Just about anything of worth costs money these days. Is a Twitch account free, though? Can you stream games without paying for the privilege?
The answer, fortunately, is yes.
It’s quite remarkable when you think about it. Twitch, a game streaming platform owned by Amazon, allows you to set up an account and broadcast yourself playing a game, cooking a casserole, or painting a self portrait — all at no cost whatsoever. If you have a PlayStation or Xbox, you can stream without any additional hardware. If you want to take it to the next level, you can pick up some gear for a streaming setup.
How does Twitch get away with letting you use all this tech for free? The answer comes in the form of advertisements and channel subscriptions. If you’re watching a highly popular streamer, you are contributing to Twitch’s income by sitting through the occasional video advertisement. If you like that streamer enough to subscribe to them, about half of the subscription fee goes to Twitch. All of this keeps the lights on at Twitch HQ.
And by streaming yourself — regardless of how big your audience is — you are pitching in a little bit. When you start out, you are almost certainly being subsidized by streamers with large viewerships. They’re raking in the majority of the dough for Twitch, which in turn provides its platform to you. Should you grow your channel, however, Twitch could end up seeing a return on that investment.
So if you’re looking to start up a Twitch channel, you don’t have to worry about a price for admission on Twitch. The platform will not charge you for streaming. That doesn’t mean streaming is entirely free, however, especially if you want start upping the production value of your streams down the line. In that case, you’ll want to invest in some gear. But you won’t have to pay Twitch a single penny at any point, so why not go hog wild? Stream away.
