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Verge: Twitch is testing mid-roll ads that streamers can’t control
- Thread starter Saucycarpdog
- Start date
- News
I get it from a bottom line perspective, but this is exactly how a brand tanks its goodwill. YouTube streaming exists, and it's a robust platform. There's nothing stopping streamers (outside of contracts obviously, if they have them) from jumping platforms if they feel the experience their audience is being provided is being ruined by Twitch.
I stopped watching someone who had 3 minute ad rolls set up. Got tired of missing the content. I'll do the same for the service if this is the path they want to go down. Make Prime ad free or something.
At least it would be easy for streamers to schedule an ad break in BR games, or other multiplayer shooters like Overwatch, Valorant, or CSGO. You generally spend several minutes in queue anyway, and games are generally 15 - 45 minutes long.
Though I wonder what the interval for required ad play is before Twitch will roll one automatically.
If the ad isn't full screen with audio, then the company paying for the ad placement basically wasted their money.
Though I wonder what the interval for required ad play is before Twitch will roll one automatically.
If the ad isn't full screen with audio, then the company paying for the ad placement basically wasted their money.
The money comes from the same place it always comes from with any Free* (*with optional purchases) product. The Whales. Viewers that are more financially comfortable and want to support their favorite streams shower those streams with Gift Subs, Bits, and in some cases, donations. Twitch even gives little 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place flair next to the name of users who have gifted and use the most bits on a channel to channel basis.
Like it's absolutely a part of business to attempt to monetize everything they can get away with but this particular move stands to drum up a lot of negative reception. Internet savvy consumers are already easily riled but they're also going to get pushback from the streamers themselves on this, which will just reinforce and bolster the viewers that don't like it. I don't get why they didn't at least boost the compensation to Streamers to make it more palatable to them.
Venture Capital doesn't last forever. "Whales" on Twitch can't come anywhere near funding their operations AND making them profitable. Companies have to actually make money. Just because Amazon bought Twitch doesn't mean there is an endless cash stream. Divisions of bigger companies have to be profitable or they stop existing.
I'm not going to say I don't mind ads. I hate them. But without them stuff like this stops being possible — Twitch viewers need to learn this or put their money where their mouth is if they don't want ads. That's just the reality of the situation. YouTube has an outrageous number of ads in general — if people think that streaming moving there won't eventually have as many or more than Twitch are simply uninformed.
I'm not going to say I don't mind ads. I hate them. But without them stuff like this stops being possible — Twitch viewers need to learn this or put their money where their mouth is if they don't want ads. That's just the reality of the situation. YouTube has an outrageous number of ads in general — if people think that streaming moving there won't eventually have as many or more than Twitch are simply uninformed.
that's exactly what I do when using a device that lacks ad blocking features. I instantly switch streams if I see this or more than 1 ad set to play consecutively.
I don't know much about Twitch's business model but I highly doubt they ever planned for a bulk of their monetization to come from "whales". Advertising is where the money is for these companies. Always has been.
I get an adrenaline high every time I hear someone scream "COKE GAMING WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT"
The day they announced they were taking away the ad-free shit from linking your prime i knew it was only going to get worse as time goes on.
Curious if this is a way to get around people using alternate player and stuff. I would rather have an option to just watch a few ads upfront before i start watching and they may not be doing it subs yet but you damn well know it's coming in the future.
Curious if this is a way to get around people using alternate player and stuff. I would rather have an option to just watch a few ads upfront before i start watching and they may not be doing it subs yet but you damn well know it's coming in the future.
This takes the discussion into murkier water with a lot more variables than it's really reasonable to try to debate, especially without specific details. But I will go as far as to say that I don't think it's quite accurate to suggest that Twitch is still operating on Venture capital.
Twitch already makes money through it's existing ad system as well as through a number of other systems. It's pretty difficult to ascertain how profitable it is or if it's even profitable. But with a total goal of hitting $1billion in revenue for 2020 and while holding 73% of the market share(which may have shifted since Mixer died), I have a hard time believing that Twitch is in any kind of dire straights.
Just because a business wants to see the revenue continue in an ever climbing upward trend doesn't mean it needs to or that it's possible.
Advertising is valuable, of course. That doesn't mean that it is or should be the most valuable way to monetize. What this really comes down to is whether or not the perceived additional revenue from pushing ads more aggressively will be worth it overall.
How much money could Twitch actually make from ad rolls? Say Twitch makes $10 per 1000 viewers per ad roll, in that case they'd only make like $300 per hour from xQc most days. It kinda seems pointless if that's their high end earner.
Twitch has never really had crazy high viewcounts, always figured they could only realistically rely on subs and bits for profit, with the bonus of upselling people to Prime and Turbo.
Out of curiosity, is Turbo like YouTube Premium where creators get a cut if a Premium member watches?
Twitch has never really had crazy high viewcounts, always figured they could only realistically rely on subs and bits for profit, with the bonus of upselling people to Prime and Turbo.
Out of curiosity, is Turbo like YouTube Premium where creators get a cut if a Premium member watches?
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Twitch is testing mid-roll ads that streamers can’t control
Ads keep a website free, but they also suckwww.theverge.com
Here's what these ads could theoretically look like.
It's tragic but soooo hilarious...random ads don't get this absurd combination, has to be done on purpose.
Its still income, and those companies are paying for the ad space and they want their ads seen. That $10/1000 views would add up over everyone and help their revenue.
In the xqc example, these days he's averaging 40k-60k viewers, and as of right now is at 66k. That's about $600/hour over 10 hours, which is $6k/day just off him. It all adds up. There's over 400k people watching Among Us right now, and that's a lot of people that could be watching ads that are currently not.
Hopefully it's really been an "experiment" thus far, and that they've already received examples of the ads cutting in at the most critical moments torpedoes the idea.
Rest assured, you're not the only person who thinks they're immune to advertising.
It absolutely is, these streamers are racking in shitloads of dollars
wow that is fucking garbage... i got 2 ad blockers ublock origin and ad blocker ultimate hope they can update this shit out if it goes through... I dont even use the twtich app anymore becasue its just an app to play ads..
As a cable cutter, I don't think I've ever watched more ads/commercials than I have on twitch. That's before this stupid rollout. The amount of ads you get on that shit is so, SO ridiculous. And they have a habit of shoving the same shitty commercials *curated for gamers* a million times up your ass a week. At LEAST have a little variety with your BUY CONSUME bull fucking shit.
I'm not immune to marketing. See: Apple conferences, Nintendo Directs/Twitter, etc etc.
But advertising can kiss my ass.
Yeah the lack of variety is a killer. You just get the same one ad for like weeks on end.
I have seen THE BOYS ad probably close to 50+ times now....like pls im already fucking watching it.
Ideally Twitch should just implement the feature as "Streamers, you have to run an ad break every x hours. If not one will automatically be run at the end of that period" giving them control over when ads are run and ensuring they're running enough of them. That can't be too difficult, can it?
That's effectively what they are doing. Streamers already have the ability to run their own ads and avoid the automatic ones. These only kick in if they refuse to do so.
Oooh, ok. Should've read more into it then. I guess I don't see the issue then. I feel like this will only really be an issue for streamers doing speedruns that go over the auto ad time limit
Agreed it's ridiculous. The amount of time I've been watching twitch has been reduced greatly the past month or so.
I also think it's insane to get the same amazon ads when I already have prime.
I got one last night during a "big moment" of a stream last night and got so pissed. Was on my tablet and couldnt even double tap to bring up chat
This isn't the issue. First off, we get paid cents, honestly, per ad and people watching. Most streamers earn more via donations, bits, and subscriptions. This is well known. Second, it interrupts us from talking with the people. This is the biggest issue we have with it, ultimately. One streamer reported a user had 4 ads within 20 minutes, from what the user said:
This is why we're angry. Is causes problems for our users. Some of us don't even RUN ads on our streams, because of this. Right now, we can control how the ads work, including the amount of time before each ad plays if we choose to have that option. With this roll out? We can't. Plus, it's really Twitch that makes the most money, not us. Not to mention, we have to wait until we hit $100 till we get a pay out, and for some of us, that can take a long time.
I mean, them putting the provision that they won't force them if the streamer has recently had a manual ad break shows that this is really a move to force them to do that so they don't experience the worst case scenario of having an ad over an important moment in the stream. A lot of my favorite streamers go for, like, four hours (in the case of Jerma, in the past he could have streams that were almost ten hours long without any manual ad breaks), and if you're a crusty Twitch executive, hearing that probably pisses you off.
Based on the above post, they want streamers to block out ad breaks like they're a TV channel. That sucks ass.
Based on the above post, they want streamers to block out ad breaks like they're a TV channel. That sucks ass.
Here's a question. Do we know that Twitch is not profitable? Is this a fact? Like I'd be more willing to accept it if that were the case. Otherwise, isn't this just a company that is trying to milk as much money as possible, no matter what the cost to the viewer experience?
Oh man, Imagine if that match was happening for the first time right now and that ad appeared. I would be beyond livid. Please let this shit die during "testing"
I tend to watch a lot of Twitch now days and turns out I'm one of these randomly selected viewers. This SUCKS. Practically every time these ads come up it's during a pivotal moment of gameplay, in one instance it happened when the streamer was directly talking to me and asking for advice on a game and I couldn't hear what they said for 30 seconds-1 minute. And they are definitely happening frequently. I haven't had 4 ads in the span of 20 minutes, but I have had an opening ad roll (which is fine and I expect when going onto a channel I'm not subbed to), followed by random ad like 10-15 minutes later, followed by another random ad another 15 minutes later. And then I'll have like no ads for an hour or something. It's utterly random, and it sucks.
I can't afford to sub to every channel I watch, and this is making me feel like I'm more boxed into the 3 channels I sub to.
I can't afford to sub to every channel I watch, and this is making me feel like I'm more boxed into the 3 channels I sub to.
Simple reality, it is just going to force people to go and use ad blockers more than they were before, not that people are going to sit there and watch more ads
Reading the tweet in this post, it sounds like that isn't the case?
I'm not gonna lie, I need this to happen. I think Twitch is completely overreaching with the forced ads, and a moment like that would absolutely wreck their goodwill.