Monetization for All

May 2026 Update: Now Available Globally 🌏 Following our US launch, we’re expanding access worldwide. Starting May 13, 2026 , Channel Points, subs, emotes, badges, and Bits will be available to eligible streamers globally over the course of a week. You can onboard for access to these tools directly through your Creator Dashboard. For more information on available tools, visit our Help Center . Read more about our initial US launch announcement below.

We’re always looking for ways to make it easier to build a community and today I’m excited to share how we’re helping new streamers jump-start their communities using our suite of streamer tools.

We’ve built a robust set of tools to help streamers build a community and get support from their viewers. These tools have historically been gated to Affiliates and Partners, but beginning today, we’re giving all streamers access to some of our best monetization and community building tools including Bits, subs, emotes, badges, and Channel Points. We made this decision because we know streaming takes time, energy, and effort, and we want to ensure you’ve got the tools you’ll need to be successful from day 1.

We’re starting to rollout in the US this week, and will expand to all streamers globally later this year.

Spendable Balance Gives Streamers Options

While we’re giving all streamers access to monetization tools, streamers must earn Partner or Affiliate status to receive a payout. To give streamers flexibility while they work toward their first payout, we recently launched Spendable Balance in the US. With Spendable Balance, streamers can purchase Bits and gift subs using their Twitch account balance. This is a great option for streamers who are not regularly hitting the minimum payout threshold or are not yet eligible for a payout. Streamers can support other streamers they love, or gift subs to members of their own community.

Some of the benefits of using Spendable Balance include:

You can unlock your balance before meeting the $50 minimum payout threshold

You’re in control - you decide whether to use your Spendable Balance at checkout

You’ll automatically receive a payout when you reach the $50 minimum payout threshold if you’re eligible

Spendable Balance is currently available to streamers in the US only, but we’ll be rolling it out globally over the course of this year. And there’s more on the way – we’ll be adding Turbo and channel subs as purchase options soon.

You can enroll and start building a Spendable Balance via your Creator Dashboard .

Welcoming more streamers to the Affiliate Program

Finally, after speaking with many streamers — both those who have been streaming for years and those just getting started — it became clear that we need to adjust our Affiliate qualification criteria. As we leaned in, we heard that requiring an average CCV, for example, created a disadvantage for streamers who wanted to stream more, regardless of how many viewers they had. We also heard that streaming regularly for extended periods of time was a real challenge for those also working or studying full time. So in early June, we updated the criteria to become an Affiliate to make the Affiliate status easier to achieve for new streamers.

Streamers who hit these milestones should automatically receive an email and a notification in their Creator Dashboard to start the onboarding process. We’ve already seen a promising increase in the number of qualifying Affiliates, and I’m excited to welcome more deserving streamers to our Affiliate ranks in the future.

It’s been great to see so many new streamers get started on Twitch, and I look forward to seeing what the next generation of content creators will come up with. For more information about the updates above, check out our Help Center .