What You Need To Know About Twitch's Recent Monetization Agreement And TOS Changes

Jump to section:

• Introduction
• Update #1: Advertisements
• Update #2: Simulcasting
• Update #3: Minimum Content Requirements
• Aftermath
• Strategic Play
• To Wrap Up

Introduction

It seems to be a cycle at this point. They push an update, get backlash, apologize, retract their update, and do the same thing over again.

Let’s go over what the updates actually entail, and then see how this plays into Twitch’s strategy.

Update #1: Advertisements

The first update applies to advertisements.

Burn-in ads and audio are now not allowed. These include embedded advertisements and banner ads.

The reason they made these changes is because they’re trying to get brands to directly work with Twitch. And they want more control over the events ecosystem and major productions displayed on Twitch, so they can take the deal and cut.

They’ve done this with Esports events in the past, so this isn’t entirely new.

By forcing brands to work directly with them, Twitch is also pushing talent agencies out of the equation by running through their own sales team.

But Twitch isn’t able to handle this task themselves, because they’re already unprofitable and bleeding employees with all the Amazon layoffs.

This will also destroy this particular source of income for smaller creators, limiting creators’ ability to deliver on-screen advertising. Creators and sponsors have built this way of advertising into the creator economy, so limiting it hurts creators directly.

The policy said that burn-in ads (like branded sponsorship codes or logos) shouldn’t take up more than 3% of the full stream screen. That’s 332x187 pixels on a 1920x1080 resolution stream.

As of now, creators have until July 1st to make changes necessary to comply with this rule or they risk breaking their contract.

But do you really think Twitch has the capacity to enforce this policy?

They’d have to go by every streamer individually (there are over 1 million streamers per month) to check if their branded content is taking up less than 3% of their screen.

Update #2: Simulcasting

The second update applies to simulcasting.

Simulcasting, or multistreaming, is where you stream to multiple platforms at the same time. You are allowed to multistream to mobile-first competitors like Instagram and TikTok. And it was already not allowed for Affiliates and Partners to stream to other direct competitors like YouTube and Facebook.

But now Twitch has the audacity to apply this rule to anyone using their service. Basically binding you to their platform, whether you have a contract with them or not.

This update is honestly bogus. Twitch is extremely arrogant to believe tying all creators to their platform is the way forward.

Besides, Twitch wouldn’t know that you’re multistreaming to other platforms. You’d probably get a warning if you’re caught. Under 5000 CCV, you’re not likely to get reprimanded though. They’ve never enforced this rule and it doesn’t look like they care if you multistream.

Update #3: Minimum Content Requirements

The third update applies to minimum content requirements, which flew a bit under the radar.

Section 2.1 of the Monetized Streamer Agreement applies to both Affiliates and Partners, and stated that they must “provide a consistent amount of live content, program quality live content, regularly interact with and engage viewers of your Twitch Channel, and respond to live viewers of your Twitch Channel via Twitch chat.”

This type of minimum engagement or interaction requirement hasn’t been in the agreement before, and the sentence looks to be vaguely worded on purpose.

What does “a consistent amount” mean? There’s no mention of quality requirements, amount of hours put in, or any measure of engagement.

It’s up to Twitch to decide, at any moment in time. If they think you’re not providing enough quality content or on a consistent enough basis, you could get kicked out of the Affiliate or Partner program.

As of now, the clause isn’t mentioned in the agreement anymore.

Section 2.1 now only mentions that you agree to “provide a consistent amount of live content, program quality live content, regularly interact with and engage viewers of your Twitch Channel, and respond to live viewers of your Twitch Channel via Twitch chat.”

So it looks like they’ve slightly changed the wording, but still vague enough to work in Twitch’s favor.

Aftermath

After Twitch released these updates on Twitter, the community got outraged. And rightfully so.

With the backlash, Twitch back pedaled fast and said they undid their update.

However, Section 11 of their Terms of Service states that “[w]hen you are streaming live on the Twitch Services you may not simultaneously live stream or broadcast (“Simulcast”) on any other “Twitch-like Service,” meaning any web-based network, platform, or service that supports live streaming of user generated content.”

And Section 12 of their Terms of Service states that “[t]hird-party advertising networks are not allowed to serve advertising through the Twitch Services”, which can mean to include embedded advertisements or banner ads.

So their platform exclusivity and advertising rules are still intact. It’s only an empty apology from them.

But Twitch is a creator-focused platform? Sure.

They don’t care.

Now. Creators, Twitch is like an abusive relationship at this point.

Doing harm, apologizing, then doing harm all over again. And the cycle continues. When do you say enough is enough? When do you stop being willingly gaslit?

They’ve been showing their true predatory character this entire time. Believe them when they do.

Strategic Play

The question here is: could this be done on purpose?

Yes. It definitely feels like it.

It might be part of a negative marketing strategy to get their name out there again and to get more eyeballs and creators on the platform. In any case, it could be a way to hopefully make Twitch profitable.

The fact of the matter is that Twitch has never been profitable.

As the saying goes, “all publicity is good publicity”. Even if it’s negative.

So this perspective would tie in with the changes you’ve been seeing on the platform ever since Amazon acquired Twitch back in 2014. Amazon is likely doing everything it can to make Twitch make money. Which is why you see so many ad pushes, permanent low sub splits, and overall greediness on the platform. Including these new updates.

But what if it isn’t on purpose?

Well, then Twitch has a very out of touch management.

Twitch, and especially Amazon, would ironically have to go in a different direction. They’d need to see that squeezing their creators and community dry isn’t the way to become profitable.

They’d have to actually put creators first and take the initial hit of upping the sub splits and lowering ad density. Plus they’d have to take away platform exclusivity and stop taking away monetization opportunities for its creators.

This is the only way to make creators want to use and trust the platform they’re creating on.

Because frankly, Twitch has lost the trust from its community.

But they probably don’t care.

To Wrap Up

I hope this gave you a good summary of the changes incoming and the pattern that Twitch is following.

Maybe it’ll even get you to change platforms or diversify your content in the future. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading!

Sources

      Devin Nash. (2023, June 7). Twitch's Ambition to Control Your Content. [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOfmWFr_sm4

      Devin Nash [@DevinNash]. (2023, June 7). Twitch hasn't walked back forced platform exclusivity for all creators. [Tweet.] Twitter. https://twitter.com/DevinNash/status/1666563595897847810

      Downs, N. (2023, June 6). Let’s Take A Minute To Talk About Twitch’s New Branded Content Guidelines. Medium. https://medium.com/@MyLawyerFriend/lets-take-a-minute-to-talk-about-twitch-s-new-branded-content-guidelines-8cda2cc43c92

      Downs, N. (2023, June 8). Let’s Take A Minute To Talk About Twitch’s New Monetized Streamer Agreement. Medium. https://medium.com/@MyLawyerFriend/lets-take-a-minute-to-talk-about-twitch-s-new-monetized-streamer-agreement-a948cd2d8ba4

      Twitch. (2023, June 8). Terms of Service. Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/terms-of-service/#12-advertisements

      Twitch. (2023, June 6). 2023 Updated Monetized Streamer Agreement. Twitch Support. https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/2023-updated-monetized-streamer-agreement

      Twitch. (2023, June 6). Branded Content Guidelines. Twitch Support. https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/branded-content-policy

      Twitch [@Twitch]. (2023, June 6). Today’s branded content policy update was overly broad. This created confusion and frustration, and we apologize for that. [Tweet.] Twitter. https://twitter.com/Twitch/status/1666183145526538240

      Twitch [@Twitch]. (2023, June 7). Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors. [Tweet.] Twitter. https://twitter.com/Twitch/status/1666559226184093696