Should I Donate, Give Bits, or Subscribe to Twitch Streamers?
(What do Streamers Prefer? Donations, Bits, or Subscriptions?)
Donating to a streamer is a great way to support their channel, but what type of donation should you give? There are three ways you can donate and show your support to a stream; through bits, by subscribing or gifting subscriptions, or by donating money.
Each donation type have their own sets of pros and cons. This article is going to explain the pros and cons of each donation method.
When you donate money, 100% of the donation is received by the streamer. There is no middle man or cut taken like bits or subscriptions have. The downside, sometimes people jokingly donate and later refund the money back. This makes it hard for streamers to know exactly how much of their donations will actually go through.
With subscriptions, the streamer receives roughly 50-60% of the cost to subscribe. So of the $5 subscription cost, only $2.50 goes to the streamer (see my Twitch Subscription Calculator to see how much streamers make off their subscribers alone). Some streamers would rather you just donate the full $5 to them. Alternatively, some streamers see this as a long term opportunity where the subscriber will continue to subscribe for months to come. Same goes for gifted subscribers where the viewer who receives the gifted subscription may subscribe the following month to keep their subscription active.
The last donation type is through bits. Bits, like pure donations, give money to the streamer. The benefit of bits over the pure money donation is that bits are not refundable. So if a streamers receives 100 bits they have a guaranteed $1 donation (see my Twitch Bits Calculator here to see how much streamers and Twitch make off Bits). The downside of bits is that it costs $1.40 to donate $1. This adds up as if someone wanted to donate $100 in bits it would cost them $140 just to purchase those bits. A streamer may prefer to cut the middle man, in this case Twitch, and take the full $140.
So what's the best way to donate to a streamer? It really depends on what the streamer wants. If they want to build their channel then maybe gifting subscribers is best. Donating Twitch Bits are great too as it guarantees the money without the risk of refunds. However, the best donation anyone can give to a streamer is the pure money donation. 100% of the donation goes to the streamer. Yes, there is a risk of people refunding or donations not going through, but that is very minimal. With subscriptions, up to 50% goes to Twitch. With Bits, 28.57% goes to Twitch. With pure donations, 0% goes to Twitch or any other company.
In the end, the best donation is a pure money donation, but don't be afraid to ask the streamer what they prefer. Some may want to grow their channel with new subscribers.