Trovo is using mobile gaming tricks to make streamers more money than on Twitch or Kick
Burgeoning livestreaming service, Trovo, doesn’t have the reach of bigger platforms like Twitch and YouTube, but claims streamers are earning way more on their site – so how are they doing it?
In May, Trovo posted a tweet comparing three streamers and the earnings they made in a month. One streamer was on Twitch, one was on Kick, and another was on Trovo.
According to Trovo’s case study, the Trovo streamer, “Despite having fewer viewers […] earned significantly more per hour compared to other platforms.” Indeed, the final numbers were: Twitch: $3.63, Kick: $12.61, and Trovo: $245.
This tweet, however, was met with immediate skepticism. Some doubted that the figures could be extrapolated to more streamers, and suggested Trovo had simply cherry-picked a particularly extreme example.
Dexerto asked Trovo to send us more information, including stats on more Trovo streamers, to see if their claims would continue to be true. We also questioned the very high sub numbers for Trovo streamers, compared to their viewership.
From what we’ve seen, Trovo does indeed provide the potential for much higher earnings for a small-to-medium-sized streamer than other platforms. This is largely thanks to the gamification of its monetization systems. However, there are still some drawbacks to streaming on Trovo, and we have some concerns about how well these systems will scale if the platform grows.
How does Trovo make more money for streamers?
Trovo is different from Twitch and Kick in many ways, but one of them is that it’s much more popular for mobile gaming, and its audience is not as heavily US-based. Rather, South America, Europe and MENA are its dominant markets.
This connection to mobile gaming has been reflected in how it monetizes content. Channels participate in what are called “PK battles” which are essentially competitions between two channels to get a higher number of points, earned through viewers supporting the stream monetarily.
Trovo also pushes what’s called the “Ace” program, which immediately reminds us of the ‘VIP’ options some mobile games use. Ace is a platform subscription, and is for the “ballers” Trovo said. There is a number of levels that can be paid for, and Trovo says big spenders will pay for it, thanks to the benefits it provides.
Twitch does have features like sub badges, which increase with loyalty. But users can’t manually increase these badges on a whim, rather they have to keep subscribing for months and years to see the badge change.
On Trovo, viewers can more actively engage in improving their “rank” in the chat, through constant donations.
And there are seemingly endless ways to make these donations. In truth, it would be difficult to explain them all, but the primary currency is spells and elixirs. These are akin to Twitch bits, and viewers can spend anything from $0.05 to hundreds of dollars giving these to the channel.
All of it comes back to the gamified model though, and the PK battles. This direct, head-to-head, form of monetization, allows two communities to battle it out, and everyone wins – the viewers, the platform, and of course, the streamer.
Viewers can “earn exclusive badges, avatars, and rewards for their participation” in battles, Trovo explains, which is often enough for them to part with their cash. The smaller minimum donations are no doubt an important part of this too, especially considering there is no regional pricing, so everything is transacted in USD.
There is also a game-of-chance aspect to some donation types. Spells are RNG-based, meaning viewers may spin the wheel, so to speak, in repeated attempts to get better and better spells.
How much do Trovo streamers make?
This varies massively of course, but Trovo did provide us with evidence of some eye-opening figures.
For example, one streamer who averages only 66 viewers, raked in $17,637 in just 30 days. And it wasn’t just a one-off. In previous months they earned $22,060 and $16,139, in March and February respectively.
Of course, this isn’t the same for everyone. It will certainly be the case that some streamers are making very little on the platform too. Trovo says that the amount streamers earn depends on how actively they engage with all of the various monetization features on the platform. Some may be too shy, or feel bad for pushing it, but if they do, the rewards can be lucrative.
This is also the reason that sub numbers are way higher on Trovo. First of all, a basic sub is cheaper, at only $2, as opposed to the minimum of $5 on Twitch and Kick (regional pricing does make this cheaper for some countries). But subs can also contribute to PK battles, and are rewarding for viewers too.
Both streamers and viewers can also join ‘teams’ on the platform, which can then engage in these battles together. Twitch does have a teams feature, although it is limited to streamers, and is not used for any monetization purposes.
Should you move to Trovo?
If you’re a streamer, these numbers will certainly be enticing. However, despite the impressive pitch from Trovo, there’s still a few questions you should be asking yourself before making the switch.
One is about the size of Trovo’s audience. It is significantly smaller than Twitch, and even Kick. Similarweb, which independently reports site traffic, estimates that Trovo gets around 13 million visits a month. This is compared to Kick’s 75 million and Twitch’s 1 billion-plus.
This can also mean that you are a bigger fish in a smaller pond, especially if you bring across a following from another platform already.
But, Trovo’s monetization is also somewhat reliant on its more concentrated user base. For example, one feature sends out a sitewide notification when certain monetization goals are met, directing people to that channel. This may be ok on a smaller site, but we can only imagine the controversy if Twitch added such a feature.
Additionally, one complaint we had when watching some streams was that the content felt too heavily focused on donations and subs. One streamer we watched, for around five minutes straight, discussed nothing except their progress in the PK Battle they were currently engaged in.
It could be that this type of content does have an audience, but it’s certainly not for everyone, and this could hamper Trovo’s ability to grow. Trovo explained that how much monetization dominates the stream is still up to the streamer – but does their earning potential shrink if they are not talking about spells, donations, and PK Battles frequently?
Trovo is aware of these concerns though, and knows that it may need to adapt if the platform was to grow. It’s worth mentioning too, that Trovo encourages multistreaming – so they are more than happy for streamers to broadcast on these rival sites at the same time.
However, Twitch has recently prohibited anyone streaming on their site from simulcasting elsewhere, on “Twitch-like” platforms, which Trovo would certainly fall under.
So, is Trovo the best platform for streamers? Not necessarily, but, there is definitely a lucrative opportunity for a certain type of streamer, who is happy to lean into the monetization features, and reap the benefits.
In a time where Twitch is facing stiffer competition and its own controversies, Trovo is well-timed in its offensive, and we’d always argue that more competition, in general, is the best result for streamers and viewers.