Ever wonder if the rabid video game player you know could make money doing what they love?

Twitch.tv is an online platform where gamers can host live video streams of the videogames they are playing. Twitch enters the subscription game when it charges viewers of the most popular streams $5 a month per stream.

The technology allows for viewers to watch both the game being played while another camera simultaneously is focused back on the player for commentary. There’s also a popular chat feature in which players interact with their audience. The allure for gamers is two fold, as they receive instruction into how to beat their favorite games and at the same time are entertained by the running commentary.

The most popular streamers are offered a partnership, where they receive a cut of the subscription revenue for their stream. The most popular streamers make around $250,000 – $300,000 a year.

Jeffrey Shih, one of the most popular gamers on Twitch says his acclaim is due to his skill in explaining his moves to his audience and that “charisma, taking opportunity, technology, interactiveness, and consistency are factors too.”

Insider Take

Twitch.tv is certainly a success story in bringing subscriptions to the decentralized yet very large worldwide videogame market. The low monthly price per single stream is offset by the hundreds of thousands of viewers that subscribe to the most popular streams. Those who pay up get hours of education and entertainment to conquer their favorite video game titles. Subscription sites can take note that there’s an audience for almost everything out there, and it is incumbent upon them to find it if they want to be successful. Once they do, a proper monthly price will keep subscribers coming back for more. In the future we’ll watch to see if Twitch seeks to scale it’s subscription business up, or senses that the most profitability lies in keeping things just the way they are.