Personally, I took affiliate the moment it was offered to me.

I haven't grown much in numbers, but with some tweaking you can make ads way less intrusive. Unsubbed viewers will get a preroll, but other than triggered ads during my BRB scene, they shouldn't get ads during the stream.

Also, Twitch has added more benefits to being affiliate. When I enrolled I only had 1 static and 1 animated emote slot. Over the past 14 months since, they changed it to 5 static slots from the get-go, plus an additional 5 follower emotes.

Channel points are also powerful tools you gain access to, if used right. They encourage engagement.

A single preroll ad is a small price to pay. It's the streamers who choose the 55% ad cut method who could drive away new viewers, if you ask me.