Bits are Twitch's tipping currency: viewers buy them from Twitch, then spend them cheering in your chat, and you receive one cent per bit. The animated cheer in front of the room is the whole point: it's tipping made public.
Viewers pay Twitch slightly over a cent per bit (bulk discounts exist). Streamers receive one cent each. Twitch keeps the spread, and the closed loop resists chargebacks.
Cheers render as animated emotes scaled to the amount, land visibly in chat, and trigger the room's celebration machinery: alerts, sounds, leaderboards. Receiving Bits requires Affiliate or Partner status.
A cheer is a tip wearing a social proof costume: the amount is visible, the alert is communal, and generosity earns status in the room.
That's why streams celebrate cheers so theatrically, and why Bits income tracks the liveliness of a stream's culture more than its viewer count. Rooms with rituals and regulars earn; silent rooms with the same headcount don't.
One cent to the streamer, per bit. Viewers pay slightly more when buying them, which is Twitch's margin.
Affiliates and Partners. It's part of what the Affiliate bars unlock.
The public moment: cheers are seen, celebrated and ranked in the room. Direct donations move money; cheers buy recognition.
Every definition lives in the full glossary, and the services behind the vocabulary are on the services page.