Twitch recently announced plans to introduce two new subscription tiers - on top of the existing $4.99 tier - that'll let partners offer additional perks to their most loyal subscribers (and of course, generate additional income).
Twitch Product Marketing Director Annie Berrones said they'll soon offer a $9.99 monthly subscription as well as a $24.99 subscription. Perks include the ability to send a custom message to the community upon first subscribing, gaining access to additional emotes (if provided by a partner) and the option to participate in "subscriber roles" within the Twitch App (again, if offered by a particular partner).
Berrones points out that subscribing also helps a partner unlock new emotes faster as a $9.99 sub is worth two subscriber counts and a $24.99 sub is worth six (the more subscribers a partner has, the more emotes they can unlock). I'm not big into Twitch but apparently these emotes are a big deal.
Initially, the new tiers will only be available on partnered channels that opt into the beta (it will be a rolling beta with new channels added weekly).
This is only the beginning. Later this year, Twitch will be adding other long-requested features like the ability for a user to gift a channel subscription to another non-subbed user. They're already working on it, Berrones said, and expect to start testing it within the next few months.
A full FAQ for both partners and viewers can be found over on the Twitch blog.