If you want to become a Twitch partner, you're recommended to reach affiliate status first. Once you've hit it, you'll need to meet 3 other criteria: an average of 75 concurrent viewers for the past 30 days, to have streamed at least 12 times within the last month, and have streamed for a total of 25 hours.
If you're a Twitch affiliate, wanting to reach Partner status sure is tempting, especially since you get all kinds of monetization tools. But the thing is, getting approved for it is hard. You can still get your application rejected even if you've met the mentioned requirements. I know this too well - I kept trying for a whole year until I finally got in.
If you'd like to know how exactly I joined the Twitch partnership program, and some additional information on the topic, you can read ahead.
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To increase your chances of getting accepted, I would first encourage you to become a Twitch affiliate. It's not mandatory, but it can increase your chances of getting partner.
Not only is it easy to reach, but you technically pass all the requirements to get it when applying for Partner:
Once you're a part of the Twitch affiliate program, you'll need to start working on reaching a few new goals, like having an average of 75 concurrent viewers for the past 30 days, to have streamed at least 12 times within the last month, and have streamed for a total of 25 hours. You'll know that you've hit all of these goals when you see the Path to Partner badge in your creator dashboard.
The thing is, even if you've reached these goals, you still might not unlock partner status. Remember that the Twitch team has to manually go through your application before they accept you. According to Reddit users, the specific content that you stream (like the games you play) has an impact on whether you get into the Twitch partner program. Also, the number of subscribers that you have seem to play a major role as well.
I've gotten my application rejected 4 different times before, and I only got accepted after I continuously hit 120 concurrent viewers.
According to Twitch, there are a few tips and tricks that can increase your chance of joining their official partnership program.
When I say hone in on your content, I mean figure out what kind of streamer you are. So, think about what sets you apart from others. Also, put sandpaper on any rough parts in your streams, if your mic isn't the best, invest in a good one. And if your streaming room isn't the most aesthetic, make it look better for your viewers.
I'd also recommend that you watch some of your previous streams - you can do this through the Video On Demand feature. Make note of all the issues that you find: pretending that you're a viewer in your own stream will really help. Then, work on all of these points.
Remember to stream as frequently as possible. Now, Twitch understands that streamers can't stick to a schedule all the time, as life gets in the way. But they do expect you to show some effort in trying to build your channel (or more importantly, your community).
If you're not super busy, try and revolve your week around your streaming schedule. This should help you minimize skipping streams.
Twitch reviews applications by hand, so they check your conduct and how you've treated your community. There's no way you'll be accepted as a partner if you've violated their terms of service, like using hate speech or taking drugs while on stream. My advice would be to be on your best behavior at all times.
To keep yourself motivated, I would advise you to break down your channel goals into smaller ones. So, instead of trying to hit 75 concurrent views at once, take baby steps and try to hit 20. Once you've hit this target, slowly work your way up to the 75 mark. Make the hard work more exciting by rewarding yourself whenever you hit a milestone.
You need to actively try and grow your channel. Don't just rely on promoting yourself on Twitch, but other social media channels too, like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. From all of these, I think TikTok and Twitter can especially be useful if you know how to play the algorithm.
One of the best ways to do this is to edit your clips into shorter content that can easily be shared. Of course, remember to link your Twitch channel to your profile to get users back to you.
Although the minimum requirement to get into a Twitch partnership is 75 average views, Twitch wants to see consistency. So, they'd rather you routinely get around 75 viewers than dip in between 50 to over 150 viewers. The only way that you can make sure of this is by growing your community through the leveraging that I mentioned.
First, make sure that you've reached the Path to Partner achievement. It's a badge on your creator dashboard that tells you whether you've met the needed Twitch partner requirements. Here's how potential partners can check this:
Once you've hit this milestone, you're ready to send in a Twitch partner application. You'll have to visit their application page, and then fill in all the information that's required. It's nothing too lengthy, and will only take a couple of minutes.
Now, you wait until your application is processed. Generally speaking, you'll hear back after 2-4 weeks. If your application was rejected, you can apply again after 2 weeks. However, you are advised to wait a month, unless you've made some serious strides on your channel.
There are all kinds of benefits to becoming a Twitch partner, and some of them overlap with being an affiliate, especially in the monetization department. Nonetheless, there are quite a few pros to reaching the milestone.
Twitch partners can make money through channel subscriptions, ads, and letting viewers use Bits to buy cheers. All of these are standard for Twitch affiliates too. But partners have added incentives to make viewers spend their money.
First of all, viewers can use custom emotes on their cheers, which they can't do on affiliate channels. And secondly, they'll be able to use up to 60 unlockable subscriber emotes on your chat, instead of the standard 5.
Apart from this, you will have more control of your ads as a partner. This means that you'll be able to determine the length and frequency of mid-roll advertisements through your creator dashboard.
Also, Twitch partners are promoted more. This alone will bring you in more viewers, and thus, more money from ads and subscriptions. Some of these promotions include partner Spotlights, Meet & Greets, Partner Panels, and Streamer Zones.
One of the best things about being a partner is having access to a good range of video tools, like being able to delay streams by 15 minutes and saving videos in your Video On Demand for up to 60 days (instead of the standard 14 days with affiliates). Also, you will be able to use the Squad stream feature and stream content with 4 or more other channels.
Last but not least, Twitch partners have access to priority support - a special support team dedicated to partners that comes with fast replies.
Twitch partners have access to more tools than affiliates, which obviously lets them earn more money, like being featured on the site, and being able to edit and determine the frequency of mid-ad rollouts. It's hard to estimate the amount of cash that they make, as I've had some friends (who were partners) that made more than me.
Answered below are some popular questions.
Yes, you can lose a Twitch partnership (this is also true for Twitch affiliates). But losing your partnership status as a whole is rare. You'll have to seriously breach the site's terms and services, like frequently promoting hate speech on your stream, being nude, or taking part in illegal activities while on stream, like taking drugs.
Both Twitch partners and affiliates are allowed to create content on other platforms. However, you're not allowed to stream on other platforms while simultaneously on Twitch - you can have your account reported if someone catches you, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Also, you're able to advertise any channels that you may have on your Twitch panels.
I would advise you to first try and reach affiliate status before applying for partner. It's pretty easy to reach, thankfully. Once you're an affiliate, this is where the real work starts, as becoming a Twitch partner is tough. There are a few Twitch partner requirements to meet, and even if you meet them, you can still have your partnership application rejected. A Twitch employee manually has to go through your application, so they will look through your account history and how your streams have been months in advance.
At the end of the day, becoming a Twitch partner is worth it. You'll be fully featured on the platform. So, you'll be able to make more cash. And you'll get a hold of some really useful video tools, like being able to delay your streams by 15 minutes, and even be able to hold streams on the Video on Demand feature for weeks longer.
Hopefully, you found all of the points that were run through useful, and are able to hit partner status soon.
