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Can You Fall Out of Twitch Affiliate? Understanding the Risks and Requirements

Yes, you can fall out of Twitch Affiliate. While becoming a Twitch Affiliate is a significant milestone for many streamers, it’s not a permanent status. Twitch has specific requirements to maintain your affiliate partnership, and failing to meet these can result in your affiliate status being revoked. It’s essential to understand these requirements and consistently work to meet them to avoid losing the benefits and revenue opportunities that affiliate status provides. Let’s dive into the details of maintaining your hard-earned affiliate badge.

Maintaining Your Twitch Affiliate Status

The primary reason streamers lose their affiliate status is inactivity. Twitch expects its affiliate partners to be active and engaged members of the community. If you do not honor this expectation and remain inactive, Twitch has the right to suspend your affiliate partnership. Specifically, if you remain inactive for over 12 consecutive months, Twitch can remove your affiliate status.

But what constitutes ‘inactive’? While Twitch doesn’t explicitly define it beyond the 12-month mark, it generally refers to not streaming, not engaging with your community, and not utilizing the affiliate features provided by the platform. Simply logging in once in a while isn’t enough; consistent engagement is key.

Core Requirements to Avoid Falling Out

To avoid the possibility of losing your affiliate status, it’s crucial to continually meet the initial requirements that got you there in the first place. These include:

Maintaining at least 50 followers: It’s fundamental to continue to grow and engage your audience so you keep your follower count over the required 50.
Streaming for at least 8 hours: You need to actively stream and demonstrate your consistent engagement with the platform.
Streaming on at least 7 different days: This promotes consistent content production and community interaction on your channel.
Maintaining an average of 3 viewers per stream: This encourages growth in your audience and shows that you are actively working on community engagement.

While the article does not explicitly state a monthly timeframe for these requirements, the original article does state that “This means that within 30 days, you need to stream ~ 8.33 hours over 7 unique days to an average of 3 viewers watching you the whole time. You also need at least 50 followers.”. Therefore, while there might not be a hard and fast 30 day limit once you are affiliate, these benchmarks are a good goal to aim for each month to maintain your status. Consistent effort in meeting these criteria will help you maintain your affiliate status and work towards further growth.

What Happens if You Lose Affiliate Status?

Losing affiliate status means you’ll lose access to the following features and benefits:

Subscription options: Your viewers will no longer be able to subscribe to your channel, which is a significant source of income for many streamers.
Emotes: You will no longer be able to provide custom emotes for your subscribers.
Bits: Viewers will not be able to support your channel through Twitch Bits.
Ad revenue: You’ll lose your share of revenue from ads run on your stream.

Essentially, your stream will revert to a non-affiliate account, meaning that many core revenue and community-building elements will be gone. Regaining affiliate status will require you to re-apply and meet all the qualification requirements once again.

Best Practices to Stay an Active Twitch Affiliate

To ensure you stay an active and successful Twitch affiliate, consider the following practices:

Create a Consistent Streaming Schedule: A regular schedule allows your viewers to know when to tune in and helps you build a consistent audience. Post your schedule on your Twitch profile and other social media platforms.
Engage with Your Community: Respond to chat, interact with your viewers, and foster a welcoming atmosphere. A strong community keeps viewers returning to your streams.
Promote Your Channel: Share your stream on other social media platforms, create engaging content, and network with other streamers. The more visibility you have, the more likely you are to grow your audience.
Analyze Your Performance: Pay attention to your stream analytics. This helps you understand what content your viewers enjoy and identify areas for improvement.
Participate in Community Events: Taking part in Twitch events, hosting streams with other content creators and participating in online challenges is essential to growing your community.
Always Stay Updated: Ensure you stay up to date with any changes Twitch makes to its policies, or updates to the partner/affiliate program.

By following these practices, you not only reduce the risk of losing affiliate status but also grow your channel and maximize your potential on Twitch.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Can I lose Twitch Affiliate if I don’t stream for a while?

Yes, if you remain inactive for over 12 months, Twitch has the right to suspend your affiliate partnership. Consistent activity is crucial to maintaining your status.

2. What does “inactive” mean in Twitch terms?

While not strictly defined, inactivity primarily refers to not streaming, not engaging with your community, and not utilizing the affiliate features for an extended period, typically over 12 months.

3. Do I need to maintain 50 followers to keep my affiliate status?

Yes, maintaining at least 50 followers is a fundamental requirement for keeping your affiliate status. It’s essential to focus on growing and engaging your audience.

4. What happens to my subscription revenue if I lose affiliate status?

You will lose access to subscriptions if you lose your affiliate status. Viewers will no longer be able to subscribe to your channel, impacting your income.

5. How do I know if I am at risk of losing my affiliate status?

Twitch does not typically send warnings before revoking affiliate status. It is your responsibility to track your own stream history and ensure you are meeting all the requirements. Actively monitoring your channel is crucial.

6. Can I regain Twitch affiliate status if I lose it?

Yes, you can re-apply for affiliate status. However, you will need to meet all the initial requirements again, such as reaching 50 followers, streaming for 8 hours, streaming on 7 different days, and averaging 3 viewers.

7. Is the 12 month inactivity period strictly enforced?

Yes, if you do not stream, interact with your community or use the benefits of being an affiliate for 12 continuous months, Twitch can revoke your affiliate status.

8. Do I need to hit affiliate requirements every month?

While there may not be a hard monthly limit to maintain, the original article did state that to reach affiliate you need to meet the minimum requirement within a 30 day period. Continuing to hit these minimum requirements on a monthly basis is a great goal to maintain your status and keep your channel growing.

9. Can I lose affiliate status if my average viewership drops below 3?

Yes, falling below the average of 3 concurrent viewers will eventually lead to the loss of your affiliate status. Continuing to promote your channel and work on viewer engagement is essential.

10. Are there any warnings given before my affiliate status is revoked?

No, Twitch does not normally send out warnings before revoking an affiliate status. Ensuring you are always within the required criteria is your responsibility.

11. Does taking a break for a week or two put me at risk of losing affiliate status?

Taking a short break of a week or two is unlikely to jeopardize your affiliate status. The danger is from extended periods of inactivity, typically over 12 months. However, maintaining consistency is still important for growth.

12. Will my emotes disappear if I lose affiliate?

Yes, if your affiliate status is revoked, your viewers will no longer have access to your custom emotes.

13. What happens to my Bits earning if I lose affiliate?

You will no longer earn any money from Bits if you lose affiliate status. Viewers will not be able to support your channel through Bits.

14. What is the best way to keep my follower count above 50?

Engage with your viewers, create high-quality content, promote your channel, and network with other streamers. A strong community base is critical for follower retention and growth.

15. Will Twitch automatically re-instate my affiliate status if I start streaming again after a period of inactivity?

No, you must reapply for the affiliate program after you have met all the minimum criteria again. Simply starting to stream again will not reinstate your affiliate status.

By understanding these requirements and actively working to maintain a healthy and engaged community, you can safeguard your Twitch affiliate status and continue to grow as a streamer.

Can you fall out of affiliate Twitch?