# Game "speedrunner" gets paid $2000 a month w/ only 300 subscribers - Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 4, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847 "2016-12-04T18:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847/1 "2016-12-04T18:46:38Z")
Re this article why is he getting paid $ 2000 a month for delivering this miniscule subscriber base? What value is he delivering to Twitch that warrants this payment with this seeming handful of subscribers? > **[Hanging Out With a Pro Video Game Speedrunner Defending a World Title](https://www.vice.com/en/article/5gqyxk/hanging-out-with-a-pro-video-game-speedrunner-defending-a-world-title)** > > Some game streamers become huge celebrities, but thousands more make a modest living in semi-obscurity. My brother is one of the latter, and his day-to-day is pretty stressful. > [@](#): > > These regulars are some of Bawkbasoup’s subscribers. Lucas is a Twitch Partner which means his stream has been selected for monetization. Not everyone gets this privilege. You have to apply and the application process can be long and grueling. Lucas applied 10 times before his fan base was big enough to get accepted. All told, with a small subscriber base of 300-ish people, he makes roughly $2,000 USD a month. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847/2 "2016-12-04T19:50:25Z")
It doesn’t say Twitch pays him that much money. It’s possible that he takes in most of that in donations. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847/3 "2016-12-04T20:49:12Z")
The viewership may be much higher (assuming one can watch without subscription, I don’t know) Eyeballs equal money Brian ---
**Author:** ![silverfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@silverfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silverfish)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847/4 "2016-12-05T00:17:59Z")
Some of that comes from his subscribers. Subscribers on twitch are people who pay $4.99 a month to support him, in exchange for ad-free viewing, smileys in his chat room, and similar perks, but mainly its a donation to support a twitch streamer you like. 300 subscribers would be $1,500, and I think twitch takes about half, leaving $750. Some streamers allow direct donations too, bypassing twitch. He also presumably gets a share of ad revenue, and similarly with his Youtube channel. According to his twitch profile ([here](https://www.twitch.tv/bawkbasoup)), he has 13,048 followers (roughly equivalent to Youtube subscribers), to give a rough idea of his viewer base, although it’s not clear how many people regularly watch his streams. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847/5 "2016-12-05T02:36:02Z")
300 subs for someone with 13,000 followers seems crazy for twitch statistics or with 100 concurrent viewers. Ad revenue is minimal since everyone just ad blocks. I think VICE’s fact-checking needs work. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847/6 "2016-12-05T03:00:24Z")
Though if the ASMR stuff is true, he could be pulling crazy donations 'cause of the weird fetish angle. ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-speedrunner-gets-paid-2000-a-month-w-only-300-subscribers-why/773847/7 "2016-12-05T15:01:42Z")
Mostly from donations. Chances are good that number varies wildly because his subscriber base is so low. He might see $5,000 in a month if donations are good, but maybe $1,500 the next month if donations are bad. Everyone but the largest of streamers (1k+ subscribers) usually relies on donations more than sub proceeds.