Twitch's Biggest Fumble Yet...

Twitch Angers The Entire Streaming Community With Recent Policy Changes

Twitch royally screwing up isn’t new…but this might just be the worst L they’ve taken in some time. A lot happened in a relatively short amount of time, so I’m going to break it down for you.

Twitch rolls out new Branded Content Guidelines

Zach may have been the first to report on the new Branded Content Guidelines. The guidelines added language that created extreme limitations to how creators can monetize their live content.

Here is a brief description of the policy changes:

1. Creators must use Twitch’s Branded Content Disclosure tool

2. Branded Content must meet Twitch’s formatting requirements

3. The Branded Content must be permitted on Twitch (i.e., no illegal or gambling products, or hateful products or services)

The primary concern is the strange restrictions around formatting.

1. Limiting the size of on-screen logos to 3% of the screen size; and

2. Prohibiting Burned-In Ads almost entirely.

Let’s talk about why these are bad.

Is the Creator Economy in trouble?

The volatility of the U.S. economy has cause sponsors to really pull back on their sponsorship opportunities for creators. The streamers who were once relying on this supplemental income find themselves coming up empty.

The sponsorship deals that do exist often rely on burned-in ad content.

By restricting these ads, on-screen advertising gets severely limited and further reduces the types of opportunities for streamers.

While this affects all streamers, this is particularly harmful for smaller content creators.

Why is Twitch doing this?

The TL;DR of it is Twitch is attempting to make changes to its existing policy to remove third-party advertising options from their platform and force content creators and advertisers to go through them exclusively.

This means that any sponsorship opportunities that are not directly run through Twitch are off limits to creators.

Naturally…everyone lost their sh*t.

The Backlash

Almost immediately, streamers from every corner of the internet including Ninja, Ludwig, Asmongold, and the streaming organization, OTK, shared their frustration with these policy updates.

These changes had streamers large and small really reconsider their investment in the Twitch platform.

Not only was it a very anti-creator policy, but Twitch Ambassadors sounding off on Twitter let it be known that they were not aware of this upcoming policy change. Twitch never communicated it to them and they never had an opportunity to review it and raise their concerns.

Twitch’s Apology

It didn’t take long for the backlash to yield results. Twitch issued an apology and removed the updates to their Branded Content Guidelines. Most content creators weren’t having it and I think Lowco sums it up pretty well here:

What Happens Next?

Even though Twitch apologized and rollbacked the policy changes, it appears as though the story isn’t over yet.

Twitch is in damage control, but their intention is very clear: Twitch wants to fully control all advertising opportunities on its platform, even if it means harming their creator’s ability to make an income through sponsorship deals.

I’ll be looking out for what Twitch does next. See you next Monday!

Twitch News

YouTube News

• YouTube highlights their team behind the Shorts Creator Community

• YouTube is opening up their referral program through July for the opportunity to join our Shorts Community

• YouTube MrBeast fires off on Twitch for its recent policy changes

Gaming News Highlights

• The new Lord of the Rings game get a low review score and faces major backlash from the gaming community prompting a statement from the development team.

• EA execs say that studio Firemonkeys is being turned into a "monotitle" studio that will focus solely on The Sims FreePlay. This has resulted in layoffs and cancelled titles.

• Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka facing over two years in prison for insider trading

Creator Chatter

• Twitch streamer, Asmongold, announces plans to leave Twitch following updated Branded Content Guidelines.

• After 3 years, live streaming platform Glimish is shutting down. Read their full blog post detailing what’s next.

• Jezebel interviews 10 unique women and their impact in the gaming space as part of their Makers Of Now series.

• Popular Dead By Daylight Twitch streamer, Puppers, passes away at the age of 32.

• Ex-OTK members, BruceDropEmOff, officially signs as a Kick streamer.

• The ongoing conflict between FaZe Rain and Grace Van Dien goes about as well as you expected…

• Streamer, iShowSpeed, gets attacked while watching the FA Cup Final

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