“We are launching an experiment to a small number of growing channels that enables their communities to purchase promotions to highly visible parts of Twitch,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Twitch is testing out the feature through a small group of streamers with less than 250 followers
This is an extension of the “Boost this stream” program that Twitch currently uses, but with a monetary angle to it. The feature involves a pop-up to the viewers, informing them of the new boost option. Viewers then have the option to choose between two purchase tiers. Twitch will provide 1,000 recommendations for $0.99 and 3,000 for $2.97. These pop-ups can appear whenever a stream is live. Twitch Product Manager Jacob Rosok said the idea for this new boost option came from user feedback. He added that streamers wanted additional options to promote their streams. More recommendations will offer more visibility to streamers, thus allowing Twitch to earn more revenue from ads and subscriptions. “We think that paying to help a creator grow their community will be worthwhile to their supporters,” Rosok said. He further mentioned that the free community stream boosting feature would continue to exist for viewers who want to do their bit without spending money. While Twitch shares some of its revenues with streamers, the money generated from boosting streams will not go to the creator. Currently, Twitch takes a portion of revenues from the bits bought by users to cheer during a stream and 50% of the streamer’s subscription revenue. A chunk of ad revenue also goes to the company. In its current implementation, the paid stream boosting feature is targeting streamers with under 250 followers. Twitch said it would run this promotion for the next four weeks while sharing boost data with streamers. The company stressed that this is only an experiment right now and that it will develop further based on the feedback from the Twitch community.
