How to support a Twitch streamer

Updated: 10/30/2017 by Computer Hope

Twitch is a great place to watch the some of the world’s best players stream your favorite video games. If you find a particular gamer that you enjoy viewing, you can donate money to them so that they can continue to stream for you more often or on a full-time basis. There are a few ways to support a streamer. These methods are detailed in the following sections.

How to support a streamer with a donation

While donation methods may vary, most streamers currently use Streamlabs, which utilizes both credit cards and PayPal. Other streamers only use PayPal on its own. In the end, both services use nearly identical steps, but Streamlabs allows much more customization and additional functionality for the streamer.

1. Navigate to the Twitch website.
2. On the homepage, click the Log In button in the upper right-hand corner of the browser window.

3. Once you’ve signed in, locate the Twitch streamer you’d like to support and open their channel.
4. On their channel page, scroll to the bottom and locate a donation link; it should look something like the ones shown below.

5. When you click the donation link, you should be taken to a page that contains a section similar what is depicted in the next image.

6. Fill out each field, and then click at the bottom of the screen.
7. After you’ve clicked Donate, you will be taken to a page to submit your payment information.

How to support a streamer using Bits

Twitch Bits are a currency that you may purchase directly from Twitch. However, at the time of this writing, you can only use your Amazon account balance to buy them.

1. Navigate to the Twitch website.
2. On the homepage, click the Log In button in the upper right-hand corner of the browser window.

3. Once you’ve signed in, locate the Twitch streamer you’d like to support and open their channel.
4. In the top right-hand corner of the of the channel window, click the down arrow next to Get Bits or you may click the diamond-shaped icon in the chat box.

Option 1:

Option 2:

5. From the menu that appears, choose the number of Bits you’d like to purchase.

6. Once you’ve made your selection, you’ll need to sign into your Amazon account.
7. If you haven’t linked your Twitch account to your Amazon account, you’ll be prompted to do so.

8. Finalize your purchase by clicking the button.
9. Return to the streamers page, and in the chat window, type “cheer” with a number next to it indicating the how many Bits you’d like to donate. For instance “cheer100” would be 100 Bits, “cheer500” would be 500, etc.