There is something of a love-hate relationship between Twitch and its community. On the one hand, the streaming platform has made positive waves by adding 350 new diversity tags, brought on by high demand from the community. On the other, it is often the source of controversy, particularly when it comes to banning users, sometimes for reasons that seem obscure or ambiguous. There is another aspect of the site which is often a sore point for many users: adverts. As disruptive as ads may be, the company is now experimenting with a new system which could be a step in the right direction.
Posting to Twitter recently, Twitch has announced that a new ad format is being implemented called Stream Display Ads. The tweet, and an accompanying short clip, says this new system will make ads less disruptive. Having once again listened to feedback, the streaming platform says these new ads will be displayed at the bottom of streams and users will still be able to see and hear the streamer. The information does go on to say that this is an optional feature and content creators are free to opt-out of this new ad format. The community is invited to give feedback on the new system, as well.
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Given that ads can often be disruptive, such as when a Minecraft speedrun was interrupted by Twitch ads last year, this new system sounds like it could be a good one by making streams less likely to be interrupted. However, on the article page that talks about Stream Display Ads, and in response to someone on Twitter, it seems as though the site will still have pre-roll ads. These are advertisements which newcomers to a channel will still have to watch.
The information does also state that content creators will receive revenues from these new ads. Popular streamers, such as Amouranth who recently had ads reinstated on her channel after the "hot tub" stream controversy, are often dependent on ad revenue, so this is likely to be good news for them.
Generally, this new ad system could be useful overall. With Twitch experimenting with mid-roll ads last year, the fact that it's now looking to implement a much less disruptive system can only be a good thing. While the company says there will still be pre-roll ads for newcomers, let's hope Stream Display Ads will be something that will be considered a positive move, which will make a nice change to all the user banning controversies.
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Source: Twitch
