The limit of 10000 bits is bad news for my extension - Are we allowed to make an extension that will use a “goal” type and let say when the goal reaches 20000 it will enable the extension?
This question is really about the approval process, can we do that or Twitch is not allowing us to do so?
Thank you
So your extension doesn’t do anything before someone has put $200 equivalent dollars into it? And there is nothing a user can do in the extension without spending anything at all?
This will likely not pass review and few streamers will install an extension with such a “high” entry needed for bits usage.
You can utilise a bit goal for to trigger a thing, but your extension should have free features.
It your intend is to require streames to pay for access to other features of the extension then you can’t/shouldn’t use bits for this, as streamers can’t use bits on their own channel.
20000 is a lot fo bits.
Totaliser Goals are fine, but theres not a lot of information here to be sure.
And remember bits are “sorta” designed to by bought from Twitch then used in small chunks multiple times, not just in one go.
Hence the relatively sensible limit for 10000, channels themsleves also have a max limit on how many people can use in a single cheer (off hand I’m not sure what that is, it might in fact be 10000 as well)
Thank you for your response.
So your extension doesn’t do anything before someone has put $200 equivalent dollars into it? And there is nothing a user can do in the extension without spending anything at all?
This is actually more complex than that - I went straight to the question as “Is it possible to have a Goal type of extension or not” as for doing something while the amount is growing is not a problem, I just need to know if it’s possible or not with Twitch Extension?
You can utilise a bit goal for to trigger a thing, but your extension should have free features.
It does
It your intend is to require streames to pay for access to other features of the extension then you can’t/shouldn’t use bits for this, as streamers can’t use bits on their own channel.
No it’s not the case
20000 is a lot fo bits.
For small streamers definitively but not for a big streamer.
And remember bits are “sorta” designed to by bought from Twitch then used in small chunks multiple times, not just in one go.
Why not?
Hence the relatively sensible limit for 10000, channels themsleves also have a max limit on how many people can use in a single cheer (off hand I’m not sure what that is, it might in fact be 10000 as well)
Where can I get that information from Twitch as I need to know everything upfront.
The vast majority of extensions on Twitch do not make significant income with bits, and even those running on the largest channels on Twitch do not see much in the way of bits transactions. Most streamers, and a good portion of viewers, know that the broadcaster only takes an 80% cut of Extension transactions so it’s a VERY poor way to support the broadcaster compared to just tipping them or cheering the bits.
Extension Monetization is largely lots of very small transactions, usually less than 250 but most less than 100.
it’s a VERY poor way to support the broadcaster compared to just tipping them or cheering the bits.
This is far from encouraging extension makers to read such thing.
It’s just the reality of Extension development, no one here is going to sugar coat it and say you’ll make amazing money and can live off of Extension income.
Out of the extensions that are monetized, with appropriate EBS design (or removal of a need for EBS at all) the operational costs of the average extension is not too difficult to break even. A small percentage will turn a profit but if you factor development time into it then even that may not be the case. Much like only a very small fraction of top streamers make a significant income, only a very small fraction of top Extensions make a significant income.
That’s not to say they make no income though, and many developers create Extensions as a passion project and to enhance the viewer or broadcaster experience in some way. If you’re going in to this with the intent to make money and think people will spend vast sums of bits on your Extension I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. It’s also why some developers support their work through other means, such as a broadcaster contracting the developer to make something specific for their channel or group of channels, as that’s may be a more reliable way to monetize extensions than to rely on viewers using bits.
It make sense and I appreciate your honesty - I was just expecting more from the community since a bigger % is taken off channel subscriptions.
Channel subscriptions offer a significantly more reliable revenue source to a broadcaster as bit usage can fluctuate heavily and can’t be relied on month to month. Also the benefits of subscribers such as emote unlocks can be a significant added value, and some of partners may have more benedicial revenue shares with Twitch than the default 50/50 on subs.
Should a user wish to just tip a broadcaster they can also do that through cheering what existing bit balance they have, or through a 3rd party payment processor, both of which offer significantly better revenue for the broadcaster than Extensions.
One thing to note, I’m juay talking about the type of extensions that are generally available for developers to make. I can’t speak to the revenue of Extensions that are part of the commerce beta and can sell merch through the Extension as only a select few Extensions are granted that and as far as I’m aware they’re no longer accepting new Extensions into that program.
I appreciate your feedback. Thank you Dist.
Tell me, from your perspective, what is an acceptable % that would make streamers/supporters happy to support the work on developers of high quality tools for them?
I don’t believe there is a one size fits all split, it depends entirely on the type of extension and what value that extension adds to the stream.
For example I have a monetized extension that I’d be fine with a 0% cut of bits, because I was hired to make it so have already been paid for my work. I’ve also had charities reach out to me as I work some charity broadcasts who were interested in extensions, now Twitch flat out doesn’t allow the sort of charity extension so I couldn’t make them, but if I could then a 0% split would also be appropriate there.
There are also some extensions where something like a 5% split would still cover operational costs and generate some profit.
To give an example why 20% can actually stifle the Bits ecosystem, in the UK 25,000 bits is £299.56, or $400.78. And that’s with the max 12% discount on bits so is best case scenario. If those bits were used in an extension the broadcaster would get 20,000 bits as their 80% which is $200. So for a viewer spending $400.78, the broadcaster gets less than half of that. Worst case, buying smaller amounts of bits and no discount, 25,000 bits would cost the viewer $455.11.
Note: Bits may not be quite so bad where they aren’t taxed on purchasing bits, but it’s still not great even in the US where its cheaper to buy bits. Plus this also shows that it’s less economical to use bits in some regions, so extensions with monetization will less reliably reach all international broadcasters.
If the viewer was to cheer those bits instead of using the extension, the broadcaster would get $250.
So you have to think, what value does your extension add that is worth the broadcaster receiving half of what they would have if they simply linked the user to their PayPal, or other 3rd party payment processor?
Precious information once again - Please explain that part again… Twitch is no longer authorizing extensions that benefits a charity? Did I read that right?
5.4 Extensions may not utilize commerce instruments for donations to charities.
Essentially, even if a payment processor is entirely designed for charitable donations, and the receiving party is a charity, Twitch don’t allow the extension. They have never allowed them (at least not to the general Dev community, I believe they did end up allowing one or two extensions that worked with Twitch to make it happen, but I was always flat out denied).
4.6.3 Off-site links may not refer users to sites where the main purpose is to buy products or services, unless the link is to Twitch or Amazon properties (except as allowed in 4.9).
This also essentially prohibits any possibility of even linking to charity sites, as even if it’s just to inform users about the charity and who the streamer is raising money for, the purpose of a charity site is to help raise awareness and donations, and unfortunately Twitch make no exceptions for it being a charity so flat out deny extensions that link to a charity or fundraising page.
There are some generic ‘charity’ type extensions on Twitch, most of them are from some random dev who copy/pasted the exact same extension a dozen times and just slapped a different brand name on each one, but they don’t offer any real functionality that is actually being sought after here.
In Twitch’s defence, anything that is monetized in any way is legally complex, and even more so it comes to charities due to the tax implications of such. Even if Twitch don’t handle any donation money, they’d still likely want to verify the charities are in fact registered charities and it’s all above board, and I expect Twitch simply don’t have the staff or time to cater for these niche extensions regardless of how well intentioned they may be,
This is VERY interesting and disappointing to see Twitch/Amazon doing such thing for both merch and charities. It was not my focus but I love to know what a company stands for and I think charities shouldn’t have roadblocks like this but I understand your explanation about staff and what it involves.
I am just curious about your perspective. What do you think is the top extension and if you had to guess how much they are making a month what would it be? (just guessing)
Sound Alerts, and lots.
This unofficial external site shoulds SA has 21k active channels right now Twitch Insights - Twitch Extensions Statistics
Thank you for the information and link to the stats - That’s very interesting.