In today’s age, jobs are offered both in person and online. Most students tend to go the online route because it is more relaxed and works really well with their schedule unlike most jobs. Some of the top online opportunities that the internet has to offer are YouTube, a video uploading site that allows YouTuber Creators to monetize with ads, and Twitch, a streaming service that allows the streamers to interact with their audience directly, which is the usual preference in terms of monetization.

These websites both offer payment after certain requirements are met such as advertisement revenue. Most tend to go the YouTube route, hoping to follow famous YouTube star’s footsteps such as Markiplier, Jacksepticeye (YouTube gaming stars) and so many others who have made it to fame.

Why are people choosing this online work over traditional methods? Simple: It’s enjoyable. YouTube has a large variety of what type of videos can be produced from video blogging to gaming to even just makeup tutorials.

However what YouTubers call “ad-pocalypse” is making things difficult for small YouTubers such as myself to get much fun out of this entrepreneur way. With advertisements taking up most videos, YouTube is cracking down on the miniscule things such as cursing and copyright issues.

“If your channel as a whole isn’t suitable for advertising, because of the nature of your content,” says the Creator Academy of YouTube, “You can disable ads and still pursue other monetization options for which you’re eligible.”

Twitch, however, is quite different and much more beneficial. Most of the complaints about YouTube is demonetization, an act where you lose out on money for copyright or mature content. Twitch does not have this aspect. Instead, Twitch is a live streaming service that is more relaxed but also very time consuming because Twitch streamers have to schedule their streams at a certain time to make sure they get the right audience.

YouTube’s rules are rather strict to the point of needing at least 4000 total views within 12 months and at least a 1000 subscriber count in order to get advertisements on videos. These advertisements are “YouTube Ad Revenue,” without ads the channel won’t get paid. This is the main reason why more and more YouTube channels are turning to Twitch.

Twitch streamers need to meet a specific set of milestones in order to become a Twitch Affiliate. This program is invitation-only after the streamer has had a minimum of eight hours broadcasted, a minimum of seven unique broadcast days, an average of three concurrent viewers or more, and have at least 50 followers. Viewers can also subscribe to unlock perks, the affiliates receive a cut of each subscription.

Another way viewers give money to the streamer is via virtual cheers, called “bits.” Twitch viewers can buy bits, which come in all sorts of different colors and sizes, from the chat window. This price starts at $1.40 for 100 bits. Viewers then can send these bits to their favorite streamer who will receive one cent per bit given.

Some might view getting paid to game or talk or even do makeup as lazy or not a “real job” but this type of money goes towards taxes. It may not start off as the best money grabber but as long as the streamer or YouTuber keeps at it then they are bound to get a job they finally enjoy and can keep up with.