Extensions Monetization Guide

Introduction

There are two ways to monetize an Extension:

• Bits in Extensions enables developers to offer viewers specific actions and products in exchange for a Bits. Once a broadcaster activates a Bits-enabled extension on a stream, viewers can perform an action or purchase a product within the extension, provided the viewer’s account contains enough Bits. If it does not, the extension can help the viewer buy more Bits by taking the viewer to a separate, external system, that handles Bits purchases. 
  
  Revenue from Bits used in an extension is shared between the broadcaster and the extension developer.
• Subscription status support allows an extension to view a user’s subscription status (not subscribed, tier 1, tier 2, or tier 3) for the current channel.  In this way, developers can tailor the features they offer to the viewer’s status.

Before you can monetize your extension in either of the two ways just described, you must enable and configure monetization, as described in the next two sections.

Enabling Monetization 

Overview

Enabling monetization (also called “onboarding”)  allows you to create products to use in your extension. During monetization onboarding, we require your tax and financial information, so we can validate your identity and pay out any revenue you earn.

Notes: 

• Fill out the onboarding form carefully. To change information later, you must re-do the entire form.
• This procedure is for Extensions developers, but it is done through your broadcaster dashboard (not your developer console).
• Onboarding is only for developers who are not Twitch partners/affiliates. If you are a Twitch partner or affiliate, you do not need to onboard.

Process

1. On the Monetization tab of the Extensions Manager, click Continue to Onboarding.

2. Follow the steps on the page to go to the onboarding form.

3. Complete all sections of the form:
    a. Register as a developer. Complete the fields with information about the legal
        entity that owns the extension. This information must exactly match your tax
        information and financial information, so make sure it is correct. 

        Each legal entity can have only one Extensions developer account. If you have
        multiple individuals under one legal entity, please do not complete the
        onboarding multiple times; instead, have all your users utilize your one
        onboarded Twitch account.

     b. Agree to the Twitch Extensions Developer Agreement.

         If you are under 18, this section asks your parent or legal guardian to agree   
         to the agreement on your behalf. Your parent or legal guardian must enter
         his/her full legal name, check the box, and click Agree. 

         For help interpreting the contract, please contact your attorney. (Twitch is not
         equipped to help with this.)

     c. Complete two tax interviews for royalty tax and service tax. The two forms
         are very similar but used for different purposes. Both need to be filled out
         accurately.

         Since Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon, we use some Amazon tools to help
         Extensions developers get registered, including the tax-information forms.
         For definitions of individual fields, see the Amazon Tax Information Interview
         Guide.

         For help with this section, please contact your tax professional. (Twitch is not
         equipped to help with this.)

     d. Provide financial information to finish the process of validating your
         identity, enabling you to participate in available monetization features,  
         and to choose a method of payment.

         On the Payment Method screen, we recommend you select Hold My
          Payments. You can modify this selection later if desired.

          In this step, we request some personal financial information so we can
          validate your identity, as mentioned above.

          This section may ask you for additional information. If you get this prompt,
          please submit a scanned copy of your government ID, such as a passport.

4. When you finish providing all requested financial information, the approval
    process will begin. It can take up to two business days. If you are approved, you
    will receive a notification email. If not, information is provided in Extensions
    Monetization Developer Onboarding (on your broadcaster dashboard). Return
    there if you do not get the approval email within two business days.

Changing Information After Onboarding

Changing onboarding information is done through your broadcaster dashboard, under Extensions Monetization Developer Onboarding.

To change your payment method, select Change Payment Method.

To change other information, on the Extensions Monetization Developer Onboarding main menu, click Start Over. This clears any information you have in our system, so you must complete the entire onboarding process again.

Extension Monetization in Organizations

For extensions managed by an Organization, you will need to follow a modified set of steps to enable bits and subscriptions features. To learn more, visit the Organizations Guide.

Configuring Monetization

All broadcasters can install and activate Bits-enabled extensions. However, Bits features will not succeed on channels that cannot accept Bits. We highly recommend that you build experiences that account for both eligible and ineligible channels.

Overview

Extensions that use Bits in Extensions features can be installed by all broadcasters, regardless of their ability to receive Bits on their channels. You can check the twitch.ext.features.isBitsEnabled feature flag to determine if Bits in Extensions features will work in your extension on the current channel. 

This flag will be false if:

• You did not enable Bits support in the Monetization tab in the Extensions manager.
• The broadcaster is not eligible to receive Bits.
• The broadcaster disabled Bits in Extensions features for your extension.

If this flag is false, you should disable or hide the Bits in Extensions features in your extension. Better yet: build experiences that account for both eligible and ineligible channels.

Process

1. Go to the Extensions developer console: log in to the Twitch developer site with your Twitch ID, click Your Console (top right), then click the Extensions tab.

2. Go to the Extensions manager: find the extension/version you want to configure and click Manage.

3. Click the Monetization tab.

4. If you are a Twitch partner/affiliate, proceed to Step 5. 

    If not, you must complete the one-time onboarding process described above. To
    onboard, click Continue to Onboarding. The other fields on the page are not
    selectable until you complete onboarding. After you complete onboarding,
    proceed to Step 5.

5. Select one or more monetization options:
    a. Under Bits Support, select Bits enabled to enable your extension to offer
        Bits-enabled products.
    b. Under Subscription Support, select Subscriber support enabled to enable
        your extension to get a viewer’s subscription status.

6. Manage the Bits Product Catalog (see next section). If you enable Bits, you can
    manage your product catalog inside the Extensions Developer Rig.

Managing the Bits Product Catalog

Introduction

To manage your Bits products, you use the Bits Product Catalog. If your extension is enabled for Bits monetization, then when you configure the Developer Rig to run with your extension, you will see a Manage Products tab. Here, you can view, create, edit, and deprecate products as long as your extension is enabled and configured for Bits and you are logged in to the account that owns your extension.

If you try to redeem Bits for a product in an extension which, on your own channel, is in a testing state (Local or Hosted), it will succeed and charge you no Bits.

Creating a Bits Product

To create a Bits product and add it to the Catalog:

1. Click Add Product. This adds an unsaved new product to the list of your products. If you click Add Product too many times, refresh the page to get rid of all unsaved changes.
2. Set the catalog fields as desired (see descriptions below). All fields are required.
3. Click Save All, to save the new product to your catalog. Once you save a product, you cannot delete it (you can only deprecate it) or change its SKU.

A catalog can contain at most 250 products.

Editing a Bits Product

To edit a product:

1. Change fields as desired (see descriptions below). All fields are required. While you are editing, the purple dot on the right indicates a product was edited.
2. Click Save All, to save all edited and new products. 

Deleting, Deprecating, and Restoring a Bits Product

You cannot delete a product.

You can deprecate  a product, so it no longer shows up to end users, to be exchanged for Bits. Deprecated products are not included in the products returned by getProducts. 

To deprecate a product:

1. Click Deprecate next to the product.
2. Click Save All.

To restore a deprecated product:

1. Click Restore next to the product.
2. Click Save All.

Bits Catalog Fields

Here are the catalog fields:

Field Name	Description
Product Name	Name of your product, to be displayed in your extension. Maximum length: 255 characters.
SKU	SKU of your product. This must be unique across all your products. It cannot contain white space. Maximum length: 255 characters. The SKU cannot be changed after saving.
Amount (in Bits)	Number of Bits for which your product will be exchanged. Valid values: 1 - 10000.
In Development	Toggles whether your product “in development” and hence notincluded in the products returned by getProducts in production. Default: Yes.
Broadcast	Toggles which extension instances execute the onTransactionComplete callback.  For more information, see the table near the end of If the Viewer is Logged In.

Notes on Bits in Extensions

Extension Initialization

Normally, an extension does bootstrapping or initialization operations in the onAuthorizedcallback. For Bits in Extensions purchases, getProducts also must be called, to get Bits products.

Getting Bits-in-Extensions Products

The number of Bits necessary to exchange for a product is a flat rate, regardless of the viewer’s geographical location. To display the amount to the viewer, the extension helper for Bits in Extensions uses the getProductsfunction. You call getProductsas part of your extension’s initialization process, to get the correct list of products that you will display on your extension’s storefront. This helper method returns a promise, which you can use as follows:

Twitch.ext.bits.getProducts().then(function(products) {
   console.log(products); // [ { sku: 'abc123', cost: { type: 'bits', amount: '10' } } ]
});

For details, see getProducts in the section on Bits in Extension helper methods (in the Extensions Reference).

Exchanging Bits for a Product

When a viewer wants to use Bits within an extension, you call the [useBits](/extensions/reference/#helper-bits) function on the extension helper. This function takes in the SKU of the product the viewer wants to exchange. The function is invoked as follows:

let productSku = 'abc123';
Twitch.ext.bits.useBits(productSku);

If the Viewer is Logged In

When useBits is invoked, if the viewer is logged in, the Twitch UI displays a dialog, showing:

• The current amount (in Bits) necessary to exchange for the product, even if it does not match what was displayed in the extension. (The Bits amount could have changed since the extension loaded the list of products in the user’s browser.)
• Whether there are enough Bits in the viewer’s account to exchange for the product:

• An option to buy more Bits (in a separate system). If a user exercises this option, some time may elapse between the user’s click on an item and the beginning of the transaction. If the user initially does not have enough Bits to exchange for a product, but then buys enough Bits, the Confirm button appears in the dialog after the purchase.

Note that before confirmation, while the dialog UI is open, users are blocked from interacting with the extension. Clicking anywhere outside the dialog causes it to close and allows the user to interact with the extension again. Also, the user can cancel the flow at any point in the process.

When the user confirms the transaction, the Bits amount displayed in the dialog is locked in.

When processing is completed, a message is sent to your extension front end through the onTransactionComplete()callback:

If the Viewer is Not Logged In

If the viewer is not logged in when useBitsis invoked, the UI indicates that login is required. If there is any other error (e.g., if the user is banned or the SKU was removed from the catalog after products were loaded by the extension front end), a generic error message is displayed to the user. This message disappears after 3 seconds.

For More Information