Home / Software & Gaming / Twitch clarifies ‘cheer’ value: one bit equals a cent

Twitch clarifies ‘cheer’ value: one bit equals a cent

When Twitch announced earlier this week that it would soon allow stream viewers to tip their favourite presenters with “cheer,” essentially pre-paid emotes, there were a lot of questions people still had about the idea. How much streamers would actually receive was one of the biggest, so we're glad to report that Twitch has now responded: one bit, equals one cent.

Twitch has been forthright about how much bits would cost the viewers themselves from the get go. $1.40 or just over £1 would give you 100 bits. But what happens if you submit that 100 bits to your favourite streamer? Do they get $1.40 in return?

No. In-fact they only receive $1.00, since each of those bits is worth a single penny, or cent for the streamers. That means on purchases of just 100 bits at a time, Twitch pulls in a whopping 40 per cent commission. Although that seems extortionate, as the bit purchases go up, that cut becomes far less as discounts are applied for larger bit buys at once.

cheergif

For example, buying the biggest bit batch of 25,000 for $308 would mean a streamer receives $250 if you donated all of it. In that instance, Twitch is taking home less than 20 per cent commission, which is a little more favourable.

Still though, as TechCrunch points out, you could just donate directly to the streamer, or pay them a monthly subscription to offer your support. It's perhaps not as direct – and certainly not as public – but there are lots of ways to support content creators online.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: There's a lot of talk in the independent website game about how we continue forward into the future. How would you guys feel if sites like KitGuru offered tipping systems like this instead of having adverts plastered everywhere? Would you prefer a system like that?

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8 comments

  1. 40/140 is ~28.5%, not 40%. Still seems a little high to me, but clearly Twitch wants to make money here.

  2. Not quite. If I want to give $1.00, I have to pay $1.40 to do so. Thus 40% markup.

  3. LOL, not a snowballs chance in h3ll Twitch. Setting this up costs you almost nothings, there’s little to no increase in bandwidth. Why are they expecting such a big cut. No way, no how…. Kappa

  4. Commission on a total value isn’t the same as markup. I agree that the markup is 40%, but when figuring out what Twitch is making based on the total amount, you calculate based on the total amount, not based on markup. It all comes down to semantics.

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  7. Not to mention the fact that Twitch is paying credit card fees on that $1.40. Twitch is pocketing $0.20 or less on that $1.40 transaction.

  8. Jacob Brad Johnson

    credit card fees are usually a flat 39 cents plus 2.7% of the transaction.
    Unless twitch has a bulk processing fee for small orders (I.E. maxed at a certain % of revenue for example 58% or something for small transactions) twitch could make as little as 18 cents on a $1.40 transaction. (which is still pretty good of course)

    on the bigger orders where they get less in the order % wise, they’ll actually make more money per unit.