Twitch Channel Points Explained: Earning, Spending, Redemptions

Channel Points is a customizable points program that lets a streamer reward the community with perks, including a taste of benefits usually kept for subscribers. It is available to all monetized streamers, and a streamer can switch it off completely with the Enable Channel Points toggle.

The points belong to one channel. Points earned on one channel are not a balance you carry to another, and they accumulate automatically while you are logged in and watching. Viewers find their balance at the bottom of the chat window on channels that have the program.

Twitch lists the earn rates on its help page and notes that they are subject to change. The table shows the rates the page lists; check the source page before quoting one.

Subscribers earn more for watching: a 1.2x multiplier at Tier 1, 1.4x at Tier 2 and 2x at Tier 3.

Points are spent on rewards from the channel's reward menu. The streamer sets the cost of each reward, so the same reward can cost a different amount on another channel. After choosing a reward, the viewer confirms, and the cost is deducted.

There are two kinds of reward. Default rewards are predefined, such as unlocking an emote or highlighting a message in chat, and Twitch handles the fulfilment. Custom rewards are things the streamer fulfils personally, such as a shoutout, choosing the next raid target or joining the next game.

Streamers can leave the costs of default rewards to Smart Costs, which adjusts them automatically to the size of the audience and how often the rewards are redeemed.

Redemptions of custom rewards appear in the Activity Feed on the Live Dashboard, and the rewards queue holds every request until it is handled. Marking one complete finishes it, and rejecting it returns the points to the viewer. Moderators can help from the queue: they can complete or reject rewards, refund points, report abusive ones and pause redemptions.

Beyond the queue, the main controls in the Creator Dashboard are:

A redemption is points spent, which tells you less than it seems. Points mostly build up through watching, following and raiding, so someone who redeems often has usually been around a lot. But how much they spend is shaped by what you charge: a channel that lowers its reward costs, or leaves Smart Costs on, will see more redemptions without more engagement.

Be careful with any total. Check whether a number adds up the points viewers spent, the points they earned or the points they hold. The three are different, and only the first is visible from redemptions. Compare redemptions between streams only when reward costs have not changed.

For a single viewer, the more useful reading is a pattern over time. Repeated redemptions across many streams point to a regular, while one large redemption followed by a long gap may be someone who saved up once.