So whats new?
Our Twitch experience is changing!! Not only for viewers but for streamers as well.
Last week during TwitchCon, Twitch revealed some huge news, that impacts everyone on the platform. Some of the biggest news especially, for affiliate streamers.
If you follow Twitch on Twitter, you already know whats down the chute. But if you don’t, heres a quick rundown of some of the changes we can expect.
One major change is how the site overall will be different, visually. Whether you are a partner or affiliate streamer or just a viewer there to support your friends, Twitch is making some major changes to its UX (User Experience). Twitch has already updated and rolled out new fonts, a new kind of dark-mode, and some of their button icons and logos.
Updated Channel Page
For streamers, your channel’s page and creator dashboard will look more modern and easier to use. The new channel page will give viewers the key information they want to know. This includes new tabs such as About you, Schedules and Game info, and a new way to follow, subscribe, and turn on Notifications. It is unknown as of now how this will impact streamer artwork such as offline images, banner/header images, and channel panels.
New creator Dashboard
The Creator Dashboard is also getting a hefty facelift. Starting this October, a new way to manage your stream will be hitting the website.
Stream manager will include quick and easy to use buttons added for editing stream info, starting squad streams, running ad breaks, and raiding/hosting channels. You can add new tool buttons such as Clip That, Add Stream Delay, Add Stream Marker, Manage Bounties and buttons to help you manage your chat. You will also be able to customize the arrangement of these buttons based on your preference and whats most important to you.
Chat, Activity docks and stream previews will be easier to use, access, and read on your dashboard. Also, stream stats such as stream duration, followers, viewer count and subscriber count will be more visible.
Go Live with Twitch Studio
New to Twitch? Just getting started as a streamer or showing interest in eventually going live for your friends? Twitch announced on Sept 27th, that they have an all new way to go live on their platform.
Twitch Studio wants to help you stream with new guided setups, point and click overlays and templates and integrated activity feeds.
Customize layouts and stream overlays. Create fully customizable scenes for your Main layout, BRBs, intermissions and more. Choose channel colors, images and background wallpapers.
Start and End stream right from the studio. You can adjust microphone and audio settings within this tool and also track view count, chat, duration of stream and more.
Beta opens up in November!
A new way to moderate
Twitch will also be introducing a new channel mode exclusively for your moderators. Mod View will include tools that we know (and love) today and new features that will make it easier for your mods to lay down the law.
Mod View looks similar to the creator dashboard. It includes a stream preview, recent mod activity and an auto-mod queue (helpful for the larger channels). You’ll still be able to experience traditional chat but new features are being added such as a “Users in Chat” list that separates and categorizes the viewers in chat and a channel actions panel that will help you control other functions of the chat (subs only, slow mode, emote only and more.)
You will be able to choose individual chatters and see recent comments that are shared in chat by that specific user.
Drag and drop different panels into your Mod View dashboard and choose what is most important to you. You can choose to keep these panels nested in your dashboard or pop-out into a new browser window.
You can catch the new Mod View spring of 2020.
viewer loyalty points
Twitch is adding a new easy-to-use, customizable program allowing Affiliates and Partners to reward their most loyal viewers with special perks. Channel Points is a program that enables viewers to earn points by hanging out in stream and using perks and rewards in stream chat such as exclusive emotes. Viewers can unlock a tier 1 emote for 24 hours, add sunglasses to their favorite emote, or redeem a customized reward created by you.
Channel Points is in early access and if you are interested in helping them improve the experience, simply sign up!
subscribe from your phone
Twitch is updating their mobile app as well!
A new Subscribe button is being added to iOS allowing mobile users to sub on the go. In previous years, streamers would have to create a link that sent mobile viewers to a specific subscribe page through a phone browser. The new app redesign will show the benefits of a subscription and allow you to redeem tokens.
sub tokens
Starting October, you will be able to purchase and redeem Sub Tokens. One Sub Token can be redeemed for one month of a Tier 1 channel subscription. These tokens can be used to maintain a sub streak by using multiple tokens. Sub Tokens are non-refundable.
As of now, the price of sub tokens are:
- 1 Sub Token = $5.99
- 2 Sub Tokens = $29.99
- 10 Sub Tokens = $59.99
- 25 Sub Tokens = $149.99
- 50 Sub Tokens = $299.99
affiliates: make money from ads!
And probably, the biggest announcement to come from Twitch this year revolves around Ads and Revenue. Twitch is rolling out updates to improve the ad experience for both streamers and viewers. Affiliates will begin to earn a share of ad revenue and streamers will gain more control over pre-roll ads (ads viewed when first joining channel) and 30/60 second ads ran during stream.
Picture-by-Picture mode will allow the streamer to run an ad during a stream break or intermission. The stream window with the streamers content will appear above chat while the ad will run in the normal viewing area.
As of right now it is unknown what the amount earned per ad will be or when affiliates will begin earning revenue from these ads.
“But I use ad-block?” Please don’t. This doesn’t support the content that you watch. This doesn’t help streamers or content creators that you know and love.
final thoughts
As an affiliate that is about to reach 500 follows on Twitch, this all is very exciting news. Twitch was overdue for a site update and a more modern design. The integration for streamers, mods and viewers is game changing. New ways to earn and subscribe give Twitch users more ways to support and promote. Opening up Twitch Studio for new streamers allows people to dip their toes into streaming, simplifying the broadcasting process, makes it user friendly, and allows the streamer to free up some space on the CPU (assuming its cloud based).
Follow, bookmark, like and subscribe to keep up with the latest Twitch news! ❤
What are your thoughts on the new updates?
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