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Destiny (Twitch streamer) discusses how money is made through Twitch streaming
- Thread starter crimsonheadGCN
- Start date
$100k is a little money to you?
Prototype Viktor
Member
Yea but if that streamer lived in low cost of living state he'd easily "beat" that 24 he old hire
Even ignoring the fact that many of these skills are applicable outside the gaming industry, there will probably be all kinds of streaming-related jobs opening up at game developers, game publishers, and games media websites. Anyone who is really working at building a brand and a quality product could probably walk away and find a decent job with a private company of some sort. I'm sure there are people just have just lucked into their position without a lot of effort, but somebody like Destiny is definitely building a valuable resume.
Holy shit, 10k?!
You must be on the north side burbs, heh.
Paypal now reports everything.
DoktorEvil
Banned
Yikes.
With that attitude, I'm surprised your not taking away their ability to stream either.
How many times does a Twitch streamer or popular YouTube personality have to prove that being in the higher end of the formula is very financially stable, especially since with that kind of job, you can do it anywhere with low COL.
Also, there is a lot to be said about running your own business, which a lot of these people are doing as self-employed. They contract artists and other content creators to share the wealth and consolidate channels often to share viewership. They also often manage their own website and database solutions.
Even for the oldest LPers, just doing the YouTube/Twitch thing as a side income/second income stream is an option.
Frankly, a lot of channels do the review/preview thing much better than IGN could ever do.
Hell, If guys like DSP can make a job and gain viewership out of being a complete knob over video games...
N
NinjaFridge
Unconfirmed Member
lol.
wintermute181
Neo Member
ITT: I make more than this guy, therefore he is unsuccessful.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Working 60 hours a week for $70,000 does not seem like a good deal to me. Especially since as a self-employed person they have to pay both sides of some taxes, get health insurance, etc. But, you know, there is something to be said for taking a haircut because you are doing something you enjoy. I don't really cry for musicians or artists or what have you who make a pittance. There is a value to do something you really enjoy and want to do.
A single person making $100,000 is in the top 5% of Americans. It's wealthy. Yes, maybe you're living in a high cost area, but that's what a salary higher than 95% of Americans gets you.
A single person making $100,000 is in the top 5% of Americans. It's wealthy. Yes, maybe you're living in a high cost area, but that's what a salary higher than 95% of Americans gets you.
johntown
Banned
Wow! Why do so many people watch him? I watched his stream briefly for Killing Floor 2 and it didn't seem like anything special or particularly interesting to me.
Man, Lirik got more than 10k subscribers with 25-30k average viewers. The highest among twitch streamers, with chat talk donations for minimum of 3 dollars (around 15-20 per hour) he plays around 8-10 hours, selling T shirts, got a Youtube channel.
Best of all, he plays the games he wants and doesn't need face cam.
He wins lol
Best of all, he plays the games he wants and doesn't need face cam.
He wins lol
He just reached 10k subscribers a couple of weeks ago. He averages around 20k viewers a day easily. The best part about Lirik is that he's still pretty much an old fashioned streamer where his channel is still about the games and viewers and not really about him. He doesn't have a face cam, doesn't stop what he's doing to go crazy over donations or subscribers, and he doesn't have obnoxious notifications. When he gets a new sub he'll say thanks but that's it. He'll read donation messages if they aren't dumb but most of the messages he gets are either helpful hints for whatever game he is playing or people just saying that they love his stream.
Are you shitting me?
diffusionx
Gold Member
It's all public information, based on tax returns. Yes the vast vast majority of Americans make far less than $100k.
DoktorEvil
Banned
Whut?
Care to post a source or citation for that number?
That back of the envelope math.
Do you have any links to back this up or are these tales from your ass?
diffusionx
Gold Member
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States#Income_distribution
Look at the last row. $100,000 or more puts you above 93.39% of Americans.
samurai1226
Member
It's not that much that it is an interesting way of living for me. I prefer my job, where I have my garantuee to work there for a lot of years in the future, getting my money for 35h per week and enjoy videogames in the evening without the pressure of need to entertain some viewers and becoming a public person.
Ivan Amiibo
Banned
naperville, iirc from another thread. lol
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ousehold_Income_in_the_United_States_2012.png
it's more like top 25% make 90-100k+, if i'm reading that correctly.
diffusionx
Gold Member
You are, but that is household income. In other words, two people in a household make over $100k. I was talking about personal income.
The median household income in the USA is something like $50k. I'm not sure people, especially college educated and relatively affluent people, understand how little money most Americans make.
YuriLowell
Member
This is the truth. I think sometimes people live in a little bubble.
DoktorEvil
Banned
Personal income equals household income now?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States
Vincent Grayson
Member
It ain't "chump change" for anything. I don't think anyone in my peer group of educated (BA or better) and gainfully-employed 30-somethings makes that kind of money, and this is a job that not only can be performed from home, but also involves you doing something that (in most cases) you'd be doing anyway.
Yeah. People bitch about streamers, but these people earn more money than 3-4 of us combined monthly. It's a combination of kids that pay them and the momentary change in the entertainment business. People that never learned these things can easily entertain people on the internet. It's easy as setting up OBS, creating a twitch account and to start streaming. Of course... there are many other things in the background that have to be handled by the big streamers, but you get the gist.
It's the reason why I am streaming too, although I have a normal job. I build up a community, but I am also pushing other sites (I also got a very big hookah review site on youtube: ShishaForU 12.000 subs etc.) so that I can profit from this gold mine right now.
People that just hate give us more money so I don't mind all the hate against entertainer.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Umm... no? I never said they were the same either. I think I was pretty clear in that I was talking about personal income.
DoktorEvil
Banned
The point I was trying to show(poorly) was that these statistics do not mean much.
"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer"
For "big" streamers is $3/$2 but for smaller streamers its $2.50/$2.50.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Isn't he at or near the absolute top in popularity for solo streamers? Making around $500,000 a year is certainly very good, but not exactly amazing for someone near the absolute top, with a very good chance that popularity and salary won't last forever.
lensoftruth
Member
Still trying to get my head around the fact that people watch people playing games yet alone the money they make :S
Good luck to them I suppose.
Good luck to them I suppose.
Carl2291
Member
I remember Forsen accidentally showing his donation page. Half way through the Month he was at $18000.
Here ya go - https://i.imgur.com/OLyQNpk.png
Here ya go - https://i.imgur.com/OLyQNpk.png
benicillin
Banned
It's a business model that eventually won't be able to sustain itself. Good for them to strike while the iron is hot, but if I were a "top streamer" I'd be banking the cash while I could and learning some real job skills on the side. I've seen more than my fair share of really big streamers who made bank have their channel crash in popularity when the next big thing comes along.
entremet
Member
For playing video games from the comfort of your home, tho?
No commutes. No buying business attire. Not relying on the health of a company or economy as much as a regular worker?
And he learning tons of transferable skills, much more than a normal employee in a cube farm.
Selling and marketing alone are high in demand skills.
Also he seems to love what he's doing. Not many people can say that.
If you don't mind me asking has any of it paid off yet? Like have you started to make anything from it yet?
SliceSabre
Banned
People who think a single person making $70k a year is barely getting by either have expensive tastes or live in high cost of living areas because a person making $70k a year is going to live pretty well in most places in the US. Hell a massive percent of Americans WISH they made $70k a year not to mention its $70k a year doing something they enjoy at that!
benicillin
Banned
There are a lot of things to take into account - taxes, health insurance, etc. I doubt the 70k goes straight into their pocket.
DoktorEvil
Banned
I'd get sick of playing the same regurgitated games like DOTA or LoL or Destiny, but I'd love to be able to stream RPGs, MLB matches, and CoD and get paid doing it.
SliceSabre
Banned
And? Even after that they are still making more money than the average american who has those very same things to pay which includes other self-employed.
I sort of wonder how big the middle class of Twitch streamers is. Like, how many people are making $60-80k with donations and everything vs those that make half a million or very little at all.
Hope a lot of these people are saving since most of their income comes from tips which can always change with the wind. Going to be interesting to see where Twitch is 5-10 yrs. I could see it going away or getting bigger.
Hope a lot of these people are saving since most of their income comes from tips which can always change with the wind. Going to be interesting to see where Twitch is 5-10 yrs. I could see it going away or getting bigger.
I agree, he is nothing special but somehow he gets a shit ton of viewers.
jakonovski
Member
If I ever start streaming I shall name my channel the "Cleveland Streamer".
diablos991
Can’t stump the diablos
It's all relative to your expectations and plans. My area is not a high cost of living area and $70k would be rough.
Sure I could survive on that much, but it hasn't been my goal to do so since I started my career.
The origins my statements revolve around stating that it is definitely not a good career salary if you were self employed (tax implications are much higher and there are no health/retirement benefits). This compounds when you consider how much time is needed to get this going and maintain it.
Sure it's great if you are single, young, and putting yourself through university, but once you have a few degrees and a couple professional certifications there are better options to transition into your mid-endgame career.
Relying on that income as a sole career plan would be foolish and most of the top streamers know this. They have alternate plans and many of them are using this early windfall to build a foundation which will allow them to be more stable.
la flama blanca
Banned
I know quite a few people who are trying really hard to break into becoming successful streamers and for the past year have only really been wasting their time.
Really? It is far easier to plateau streaming then a regular job, even at McD.
You skills improve in the game that is all. What other skills do you learn year to year?
