As a streamer on Twitch, you’ve no doubt already discovered other fellow gamers, podcasters, creatives, and musicians who have joined a gaming or marketing agency and started making money from their content.
With over 30 million daily visitors to the site, there are around 25 viewers to every streamer on Twitch. In other words, even Twitch streamers just starting out have a really high chance of attracting a good handful of viewers.
By joining a gaming agency, you can begin converting some of the billions of hours being consumed by these viewers into money, renown, and brand new kit. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than just that…
What is a Gaming Agency?
A gaming agency fills a number of different roles in streamer-influencer marketing, many of which we’ll explore in greater detail a little later in the article. At the core of a gaming agency’s operations, however, is the bridge it builds between brands – who want to advertise their latest products, games, and services to consumers – and streamers – who want to make money and have a platform that can be readily used for advertising.
In essence, a gaming agency is not so different from acting or literary agencies, which secure movie deals and publishing contracts for actors and authors. The difference is, a gaming agency is run by people who are experts in the gaming industry and is tailored toward eSports players and game streamers. Instead of film and book deals, a gaming agency helps content creators secure brand ambassador positions and affiliate marketer roles.
The gaming agency is a fairly new concept since platforms like Twitch have only been around since about 2011, but already their impact on influencer marketing has been significant.
To find out more about what a gaming agency is and what one can do for you as a streamer on Twitch, keep reading!
11 Interesting Facts and Statistics for Twitch Streamers
Here’s a look at some of the crazy stats [as of September 2022], which show just how massive Twitch has become and how much money some of the top streamers on the platform are making:
- David “TheGrefg” Cánovas Martínez broke the all-time record for the highest number of concurrent viewers of a live stream in January 2021, attracting 2.4 million viewers to his Fortnite stream
- There were around 700,000 Twitch Affiliates streaming on the platform, and about 50,000 Twitch Partners, as of 2021
- Over 70% of all eSports is watched via Twitch
- 22% of all Twitch viewers live in the United States of America
- Twitch Affiliates earn an average monthly income of between $3,000 and $5,000 USD
- Twitch streamer Tyler Blevins, AKA Ninja, is reportedly worth $40 million USD
- On average, Twitch streamers earn $250 per month per 100 followers
- Around 76% of Twitch streamers are yet to reach the Twitch minimum $100 threshold for payouts
- Twitch’s top 100 streamers are making a minimum of $32,850 USD per month
- Twitch’s top 1,000 streamers are making a minimum of $7,063 USD per month
- Twitch’s top 10,000 streamers are making a minimum of $904 USD per month
- The number of hours of content streamed on Twitch increased by 83.7%, to 18.1 billion hours, from 2019-2020
The Top 7 Reasons Twitch Streamers Should Consider Joining a Gaming Agency
There are other streaming platforms out there for gamers and content creators, but there’s simply no denying that Twitch has monopolized the market.
The platform continues to grow, and streamers continue to make more and more money.
Let’s take a look at the top 7 reasons you should think about joining a gaming agency as a Twitch streamer.
1. – Start making money from your favorite pastime
The beauty of streaming on Twitch is that no one sets up a channel without first being passionate about gaming and/or engaging with other like-minded people. To put it another way, you’re a Twitch streamer because, quite simply, you love streaming.
A gaming agency – especially one like Mindfuture – gives you all the tools you need to turn that favorite hobby of yours into a paying gig. In addition to deriving enjoyment from your daily, weekly, or monthly streams, joining a gaming agency means that each time you start playing, you can also earn money.
There are a few different ways Twitch streamers can begin earning money through a gaming agency. These include:
- GamePlay: Streaming a developer’s new game for a couple of hours
- Affiliate Marketing: Featuring links to products and games in your Twitter bio
- Running Ads: Hosting advertisements before, during, and/or after your session
- Product Placement: Wearing, displaying, and discussing branded materials
2. – Add an additional revenue stream to your influencer portfolio
You may well already be an established influencer, creating content and making money from it via social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Getting into gamer-influencer marketing, therefore, could be a natural next step for you and your portfolio.
One of the issues you might encounter, however, is that whilst influencer marketing is widespread across traditional social channels, it remains fairly new to gaming and fairly specialized at that. As such, it can be difficult to make the right connections and convince brands you already work with that an audience of gamers would be worthwhile advertising to.
Gaming and eSports agencies make the process of diversifying your influencer portfolio much less complex and much more straightforward. They already have the connections you need – often with big brands like KFC, Coca-Cola, and Huel – allowing you to concentrate on creating quality content instead of worrying about brand engagement.
3. – Agencies communicate your worth to marketing executives
One of the biggest barriers to making it independently as a Twitch influencer is knowing how to persuade marketing executives, publicity departments, and sales divisions that you, as a streamer, can add genuine value to their business.
As much as you might think they’d be at the cutting edge of technology, marketing departments are, in fact, often run by people who prefer to rely on traditional, old-school marketing methods, such as TV ads, billboards, newspaper sections, and the like. To these people, the idea of advertising their brands on social media is still a pretty new and often scary concept.
When it comes to advertising through the live streaming of a game, podcast, conversation, or artistic demonstration, these same marketing executives are typically clueless.
That’s where agencies come in!
Gaming agencies are experts at communicating your worth to marketing departments and persuading them to branch into the world of eSports and advertising through streaming on platforms like Twitch.
By joining a gaming agency, you are immediately freed from the hassle of doing this work yourself and can instead concentrate on your content.
4. – Choose from brand campaigns that match your audience
Perhaps the biggest concern most wannabe content creators have when it comes to joining a marketing agency is that they will have to start hosting ads and talking about products they either don’t like or don’t agree with. And it’s a valid concern!
We see celebrities pushing the weirdest products in adverts on TV all the time. We hear our favorite podcasters repping brands that they sound uncomfortable even mentioning. So… how would that be any different when it comes to gaming sponsorships?
Well, the good news is that it is different. At agencies like Mindfuture, streamers get to choose from a wide variety of different brand campaigns depending on the size of their follower base. This means that you’re able to make money in a way that makes sense and is ethical to you.
At the end of the day, you stream because you enjoy it and because you want to entertain other people. Thus, you’re going to want to join a brand campaign that you can integrate seamlessly into your live streams, as well as one which resonates with your audience. With Mindfuture, you can do just that.
5. – Agencies make monetization accessible and easy
On Twitch, the hoops you have to jump through to become Affiliates and Partners make paid partnership schemes fairly exclusive and not at all easy to join.
To become a Twitch Affiliate, for example, you must have at least 50 followers, average concurrent viewership of 3 or more, and must have streamed at least 7 times and for over 8 hours in the past month. For the vast majority of Twitch streamers, these goals are simply unattainable. (In fact, just 0.001% of users on Twitch make enough money to go full-time).
Gaming agencies, on the other hand, make monetizing your Twitch account far more accessible. Mindfuture, for example, allows you to begin making money no matter how big or small your channel is. They do this by providing access to brand campaigns on a tiered basis – the bigger your channel, the more campaigns will be made available to you to join.
Mindfuture pays a higher rate than many gaming agencies, as well, paying 1 EUR/USD/GBP per average CCV per hour. Thus, if you attract, on average, just ten concurrent viewers, you can be making ten bucks an hour playing your favorite game!
6. – Join a wider community of Twitch influencers
Being a freelance content creator can be pretty lonely at times (I should know, I am one!). Working from home, organizing client relations and contracts all by yourself, chasing payments… The list of things you have to cope with as a solo is long and, at times, overwhelming.
By signing up for a gaming agency, you get to join an already bustling online community of other independent contractors and creators doing exactly the same thing you are! Whilst your primary concern when considering the move to an agency might be the money, it’s worth remembering how important it is to look after your mental health at the same time.
Joining a community of like-minded people helps to keep you supported, inspired, and motivated.
7. – Build a fully-fledged career as a content creator & brand ambassador
Most Twitch streamers start out on the platform just for something to do as a hobby or pastime. Signing up to an agency or becoming a Twitch Affiliate or Partner, they then begin to make a little money on the side – they turn gaming into a side hustle if you will.
Nevertheless, surprisingly few streamers think that the content they create can really take them much further than that.
The truth is, however, that with the right support from the right agency, anyone – even you! – can steadily increase their streaming income and, in time, turn their hobby into a fully-fledged career.
The feedback loop which gets you to such a point works like this:
- You join a gaming agency and start making money streaming
- The money you earn allows you to spend a little more time streaming
- The more time you spend streaming, the bigger your audience grows
- The bigger your audience grows, the more money you earn
- You join a bigger brand campaign that pays even better
- The cycle repeats until you’re making enough money each month to quit your day job!
A Final Thought…
So, what can gaming agencies offer streamers?
The right gaming agency can offer any streamer the opportunity and means to make some money from their passion whilst doing a great deal of the hard work (communicating with marketing executives and setting up contracts) for you.
A great gaming agency can help start you out on the career path of a full-time content creator whilst ensuring that you are supported every step of the way and don’t have to compromise your ethics to get there.
If you think such a thing might be for you, why not give it a try? You’ve got nothing to lose.
FAQs
Can you make money streaming on other platforms as well as Twitch?
Yes! With Mindfuture, you can make money streaming on any platform at all. All you have to do is sign up and link your gaming (or other streaming) account from your preferred platform. Different brand campaigns may be available to you based on whether you use YouTube, Twitch, or another streaming platform.
How big does your audience have to be to start making money on Twitch?
If you want to make money through Twitch’s official channels, you have to have a fairly big and well-established audience (at least 50 followers and 3 CCVs on average). This isn’t easy to attain. However, with the Mind future eSports and gaming agency, you can start making money on Twitch no matter your audience’s size.
Which is the best gaming agency for Twitch streamers?
There are hundreds of gaming agencies available to Twitch streamers, each with a different take on the services they offer and the portfolio of brands they represent. The best gaming agency for streamers, in our opinion, of course, is Mindfuture. Mindfuture rep’s brands like Coca-Cola, Razer, and HyperX and is accessible to everyone.
