Last week, it can’t have escaped you that Twitch experienced a serious data breach. The platform was hacked, and all the information was revealed. This includes your passwords, personal information, but also the income generated by streamers. With hundreds of thousands of people streaming each day, this was actually an interesting piece of data to look at. Full disclosure, I didn’t seek this information out, it was shared by people in the games industry and I was intrigued when I saw the top ten streamers by income. What I was also intrigued by was how so many streamers don’t even make minimum wage, yet they continue to try to make this their career.
Streaming online is a game if you’re hoping to make a job out of it. The only way to make it work is to have a clip of you go viral, and at some point it probably will if that’s all you do, and then you’ll get the followers required to generate enough income from Twitch alone that you can make it a career. Of course, there are subs and donations too, but I imagine these don’t add much to the average streamer’s income.
I’ve been writing full-time for 2.5 years at the time of writing this article. It took me one solid year of hard work and savings to get to the point that I could support myself. With streaming, you’re basically waiting for something lucky to happen. It doesn’t matter what you play, someone else bigger will always be playing it. To blow up and get the following you need, Someone has to help you out, or you need to have that viral clip.
I will say that anyone who already has a following is bound to do well on Twitch, but that’s isn’t making a career from scratch. Most people on Twitch don’t have a job or a career, they want Twitch to be that career. However, it can’t happen for everyone, the numbers simply don’t work. If nothing else, this leak should be a wake-up call for anyone streaming to the void. Have a backup plan.
