How To Make Money From Live Streaming

“Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Most creators who are earning money from their content can attest to this old saying — especially if their channels are thriving and their audience is growing. 

But, if you’re new to the content creation game, you might be wondering how it’s possible to make money from live streaming. You might not have even realized that it is possible to earn revenue from your live-streamed content. 

We’ve got great news: If you’re a dedicated content creator, you can definitely make money from live streaming, you just need to know how.

Here are some of the most popular ways to earn revenue. 

Sponsorships

Sponsorships refer to partnerships between a content creator (streamer) and a company or brand. These partnerships involve the streamer promoting or endorsing the sponsor’s products or services during their live streams or other content. In return, the sponsor provides financial support, products, or other benefits to the streamer.

Sponsorships can take various forms, including (but not limited to):

• Product placement 

The streamer showcases or uses the sponsor’s products during their stream, integrating them organically into the content.

• Brand mentions

The streamer verbally promotes the sponsor’s brand, products, or services during the stream, often in a way that feels authentic to the audience and the content.

• Overlay graphics 

Sponsors may be featured through on-screen graphics or overlays during the stream, displaying their logos, promotions, or messages.

• Giveaways 

Sponsored giveaways involve the streamer distributing the sponsor’s products to their audience during the stream, often as part of a promotional event.

• Affiliate marketing 

Some sponsorships work on an affiliate basis, where the streamer earns a commission for each sale generated through their unique affiliate links or discount codes.

Merchandise

Merchandising refers to the promotion and sale of merchandise related to the content creator or the live-streaming channel. This can include a variety of products such as branded clothing, accessories, posters — really any items that have the creator's logo, catchphrases, or other branding elements.

Many live streamers leverage merchandising as a way to engage with their audience and generate additional revenue. By offering fans the opportunity to purchase merch, creators can strengthen their brand while giving fans a tangible way to show support and connect with the content they enjoy.

Make it easy for your audience to buy merch by including links to your online store, promotional banners, or on-screen overlays to announce new products or limited-time offers live.

Platforms that host live streams often provide tools and features to facilitate merchandising, for example allowing creators to showcase and sell their merchandise directly to their audience within their streaming environment. 

Subscriptions

Many live-streaming platforms offer subscription features. Subscriptions allow audiences to support and engage with their favorite content creators by paying a recurring fee for access to streams, videos, special content, resources, and more.

One popular way this plays out in the market is through membership websites, where monthly or annual subscribers pay for access to premium content, first-in-line access, and other perks.

For example, membership websites offering engaging and educational courses are no longer just for celebrity personalities: Any creator with something valuable and meaningful to offer their audience should consider building a membership site for their live streams (and we’ve already outlined easy steps for creating one). 

Pay-per-view or ticketed live events

In the live-streaming world, a pay-per-view event refers to audiences paying a one-time fee to access and watch a specific live event or piece of content. This model is commonly used for special events such as concerts, conferences, and exclusive broadcasts.

In the context of online streaming platforms, this model allows content creators and event organizers to monetize their live streams directly. This is also sometimes referred to as gated content, as audiences must bypass a paywall to access the live event.

Pay-per-view events are increasing in popularity, with many content providers, broadcasters, and platforms adopting this model to generate revenue from unique or premium live content.

Donations and tips

Donations and tips are a voluntary way for audiences to express their gratitude or admiration for a content creator and their live streams.

Donations

Audiences may choose to make financial contributions to the creator in the form of a one-time or recurring donation. These donations can be made through various online platforms that support transactions, such as PayPal, credit cards, or other payment methods.

Donations are often accompanied by a message from the donor, which may be displayed on the stream for everyone to see.

Tips

Similar to donations, tips are monetary contributions given to streamers by the audience. (The term “tips” is often used interchangeably with donations in the context of live streaming.)

Some streaming platforms have specific features or widgets that allow viewers to send tips directly during a live stream, especially for fundraising purposes.

Revenue from ads

Ad revenue refers to any income generated by content creators through advertisements shown during a live stream. 

Live streamers often monetize their content by incorporating ads into their broadcasts. These ads can take various forms, like display ads, video ads, sponsorships, product placements, pre-roll ads on YouTube, and more.

Many of the most popular live streaming platforms often have their own ad monetization programs. For example, platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live provide opportunities for content creators to earn revenue from ads based on factors like the number of viewers, the duration of the stream, and the engagement of the audience.

While these platforms offer discoverability, it can be difficult to build an audience or earn consistent revenue because you have to stream consistently in order to see results. It’s practically a full time job. 

On top of that, monetization opportunities on these popular platforms can be limited until you reach a certain number of followers.

This raises some important questions for new streamers, namely:

How do I become a successful live streamer?

Maybe you’re new to the streaming game and not sure how to move from zero to $$$. We can help there too!

Here are some of the most common questions new streamers have:

How can I grow my audience? 

Building an audience is the most important first step for a live streamer, and the keys to success are focus and consistency. 

Make sure you’re creating content for a niche — a specific area of interest. Then make sure you’re streaming high-quality content on a regular schedule. Beyond this, make sure to engage with your audience, promote your streams to your social channels, and find ways to collaborate with other creators.

You can even explore Multistreaming platforms to dramatically expand your reach with just one stream. 

Be consistent, be dependable, and your audience will grow.

How can I make better live streams? 

You don’t have to break the bank to level up your live video.

Use what you have to improve your visuals: we’re talking simple lighting improvements, the powerful video camera on your smartphone, and real-time editing tools to add graphics, additional angles, and more. 

Then, invest in software or gear upgrades over time.

At the end of the day, your audience is tuning in for you and your content — not because you have the most expensive (or expensive-looking) set-up.

What are the best platforms for monetizing my streams? 

When it comes to choosing the best monetization platform, we completely understand if you’re confronted with decision fatigue. We’ve compiled a list of the best video monetization sites around, so you can compare platforms and earn the most from your content creation.

Or, you can try an all-in-one video and live streaming ecosystem: Switcher.

An all-in-one video streaming tool …

Switcher was made with live stream creators in mind — that’s why it was designed to make incredible live streams incredibly easy. That means simplified video production with incredible results, more tools with fewer subscriptions, and endless possibilities. 

With an easy-to-use iOS app, you can broadcast and edit high-quality live videos in real time using just iPhones and iPads — eliminating the need for multiple cameras and complex setups. 

Plus, Multistreaming dramatically increases reach (we’re talking up to thirty different social media and video hosting platforms — Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and more — at the same time).

… that empowers creators to own their live-streamed content

And while you have countless options in terms of where to live stream your videos, if you want to earn money from live streaming, one of the smartest approaches is streaming directly to your own website.

When you’re live streaming directly to your website, you eliminate competing content, like unwanted ads or suggested videos. 

Longer watch times and more audience retention? Yes, please. 

With Switcher, you can sell tickets to live-streamed events or include your streams in a video subscription, right on your site. 

Once you’re done with the broadcast, you can save past live streams and curate a playlist of recommendations for your audience.

And when you’re not streaming to a player, you get to decide what your site visitors see: Select a favorite video to feature, or highlight your most recent live stream. If you want to build hype for your next event, you can even display a countdown to an upcoming stream. 

Simply put: Switcher helps creators streamline live streaming.

Start earning money from your live streams today

With Switcher, creators can monetize live streams right away (no minimum viewer counts, no minimum audience size). 

Whether through live events, product showcases, webinars, e-learning, or something completely different — Switcher empowers creators to earn on their terms, not the platform’s.

Are you ready to start generating income from your live-streamed content? Give Switcher a try today for FREE for up to two weeks, and join the thousands of other content creators who have made the switch.