocking to me lol
— chillguyalex (@chillguyalex) August 21, 2024
So you’re purposefully making it impossible for smaller streamers to have a chance on your app?
Also going out of your way to make sure that everything Twitch standed for when you first created the platform is destroyed.
Because anything for a dollar bill right corporate Twitch?— JayShiro_ | ⋆ ★ CONSTELLA ★ ⋆ (@jayshiro_) August 21, 2024
This is probably why people have been seeing a decrease in subs on their channel if I could guess. I don’t have any subs yet. It’s probably too expensive for my audience. Maybe kick streaming is onto something with it being so new and less of a money monster so far…
— TimothysPortal (@TimothysPortal) August 21, 2024
Told all my subs not to resubscribe.
Make a tier list to keep track of who donates/supports and set up a reward system.
At this point Twitch is just robbing us blind.
— OtakuRocku🔥Taku🔥 (@OtakuRockU_) August 21, 2024
The U.S. is just one of 40 regions seeing this price increase, which takes effect Oct. 1.
As you can see from the embedded tweets, streamers are concerned about their audience members’ ability to pay these increased prices, and are encouraging them to donate instead. Twitch still takes a cut of donations using its onsite currency Bits, but it takes that cut from viewers by charging $1.40 to buy 100 Bits, when 100 Bits are actually worth $1 cash-out to streamers. So, streamers will always get $1 from 100 donated Bits, and donors will pay a $0.40 premium into Twitch’s pocket. That premium shrinks the more Bits a viewer buys.
Many streamers are arguing this will impact smaller creators more significantly. We suspect streamers of all sizes could see a drop in subs, but any drop will put a smaller dent in the earnings of Twitch’s most-subscribed-to streamers Kai Cenat, Jynxzi, and HasanAbi, who have 122k, 103k, and 71k subscribers respectively, according to Twitch Tracker.
Another thing to note is this change is being announced just before SUBtember, Twitch’s annual platform-wide subathon. Twitch actually takes a hit for streamers during this period: subscriptions are sold at between 25% and 30% off, but streamers still get paid out as if they were full price. Since the new sub price doesn’t kick in till Oct. 1, prices won’t change in time for SUBtember. But what will change is that people (if they’re using mobile) will buy discounted subs this month, and then see that price jump massively in October. Someone who buys a SUBtember subscription will pay between $4.20 and $4.50 for September. In October, the charge will nearly double.
Whatever the outcome of this change, it seems like a clear indicator that Twitch is in trouble. Thanks to a Wall Street Journal report earlier this month, we know employees are concerned that owner Amazon will turn Twitch into a “zombie brand,” leaving it to languish without support. Maybe it hopes this price change will save it.
