Twitch’s New Ad Rules: What Streamers Need to Know
Twitch has recently announced new guidelines for branded content, which has caused controversy in the streaming community. Branded content is a crucial source of revenue for streamers, and the new restrictions could have major consequences for creators of all sizes.
The new rules include:
- Limiting on-stream sponsor logos to 3% of screen size.
- Disallowing burned-in video ads.
- Disallowing burned-in display ads.
- Disallowing burned-in audio ads.
Branded content is a major source of income for streamers, as the controversial 50/50 revenue split of September 2022 left them feeling exploited by the Amazon-owned company. Contracts with gamer-marketed soft drinks or gaming peripherals allow them to manually place banners into their streams, with the money from that partnership going directly into their pocket – not being split down the middle like the revenue from ads that play through Twitch.
The new rules could also seriously jeopardize charity streams held on the streaming service. Considering Summer Games Done Quick just raised $2.2 million for Doctors Without Borders, Twitch’s new ad rules should have charity streamers very concerned.
Twitch has released a series of tweets clarifying its branded content policy, saying the initial update “missed the mark”. However, the rest of the company’s tweets don’t effectively clarify the situation, and many streamers are still upset.
Kick Offers to Pay Twitch Termination Fees for Streamers
Kick, a rival streaming platform, announced on Twitter that they will cover the $25 termination fee for Twitch Affiliates who cancel their contract and join their platform. This statement comes after Twitch updated their Affiliate agreement terms and conditions, which state that those who terminate their contract will have a fee of $25 deducted from any remaining balance. The change has caused frustration among Twitch users and content creators who feel that the platform is not supporting them.
Many Twitch streamers have responded to the announcement from Kick, stating that they will happily move over if the offer is true.
Additionally, this offer from Kick comes shortly after top Twitch streamer Bruce “BruceDropEmOff” announced that he has joined Kick. Bruce had received several bans on Twitch due to his controversial language, and his fans had been urging him to move to other platforms. In a short video featuring Adin Ross, Bruce announced his move to Kick, which has further fueled speculation about the platform’s potential as a new home for Twitch streamers.
Bye Bye Stories: YouTube Axes Temporary Posts
YouTube has announced that it will be discontinuing its Stories feature, which allows users to post temporary updates, starting from June 26th. The feature was first introduced in 2017 under the name Reels and was only available to users with over 10,000 subscribers. However, the feature did not catch on, with access being limited, few creators posting regularly, and the feature not being promoted much by YouTube.
Instead of Stories, YouTube wants creators to post content to other surfaces on the platform, such as Community Posts and Shorts. Community Posts is a text-based update feature that creators can use to share polls, quizzes, images, and videos. The feature appears in a tab on channels, and posts can expire after a certain period. Shorts is YouTube’s TikTok competitor, and the company has been trying to convince traditional long-form video creators to start making shorter content. In February, YouTube began sharing ad revenue from Shorts with creators under a revamped monetization plan.
