How Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins Really Makes His Money

If Twitch streaming is so lucrative, why doesn't everyone with a decent internet connection sit themselves in front of a webcam and start up a stream? Isn't every second on the air money in the bank? Not so. It's easy to get dazzled by the big names of Twitch. Success stories of streamers quitting their day jobs because they make more money playing their favorite games with their friends are inspiring, but few and far between.

Unless they're as big as Ninja, it's difficult to determine exactly how much a streamer is making. Subscriptions are probably the most reliable form of income for a streamer, and at $5 per sub, Twitch takes half, leaving a whopping $2.50 per month from a subscriber. To hope to cover rent, the average streamer would want to have around 1,000 subscribers, which isn't always the case.

Donations might seem to make up for this, but they're sporadic and unreliable. Small streamers are at the mercy of fickle attention spans. Sure, sometimes big donations appear out of nowhere, but as some small channels have attested to, they're much more likely to get some itty bitty tips here and there, and only after having established a consistent amount of viewers.

Now if a streamer gets as big as the likes of Ninja or Pokimane, then they can expect more money from subscribers, consistent donations, and the path paved to more revenue streams, like merch and sponsorships, that the average streamer can only dream of.

Not all Twitch subscriptions are equal. There are tiers that allow viewers to decide how much money they want to pay streamers for enjoying their content per month. Paying for a subscription unlocks emotes and ad-free viewing along with the satisfactory knowledge that you're supporting your favorite streamer. There are $4.99, $9.99, and the generous $24.99 subscriptions, but opting in to Twitch Prime gives viewers a free sub each month.

Those numbers in mind, Ninja has said — sheepishly admitted, saying he doesn't like talking about money — that he makes an average of $3.50 per subscriber compared to the standard $2.50. In March of 2018 he said that he had achieved the incredible number of 140,000 Twitch subscribers. Even if he was just making a dollar off of each of those subs, he would easily be well off, but Ninja is making $3.50 per month from an even larger number: later that same month he hit 200,000 subscribers.

Simple math reveals that Ninja's monthly income from subscribers on Twitch is $700,000, which is what many people dream of making in a year. Making somewhere in the ballpark of eight million dollars a year isn't too shabby for a 27-year-old.

Ninja gets hundreds, if not thousands, of donations in a single day and some of those donations boggle the mind. There are many a clickbait-y thumbnail featuring Ninja's incredulous face and a title like INSANE *EMOTIONAL* 100K+ donation. As outrageous as the videos seem, these numbers are accurate and surprisingly common. It seems like every few months a subscriber with a ridiculous amount of disposable income throws a couple thousand dollars Ninja's way on a whim.

What's great is that oftentimes these huge donations happen when Ninja is streaming for charity, but that's not always the case; sometimes those hundreds of dollars are going straight to his own pocket. Additionally, there is something to be said for all the little donations and cheers: they add up. The record of his donations is private, but what is visible to the average viewer is weekly top cheerers, who throw Twitch Bits. A Bit costs a little over a cent. Ninja's top cheerers are tossing around approximately $600 worth of Bits. The week's top ten cheerers might average out around $1,400 worth of Bits.

Standard donations are more frequent, and the top ten donations there can reach nearly $6,000. So far, just considering the big spenders, a conservative estimate places Ninja's earning from donations at $10,000 per month. Guesstimating in the other couple hundred donations that don't take up the top spots? Ninja might be making up to $40,000 in donations per month.

Despite his overwhelming popularity, Ninja was relatively late to the merch game. Streamers can promote all kinds of goodies for their fans to buy in order to support them, whether that's phone cases, T-shirts, or posters. It wasn't until late 2018 that teamninja.com, Ninja's official store, launched just in time for early holiday shopping. Rather than going the route of third party platforms like teespring, Ninja's merch is hosted on his very own site themed around his yellow and blue ninja aesthetic, along with a whole collection dedicated to his "Pon Pon" dance.

Ninja's merch is mostly focused around apparel: hoodies, T-shirts, and long-sleeved shirts. They feature his logo — the ninja with a yellow headband — and shuriken on the sleeves. These well-designed looks don't come cheap either. All of the hoodies are priced at $55 and the T-shirts at $28, making it pretty pricey for fans to rep their favorite streamer. Ninja's audience skews younger, so parents are sure to find Ninja shirts and hoodies on Christmas wish lists. We can't know how much Ninja will make from his merch store, but it's easy to guess that the store will do well with those thousands of subscribers and millions of followers.

How would one even spend half a million dollars a month? Ninja is able to cover rent, groceries, and basic daily expenses easy — more than easy. He could buy out the Fortnite item shop every day and not make a dent in his budget. But he's not doing that. When it comes to the gigantic amount of money Ninja is earning, he isn't wasting it. He's being smart, and he's living well within his means.

In an interview with TMZ, Ninja said that "nothing lasts forever" which is why he and his wife are being careful with their money moving forward. In fact, he said that there hadn't been anything that he had splurged on, keeping this ideal in mind. Not all of Ninja's considerable cash goes into savings, however. Ninja has said that his high earnings go toward helping his family and sponsoring shelter animals, paying for surgeries and other expenses so that they can find forever homes.

Ninja gives, and he wants to give more. Speaking to Forbes, Ninja said that he feels obligated to use his influence for good. He plans on future fundraisers and is proud of the work that he has done so far, raising money for suicide awareness and handing out huge checks to survivors of breast cancer.

Epic Games has decided to give back to the community that made its game so huge through the "Support-A-Creator" program. The limited time event allows for Fortnite players to directly donate to Fortnite content creators every time they spend V-Bucks in the item shop. The game added a tab in the shop wherein players can enter the Epic tag of their favorite streamer, pro player, or YouTuber and a little bit of their purchase will be tipped to that creator. The scheme makes it so that content creators recieve $5 of every $100 spent.

At the start of the three-month window that the Support-A-Creator would run for, Ninja was sure to demonstrate exactly how to share the V-Bucks love. Ninja himself donated to DrLupo, but reminded viewers on Twitch exactly how to spell his tag. Initially, Ninja wasn't included in Epic's list of pre-approved creators, but was eventually added.

However, it may have been better that he never joined in after the backlash he received. People felt it was wrong of him, who had become wealthy from Fortnite, to take away attention from others who could possibly make a fraction of his fortune via Support-A-Creator. In turn, Ninja addressed those who called him greedy on Twitter by saying that he was just wanting to spread awareness of the event, and encouraged people to support any creator they chose, not just himself.