TimTheTatman condemns rumored Twitch subscription pay pivot, says it will be ‘low blow’ for developing streamers

Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar thanked “the lord above” he isn’t on Twitch anymore after hearing rumors the platform is reducing subscription revenue splits during his stream on June 15. It’s a move the Call of Duty star believes will hurt small streamers, and he doesn’t want any part in it.

The topic came up after he looked into Twitch’s new Ads Incentive Program, which replaces the flat rate paid to streamers for every 1,000 ad views with a percentage-based model that pays 55 percent of the revenue for each ad.

Twitch claims it amounts to a 50 to 150 percent ad pay rate increase. However, TimTheTatman is less optimistic. He believes it’s the company’s first step in heading down a worrying path for streamers, which ties into the rumors.

“Aren’t they lowering sub-revenue split for smaller creators or some sh*t like that too?” he said. “I legitimately feel bad for smaller creators right now, specifically, because of the way they are angling everything at Twitch.”

He said subs were the only thing that kept him afloat when he was a smaller creator on Twitch. The split he was getting was his primary revenue, and he believes lowering the amount would be devastating for small streamers.

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“Now, for smaller creators, it’s like they’re trying to get away from that sub split and they’re pushing for ads, and the f**king incentive is $22 a month?” he said. “That’s five subs! It would be the equivalent of five subs!”

Using his stream as an example, TimTheTatman explained how Twitch “forces” streamers to run ads, unlike YouTube. If he was still there, he said, he’d have no choice but to run them, which is the difference. “Have you noticed on YouTube that I don’t run ads? It’s because I don’t have to. YouTube isn’t forcing me to run ads on you all.

“Twitch is so ad-heavy. It’s like every hour, bam, bam, bam. Ads everywhere.”

For that reason, he’s concerned about the direction Twitch is going, particularly in terms of streamer impact, and claimed pre-roll ads have now tarnished the experience.