Twitch to lower subscription fees abroad
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Twitch is rolling out new localized subscription pricing abroad, its VP of monetization, Mike Minton, told Axios. Every new subscription price will be lower than the current $4.99 fee, which will remain in the U.S.
Why it matters: "We heard around world that price point not attainable," Minton told Axios. "In Latin America, for example, 80% can’t support streamers in the same way as people can in the U.S. because of the price." Minton said Twitch's subscription price hadn't changed in seven years.
Details: Prices will adjust over the next few months for new subscriptions, existing subscriptions and gift subscriptions.
- Mexico and Turkey price changes will launch on May 21st, followed by about 40 other localized pricing structures around the world in places like Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
- Some countries will have individual pricing plans, others will be regional. Subscription prices will vary based on where a viewer lives and has their Twitch payment method set up, not where the creator lives. (Viewers can subscribe to different creators' channels on Twitch.)
- Twitch ran a bunch of experiments to ensure that it was rolling out the right price point in each market. Minton says in some cases, when the lowered prices are in place, creative revenues and new memberships have increased 3x and 1x, respectively.
Yes, but: If for some reason creators see their revenues go down as a result of these changes, Twitch says it will provide adjustment incentives for creators to help ensure that they are paid, so long as they meet basic eligibility requirements, like continuing to post 85% of their live, baseline hours.
- Twitch will first pay creators for three months with what they would've made from baseline channel revenue and Prime subscription revenue. For the following 9 months, it will slowly decrease those incentive payments by 25% every three months.
- "We designed this program to ensure up to 12 months of creators' revenues will be protected," Minton says.
Bottom line: "Community is what we do best," Minton says. "Subscriptions are the foundation of the patronage model where people can support the streamer. It's about support, not an access to content model," Minton adds, which makes the payment feel more like a community contribution than a paywall.
