Twitch, the popular live-streaming platform, recently made a series of exciting announcements at TwitchCon Paris. These updates aim to enhance the user experience and provide creators with more tools to engage their audiences.
Twitch surprised the community by unveiling its own version of Stories, a popular format pioneered by Instagram and Snapchat. Starting later this year, Twitch users will have the ability to record and share Stories.
These short media pieces will be located on the following page of the Twitch mobile app, ensuring easy access for viewers.
Twitch prioritizes user safety, and as such, the Community Guidelines and automated safety systems will apply to Stories.
Moreover, creators will have the option to limit the visibility of their Stories, making them exclusively available to their followers. This ensures that content remains within trusted circles and fosters a sense of community.
Alongside Twitch Stories, the platform plans to introduce the Discovery Feed. This feed, available on the Twitch mobile app, aims to help creators expand their audience reach even when they are not actively streaming.
The Discovery Feed will include a mix of live and recorded content, creating an engaging space for users to explore and discover new channels.
Twitch recognizes the importance of live and interactive channels and understands that viewers shouldn't spend hours scrolling through Clips.
Instead, the Clips feature is designed to entice viewers to join and become part of a community when the creators are live. This strategic focus ensures that viewers have a richer experience by interacting with content in real time.
To ensure a seamless user experience, Twitch plans to conduct limited testing of the Discovery Feed before its full rollout in late 2023. This step allows the platform to gather feedback and make necessary refinements, ultimately delivering an enhanced feature to the broader Twitch user base.
Twitch is actively working on improving its built-in clip editor, aiming to empower creators with more editing capabilities.
This update will enable creators to refine their content within the platform, saving time and effort by reducing the need for external editing tools. These improvements will make it easier than ever for creators to craft compelling and polished clips for their viewers.
Additionally, Twitch recognizes the popularity of vertical video content on platforms like TikTok. As a response to this trend, the platform is developing a feature that allows creators to export their vertical videos directly to TikTok.
This streamlined export process ensures that creators can effortlessly share their content on multiple platforms, expanding their reach and engaging with diverse audiences.
Twitch values the relationship between creators and their audiences, and to further empower creators, the platform is introducing more control over ad breaks during streams.
A new chat countdown timer will display when an ad is about to play, providing transparency and enabling streamers to manage ad interruptions effectively.
Streamers now have the ability to delay an ad if it disrupts an exciting gameplay moment or an important conversation with their community.
This added flexibility allows creators to curate their streams in a way that maintains engagement and provides a seamless viewing experience for their audience.
Twitch's dedication to supporting creators is evident in its revised ad policy. The platform listened to feedback from the community and adjusted its proposed policy to allow more branded content in streams.
This change provides creators with greater flexibility to integrate branded elements seamlessly while maintaining the authenticity of their content.
Sources: twitch.tv /polygon.com
