Twitch introduces cheaper local subscription pricing

Twitch has unveiled its new local subscription pricing which will adjust the price of subscriptions to the price of living, not just the $4.99 equivalent. 

In the blog post announcing the new pricing model Twitch writes “It’s time for subscription pricing that’s adjusted for where viewers live. Prices that make it so more people than ever can feel comfortable showing their support.”

This won’t be a global change, not yet at least, as the program is targeted towards geographics with low subscription rates such as Europe or Asia who subscribe 50% less to North America, as well as Latin America that subscribes nearly 80% less. 

Because of this, the first countries set to receive this local subscription pricing are Mexico and Turkey, which will see the change on May 20th 2021. With the local subscription pricing, Tier 1 subscriptions will cost 9.90 Turkish lira in turkey, and 48 Pesos in Mexico. 

The change is set to roll out further across the world starting in Q3 2021, with Twitch saying that “this gradual rollout will help the community adjust more smoothly to such an impactful change.” 

On the creator side of things, Twitch has tried to mitigate some of the potential pushback that this decision might bring. In the post, Twitch has outlined their changes that revolve around “baselines” that calculate averages based on “how much money a creator has made from paid and prime subs in the last three months, as well as how many hours were streamed live.”

We’re rolling out one of the biggest changes in Twitch history, which will help creators build larger, more global communities: Local Subs Pricing.

The price of a sub in most countries will be lowered, starting with Mexico and Turkey.

Learn more: https://t.co/LzKQxynb5B pic.twitter.com/zNBeRC4WyO

— Twitch (@Twitch) May 17, 2021

On top of this, Twitch will also cover “100% of baseline channel and Prime sub revenue (if needed) for three calendar months, including the month of the price change. After that, we will slowly decrease incentive payments by 25% every three months over the following 9 months, totaling a 12-month period of providing revenue adjustment incentives.” 

With all these incentives, streamers shouldn’t mind these changes all too much, especially considering the potentially increased rate of subscription from these locations that should keep them at the same earnings level regardless. If it all goes well that is.