To figure out how much money streamers on Twitch actually make, we have to look at the way the Twitch service operates. To really start making money as a streamer, most people are going to have to join the partner program. The partner program is available to popular streamers and requires you to have an average audience of over 500 viewers and stream at least 3 times per week. At that point, we're talking part-time job territory.
Once you're a partner, Twitch grants you access to a number of benefits. You can set up broadcast-delay streams, so you can stream tournaments without having to worry about viewers cheating by telling players what the other team is doing. What's more important though is that you can start accruing monthly subscribers.
The average professional streamer makes between $2,000 and $5,000 a month
These subscribers pay $4.99 a month to support their favorite streamer and in return they gain perks like cosmetic upgrades to their account, personalized emojis and private chats with the streamer. This money is split 50/50 with Twitch at first, then later, as a streamer becomes more popular and established, usually around 60/40, meaning most streamers earn $2.50-$3.00 per subscriber.
For most mid-level streamers, this service, combined with ad revenue from Twitch streams (between $0.70 and $2.50 per thousand views, depending on the streamer, more if you feature full ads that actually interrupt your stream) and YouTube compilation videos, all make up the bulk of their income.
So What Does That Mean In Pure Numbers?
At this point everything boils down to just how many viewers you have, how loyal they are, and how long you've been in the game. Streamers with a decent amount of viewers can pull in anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars a month through ads alone. If you've got enough viewership and enough devoted fans, let's say 10,000 viewers a month and 250 subscribers, you'll be making around $3200 a month from ads and another $625 from subscribers. At almost $4000 a month, plus YouTube income, suddenly it's starting to look like a pretty decent career choice.
On the high end, things can get even crazier. More popular streamers have the clout to negotiate for bigger pieces of the pie, and many high-profile streamers run their own donation/subscription services outside of Twitch and YouTube. There's also sponsorship to factor in once a streamer establishes their own brand.