Being a Twitch affiliate offers streamers a wealth of features and benefits that make it easy to quickly grow a channel and increase monetization.
However, does being a Twitch affiliate have limitations? For example, can Twitch affiliates stream on other platforms like YouTube, or are they prevented from doing so by Twitch?
Fortunately, Twitch’s rules for streaming content on other platforms are pretty clear. We’ll look at those rules and their implications in this article.
What are Twitch’s Rules regarding Streaming on other platforms?
Yes, Twitch affiliates can stream on Youtube. However, there are some restrictions. As a Twitch affiliate, your content must be exclusive to Twitch for 24 hours, and you cannot stream on other platforms such as YouTube simultaneously.
You can find these rules in detail here:
1. Multistreaming is prohibited if you’re a Twitch Affiliate. Multistreaming is basically a fancy way of saying streaming on more than one platform at the same time. The agreement you enter into when you become a Twitch Affiliate prohibits you from streaming on any other platform simultaneously. If you violate this rule, your channel will be banned.
2. Your content must be exclusive to Twitch for at least 24 hours, or you’ll lose your Twitch Affiliate status and be banned. This rule emphasizes the exclusivity aspect of the agreement you enter into with Twitch. If you share your content within those 24 hours, you’re breaking the contract you made with Twitch. This gives them the right to terminate the contract with you.
Okay, so in this section, you learned that multistreaming is prohibited and that content you create on Twitch must remain exclusive to Twitch for 24 hours.
In the next section, I’ll investigate whether you can stream on YouTube if you’re a Twitch affiliate.
Can I stream on YouTube if I’m a Twitch affiliate?
In the last section, you learned the two most important rules you need to follow as a Twitch affiliate: no multistreaming and 24-hour exclusivity.
In this section, I’ll examine whether it’s possible to stream on YouTube even though you’re a Twitch affiliate.
Yes, streaming on YouTube is possible if you’re a Twitch affiliate. As we noted in the previous section, you need to follow two main rules: 24-hour exclusivity of your content and no multistreaming.
So to stream on Twitch and then on Youtube, you just have to wait 24 hours between streaming on the two platforms.
For example, if you stream five FIFA games on Twitch on Saturday and then switch to YouTube to stream another five FIFA games on Sunday, that’s perfectly fine.
You can’t stream duplicate footage on multiple platforms, and you can’t upload videos or images of your stream to YouTube for 24 hours.
In this section, we learned that you can stream on YouTube if you’re a Twitch partner. However, your streams do have to be 24 hours apart, and you can’t post videos or images of your stream within that 24 hours period.
In the next section, I’ll go into why streaming on multiple platforms simultaneously will get you banned.
Will I be banned if I stream simultaneously on Twitch, Youtube, or other streaming platforms?
In the last section, you learned that you can stream on YouTube if you’re a Twitch Affiliate. However, the rules for simultaneous streaming and 24-hour exclusivity still apply.
In this section, I’ll discuss whether you’ll be banned for streaming on multiple platforms simultaneously.
As noted above, you’ll be banned by Twitch for simultaneous streaming on other platforms if you’re a Twitch Affiliate. But will YouTube and Facebook ban you if you stream on Twitch simultaneously?
After sifting through a lot of information, I found out that Facebook and YouTube won’t ban streamers for simultaneous multistreaming. I believe this is because YouTube and Facebook are still trying to take market share from Twitch. And a good way to steal market share is to be pretty loose with the rules compared to your competition. This makes these newer streaming platforms tempting to established and new streamers as they offer more flexibility than Twitch. So if you want, you could theoretically stream on YouTube and Facebook simultaneously. But you can’t stream on YouTube and Facebook while streaming on Twitch.
That’s because Twitch has a 24-hour exclusivity rule and a rule against simultaneous multistreaming.
Okay, in this section, we examined whether you’ll be banned from other streaming platforms if you stream simultaneously. You won’t be blocked by either YouTube or Facebook if you stream simultaneously on those platforms. However, you’ll be banned if you try to stream on Twitch and another platform simultaneously.
In the next section, I’ll examine whether Twitch affiliates can stream on Facebook.
Can Twitch affiliates stream on Facebook?
In the last section, you learned that it’s possible to stream on YouTube and Facebook simultaneously, but not Twitch.
In this section, we’ll look at whether Twitch affiliates can stream on Facebook.
Just as we noted above regarding Twitch and YouTube, it’s also possible for Twitch affiliates to stream on Facebook. However, the Twitch exclusivity rule and the simultaneous streaming rule still apply. If you stream on Twitch, you can’t stream on Facebook simultaneously. Your stream must be exclusive to Twitch. And if you stream on Twitch, that stream must remain exclusive to Twitch for 24 hours and cannot be posted on Facebook.
However, as a Twitch affiliate, you can easily stream on Facebook when you’re not streaming on Twitch. For example, you could stream on Twitch on Monday and Facebook on Tuesday.
In this section, you learned that streaming on Facebook as a Twitch affiliate is possible. You just can’t stream on Facebook simultaneously, and you must wait 24 hours between streaming on Twitch and Facebook.
In the next section, we’ll examine how long your Twitch contract lasts.
How long is your contract with Twitch?
In the last section, we learned that a Twitch affiliate can stream on Facebook with some limitations.
This section will look at how long your affiliate contract with Twitch runs.
You enter into the Twitch affiliate contract when you become an affiliate with Twitch. As I mentioned earlier, this means you can’t stream on other platforms simultaneously, and any content you create on Twitch must be exclusive to Twitch for 24 hours. However, this contract you enter into with Twitch is a rolling contract. You or Twitch can terminate the contract anytime and for any reason.
If you just got an offer to stream on YouTube exclusively, you would need to contact Twitch and ask them to terminate your affiliate contract. Otherwise, you’d risk being banned.
Also, keep in mind that if you lose your affiliate status, you won’t have a subscription button anymore, and you won’t be able to receive bits. However, you can still receive donations from Twitch viewers.
In this section, you learned that the contract you sign with Twitch when you become an affiliate is a rolling contract and that you can terminate it anytime.
The next section will examine how to cancel your Twitch contract.
Can I cancel my Twitch contract?
In the last section, you learned that as a Twitch affiliate, you basically enter into an ongoing contract with Twitch that can be canceled at any time.
In this section, I’d like to explain how you can terminate your contract with Twitch.
If you’ve decided that streaming on Twitch isn’t for you and want to move to another streaming platform, you’ll need to cancel your affiliate contract with Twitch. Luckily, it’s quite simple to do so.
To terminate your contract with Twitch, you need to contact the Twitch affiliate support team via the Twitch support page. You can reach the Twitch support page here. When contacting them, just let them know you want to end your affiliate contract with Twitch. They’ll ask you if you’re sure. Answer “Yes,” and your affiliate status will be terminated within a few business days. Now you can stream exclusively on other platforms.
One of the main reasons why many Twitch streamers end their affiliate contract is that Twitch’s 24-hour exclusivity rule can slow down their growth. The streamer may have their own website they want to stream to, or they may want to stream on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. Twitch prevents you from streaming on these other platforms at the same time. If you refuse Twitch affiliate status, you can get your content on more platforms simultaneously and grow faster.
In this section, you learned that it’s easy to terminate your affiliate agreement with Twitch. You just need to contact the support team and tell them that you want to end your contract.
In the next section, I’ve clearly defined how long you have to wait before you can publish Twitch content on Youtube.
How long after a stream on Twitch can I post content on Youtube?
In the last section, you learned that it’s easy to terminate your affiliate agreement with Twitch so you can stream on other platforms.
In this section, I want to clearly define when you can post your Twitch stream content on Youtube.
As mentioned earlier, Twitch has an exclusivity rule built into the affiliate agreement you sign with them. This rule states that you must wait 24 hours before publishing Twitch content on other platforms. Any content you create through your streams on Twitch must be exclusive to Twitch for 24 hours. So if you want to publish your stream as a series of videos on YouTube, you’ll have to wait at least 24 hours before you can do so. If you do not, you risk being banned from Twitch.
In this section, you learned that you must wait 24 hours after you stream on Twitch before you can publish the content to YouTube.
In the next section, I’ll cover whether you can multistream on other platforms simultaneously on Twitch if you are not an affiliate.
If I am not a Twitch affiliate, can I simultaneously multistream on Twitch and other platforms?
In the last section, you learned that you must wait 24 hours before publishing your Twitch stream content on YouTube.
In this section, you will learn if it is possible to stream on multiple platforms even if you are not an affiliate.
If you are not a Twitch affiliate or partner, you can stream on multiple platforms simultaneously.
The content exclusivity agreement you sign with Twitch does not go into effect until you become an affiliate. Before becoming an affiliate, you can stream on any platform while streaming on Twitch.
Also, you can post your content once you have streamed on other platforms. For example, if you stream Call of Duty for two hours, you can upload that stream to YouTube as soon as you finish without Twitch penalizing you.
The two main rules that are part of the affiliate agreement you sign with Twitch come into effect. You can not stream on other platforms simultaneously, and all content you create on Twitch must be exclusive to Twitch for 24 hours. Keep in mind, however, that this changes once you become an affiliate.
Above, you learned that if you are not a Twitch affiliate, you can stream on multiple platforms simultaneously.
In the next and final section, we will look at whether it’s worth it for you to stream on multiple platforms at once if you are a new streamer.
Can streaming on multiple platforms at once get streamers more viewers faster?
In the last section, you learned that before you become a Twitch partner, you can stream on multiple platforms simultaneously.
In this section, I’ll take a look at whether streaming on multiple platforms simultaneously will help you as a streamer get viewers faster.
Here is the short and sweet answer: the more platforms you stream on, the more viewers you are likely to attract and the more money you can make.
As a streaming beginner, it’s hard to attract even a handful of viewers to your stream. So anything you can do to increase your chances of growing your stream faster is something you should take advantage of. That’s why when you start streaming, I recommend streaming on as many platforms at once as you possibly can. Remember, before becoming a Twitch partner, you are not bound by the exclusivity rule. Therefore, you can stream on multiple platforms simultaneously without the risk of being banned.
If you stream on multiple platforms simultaneously, your stream will grow faster. If you take two companies, one of which sells its products in one market and the other in 10 markets, the company that sells its products in 10 markets will grow much faster. By streaming on multiple platforms simultaneously, you are essentially making your content available in multiple marketplaces. And the most important indicator of success for streamers and content creators is the amount of content they create daily to advance their careers. So the more content you create and send out to the world, the faster your streaming career will grow. And streaming on multiple platforms in the early days of your streaming career will help you create more content, in more places, and grow faster.
Keep in mind that you will eventually gain affiliate status on Twitch as you grow. That’s when you’ll need to make a decision: Do you become a Twitch partner and try to bring all your fans to Twitch, or do you avoid becoming a Twitch partner so you can stream on multiple platforms? This is a difficult question to answer and will require its own article. So be on the lookout for it in the future.
In this last section, you learned that streaming on multiple platforms simultaneously will accelerate the growth of your channel. The biggest indicator of future success for content creators is the volume of content they create. The more you create, the greater the chance you’ll have of getting noticed and building a following.
In the next section, I’ll summarize the entire article for you.
Summary
Now that was a lot of information I gave you about becoming a Twitch Affiliate. In this last section, I’ve summarized all the important points I have covered in bullet point form to make it easier to remember everything. Let us take a look:
- Once you become a Twitch affiliate, you are bound by the Twitch affiliate contract, which states that content on Twitch must be exclusive to Twitch for 24 hours and that you cannot stream on other platforms simultaneously.
- You can continue to stream on other platforms. However, you must wait 24 hours between streaming on Twitch and streaming on another platform.
- The affiliate contract you enter with Twitch is an ongoing contract that ends if you modify the contract or terminate the contract.
- You can terminate your affiliate contract with Twitch by contacting support.
- You can grow your channel faster as a new streamer by streaming on multiple platforms. The biggest indicator of a channel’s future success is how much content it creates.