Twitch, Amazon.com Inc.’s popular livestreaming service for gamers, announced today that it will be adding two new subscription options for channels, which could lead to a significant pay bump for some streamers.

Subscriptions are one of the main revenue sources for Twitch streamers, and they are one reason that many content creators choose to livestream on Twitch rather than other services such YouTube or Facebook.

Currently, Twitch users can pay a monthly fee of $4.99 to subscribe to individual channels to show their support for their favorite streamers, but Twitch announced in a blog post today that it will also be adding $9.99 and $24.99 subscription options. In addition to bringing streamers more money, the higher subscription levels will also contribute more to a streamers’ subscriber counts, which unlock certain features for their channels.

According to Annie Berrones, product marketing director at Twitch, the new subscription levels will be good for both streamers and viewers.

“As we build this program, our goal is to provide partnered streamers with a better way to earn a steady income and to give viewers more options to support streamers on Twitch,” Berrones said. “This includes long-requested features like the ability for a user to gift a channel subscription to another non-subbed user, which will be coming to Twitch later this year. We’re already working on it, and expect to start testing this within the next few months.”

Subscriptions can already offer a number of added benefits for viewers, such as the ability to use a channel’s chat room when its subscriber-only setting is on. Subscriptions also allow users to watch the stream without ads, and it provides access to more archived video. With the new options, streamer could decide to restrict some of these features to users who are paying the higher rates, but Berrones said in her post, “We encourage you to do what’s best for your community.”

The new subscription options will be entering beta testing “very soon,” and they will initially be available as an opt-in program for Twitch’s partnered users. According to Twitch, the new choices will not affect Twitch Prime, which offers a number of benefits to Amazon Prime subscribers, including one free subscription per month. The free Twitch Prime subscription will continue to function as the standard $4.99 option.

Image: Twitch Interactive