By each platform's published terms, Kick pays streamers the most per subscription: 95% of subscription revenue, against 70% on YouTube channel memberships and Super Chat and 50% by default on Twitch, which rises to 60% or 70% through its Plus Program. On a $4.99 subscription before fees, that is about $4.74 on Kick, $3.49 on YouTube, and $2.50 on Twitch at the default split. The split is only one input to total income.
The gap matters at the margin. A streamer on Twitch's default split needs about 1,000 paying Tier 1 subscribers to earn what about 526 subscribers pay on Kick. The sections below show the math, the rules behind each number, and what a split does not tell you.
Kick pays 95% of subscription revenue, YouTube pays 70% of net revenue from fan funding features, and Twitch pays 50% by default. Easygo, the company behind Kick, describes a 95-5 subscription split on its Kick company page. YouTube Help lists 70% of net revenues from channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks. Twitch's January 24, 2024 payout announcement sets the Plus Program levels covered below.
| Platform | Subscription or fan funding share | Ad revenue share |
|---|
| Twitch | 50% default, 60% at 100 Plus Points, 70% at 300 Plus Points | Set in the partner agreement |
| YouTube | 70% of net revenue (memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks) | 55% on watch page ads, 45% of the Creator Pool for Shorts feed ads |
| Kick | 95% | Not stated on Kick's company page |
How many subscribers does each split require?
A streamer on Twitch's default 50% split needs about 1,000 Tier 1 subscribers to earn $2,495 a month, the same amount that about 526 Kick subscribers pay. The figures below assume a $4.99 Tier 1 price, the Tier 1 price TechCrunch reported in its January 2024 coverage of Twitch's Plus Program, and they ignore taxes, payment fees, regional pricing, and Prime Gaming subscriptions.
| Platform and level | Streamer share | Monthly pay per 1,000 Tier 1 subs | Kick subs needed to match |
|---|
| Twitch, default | 50% | $2,495 | About 526 |
| Twitch, Plus level 1 | 60% | $2,994 | About 632 |
| Twitch, Plus level 2 | 70% | $3,493 | About 737 |
| YouTube memberships | 70% of net revenue | $3,493 (before platform fees) | About 737 |
| Kick | 95% | $4,741 | 1,000 |
Kick's share is 1.9 times Twitch's default and about 1.36 times the 70% tiers. A Twitch streamer who reaches the 70% level keeps most of the distance to Kick, which is why the Plus Program matters more than the headline 50% figure.
How does Twitch's Plus Program change the split?
Twitch's Plus Program raises the subscription share from 50% to 60% at 100 Plus Points and to 70% at 300 Plus Points, according to Twitch's January 24, 2024 announcement. A Tier 1 subscription counts as 1 point, a Tier 2 subscription as 2 points, and a Tier 3 subscription as 6 points. Streamers must hold the point level for three consecutive months to qualify.
The same announcement removed the $100,000 annual cap on the 70/30 share, effective that day. Before the change, the share reverted from 70% to 50% after $100,000 in net subscription revenue. Many older guides still describe the cap, so check the date on any Twitch payout article before using its numbers.
Twitch also moved Prime Gaming subscriptions to a fixed payout per subscriber country, effective June 3, 2024. Twitch said the difference from the old model was under 5% in most countries. Twitch's chief monetization officer told TechCrunch that the Plus Program thresholds are not permanent, so confirm current levels on Twitch's help pages before planning around them.
How does YouTube pay livestreamers?
YouTube pays 55% of net revenue from ads on watch page videos, 45% of the Creator Pool allocation for Shorts feed ads, and 70% of net revenue from fan funding features, according to YouTube Help. For a streamer, the 70% line covers Super Chat and Super Stickers during live streams, plus channel memberships and Super Thanks.
YouTube defines each share as a percentage set in the partner agreement and enabled module, so the exact payout depends on which modules a channel has accepted. The Shorts share is also not a flat cut of each video's ad revenue. YouTube allocates it from a pool based on a channel's share of views.
Does the highest split pay the most?
A higher split does not guarantee higher income, because streamer income equals paying subscribers multiplied by the streamer's share. A Kick channel with 500 subscribers earns about $2,370 a month at the $4.99 price, while a Twitch channel with 1,000 subscribers on the default split earns $2,495.
Guaranteed contracts can outweigh any split. xQc's reported $100 million Kick deal was non-exclusive, so he kept his Twitch and YouTube channels. Easygo states that Kick allows streaming on Kick, Twitch, and YouTube at the same time, which makes the platform choice additive for most streamers rather than either-or.
Platform moves are also a distribution decision. Kai Cenat's Twitch-to-YouTube migration shows a Twitch-native audience testing YouTube's discovery system, and Ninja's Mixer exclusivity deal shows the cost of locking an audience to one platform.
Use Kick as the main subscription platform if the audience will follow and no Twitch Plus level is within reach. Use Twitch if the channel already holds 300 Plus Points, because the 70% share closes most of the gap to Kick and the $100,000 cap no longer limits it. Add YouTube for memberships and Super Chat at 70%, and run the three together, since Easygo states that simultaneous streaming is allowed.
Before moving a channel, run the per-1,000-subscriber math with your own tier mix. Tier 2 and Tier 3 subscriptions change the totals, and the platform with the best split on paper can still pay less if the subscribers do not move with you.
Per-subscriber figures are Everything-PR calculations using a $4.99 Tier 1 price.
