Twitch streamers have a new way to potentially monetize their broadcasts by using Bits in enabled Extensions, the social video service announced Monday.
Bits are a form of virtual currency viewers can buy and use to cheer on their favorite content creators. Starting Monday, certain developers can customize Extensions to accept them. Extensions are a Twitch-exclusive feature that let streamers display leaderboards, create polls, and more on their channel pages. Twitch said 80% of the revenue share from Bits used in these Extensions will go to eligible creators, while 20% will go to developers. This is the first time Bits are usable with Extensions, which means this is the first time developers can profit off their work.
When asked whether or not Twitch will bring this revenue share model to other forms of monetization on the platform, product manager Jeff Chow told Variety, “We can’t comment on our roadmap.”
Every partner and affiliate creator with a Bits-enabled channel can now install the new Extensions. Twitch is currently rolling out more than 30 of them as part of an initial beta program.
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“Our mission at Twitch is to help our community make a living on our service doing what they love, and that includes both content creators and developers,” said Chow. “We built Extensions to best serve what Twitch is best known for: community interactions. By enabling revenue generation from Extensions, developers can make more of them, which ultimately opens up more interactive possibilities and monetization methods for content creators.”
Twitch released new features earlier this year designed to recognize supportive viewers in the community. It’s part of an ongoing effort to make the platform more welcoming. The company also put out revised community guidelines in March to combat hate speech and abusive behavior. They included comments on what kind of clothing is appropriate during streaming, which many felt unfairly targeted female broadcasters.
