[00:00] Breaking news! Twitch has announced several major changes coming to the website. Soon, you'll be able to grow their stream faster, monetize sooner, stream at higher resolutions, and much, much more. On the surface, this all seems amazing, but is there a darker side to these updates?
[00:14] Is this secretly a desperate attempt to squeeze out a droplet of good PR relevancy from a dying website? Probably not, but like all the other no-life losers on Twitter laughing as journalists, we're going to summarize all the updates and what they mean to you,
[00:26] while leaving the best and most important changes for last, because f*** you, the internet is the worst. My name's LJ, my notes are a cat, so let's get right into it. After nearly a year of privately testing 2K or 1440p streaming,
[00:38] Twitch has announced that they are ready to roll out the service to partners and affiliates, starting right now. It's a landmark occasion, as Twitch has only supported a maximum of 30p 60 frames per second streaming for nearly a decade. If you want access, you can use the waiting list to sign up, but wait right there, because this might be a terrible decision.
[00:54] Many Twitter experts are pointing out that Twitch's bitrate soft cap of 6000 is barely enough to support 1080p, let alone 1440p, while others are pointing out that due to Twitch's choice to use older codecs and transcoding priority, streaming at 1440p could cause your stream to be a laggy, stuttering mess for any viewer with slow internet, otherwise known as the entirety of Australia.
[01:14] Twitch has responded by asking people to please read the blog post where they say in bold letters that they'll be increasing the bitrate to support 1440p using newer HEVC Kodak and the new Twitch enhanced broadcasting tools, which will allow stream quality to adjust automatically for viewers, making everything Twitter has said meaningless dribble once again.
[01:32] But the great minds over on Twitter didn't stop there, with tens of thousands taken to the digital streets after Twitch lowered the requirements to reach affiliate. Previously, new creators were required to reach 50 followers, stream a minimum of 7 days, stream for a minimum of 8 hours, and reach an average viewership of 3, all within
[01:48] 30 days. This arguably monumental task kept many from ever being able to monetize their channel. Now, new streamers were only needed 3 average viewers across 4 streams, for 4 days, for 4 hours, and only 25 followers. Before, they can begin spamming their tiny audience with unskippable, painful, repetitive
[02:03] ads to make pennies on the dollar. Proving once again to be an insufferable community to be a part of, streamers simply can't to look out. Many claiming, if you couldn't reach affiliate before, you don't deserve it, with the majority focused only on the monetization aspect of this Many self streamer experts in the field are saying affiliate has never been difficult for those who actually bothered to try and making it easier doesn affect monetization because in reality you can monetize three people
[02:26] These experts then went on to say that says making it easier means streamers will be able to use channel points and emotes sooner, which is great. We then went on to correct these experts and explain that later this year, every streamer, affiliate or not, will be given access to monetization
[02:38] and community features such as emotes and channel points, essentially making none of this matter. The only difference between a non-affiliate and affiliate moving forward will simply be that any income earned by a non-affiliate streamer must be spent on Twitch, by the streamer, on other streamers, and cannot be paid out to the non-affiliate streamer.
[02:55] As a mean and unbiased reporter, I think who the hell cares? Once you reach affiliate, you'll realize content creation is a never-ending treadmill where you can never relax, sit back, and enjoy your success. Soon you'll realize you need partner, and once you get that, you'll learn that digital titles and accolades are meaningless.
[03:07] With that, the ever-looming dread will begin to destroy your life as you endlessly grind away trying to grow that tiny bit more, and before the light slips away from your tired bloodshot eyes, you'll realise you should have been a YouTuber. In other years, Twitch has finally begun to capitalize on their main audience's desperation,
[03:23] sadness, loneliness, and of course, fear with Watch Shrieks. No longer just a third-party tool used by streamers to form parasocial relationships, and in turn, grow their average viewers, now Twitch will allow streamers to further segregate their audience with watch streaks, forcing viewers to never miss a stream or risk their
[03:38] chat messages never being read again. Or when out for our non-subs who have to work, you'll never be acknowledged by a streamer again. Once again, Twitter has called this new feature cruel and unusual punishment and a disgusting
[03:50] decision on par with Holocaust denial. In response, Twitch has released a statement saying, Please, please for the love of God, please oh my lord, please read the blog. If someone misses a stream, they can watch a VOD or even a clip to maintain their streak.
[04:03] Twitch streamers promptly ignored and continued to clip staff members out of context to farm likes online. Speaking of clips, Twitch continues to roll out more tools for them, previously having created the beloved clip update such as vertical integrations, discovery feeds, and stories,
[04:15] three key features every self-proclaimed stream expert requested for nearly seven years, with these same people saying, um, this will allow Twitch to be new streamer friendly and to stop it from dying. Sadly, after release, nobody used these new updates, with many viewers going on to say,
[04:28] um I don go to Twitch to pretend it TikTok and I despise the Twitch app I rather risk having a brain aneurysm while hate livestream fails on Reddit One unbiased reporter has been quoted as saying I told you so you f Don make videos
[04:41] if you want to actually grow. But will these new updates change all of that? Twitch has gone on record as saying the new clip tools will help streamers by suggesting clips from their most engaging moments, making it easier to review, edit and publish content. Another major change, now
[04:53] clips won't force viewers to leave the stream and will be less disruptive. Several loved viewers, upon hearing the news, were reportedly heard saying, finally, I can clip his feet without also missing anything else. In hearing the double bound on viewer desperation to be loved, Twitch has also announced a new
[05:07] clip leaderboard, where clippers whose clips get a significant amount of views are rewarded with their name in likes at the top of the board, and in turn, the love of their streamer. Women creators everywhere were both excited that yes, it would make it easier to ban perverts,
[05:19] but at the same time, uneasy that those perverts can now find fellow perverts easier. It is unconfirmed yet whether this leaderboard will also take into account the new react feature that allows viewers to react to the clips after the stream. With monetization
[05:32] unlocking for all streamers very soon, and the ability for payouts to be held and used instead back on Twitch, the staff were eager to see an increase in profits. However, an anonymous insider had gone on record saying, Yeah, so we were in a meeting, and an intern pointed out that we're in a cost of living
[05:45] crisis. Most viewers can't afford to subscribe to one streamer, let alone two or three, especially with all the price increases lately. Apparently the intern was promptly dragged to the room streaming, please stop, no, I'll buy Turbo, I'll buy Turbo, please, I can't do it, I can't
[05:59] watch any more Asmongold. More importantly, in response, Switch has announced the streamer-led promotion tool. Soon, affiliates and partners will be given 70 hours of promotional screen time to use enough to 7 different promotions throughout the year.
[06:11] Starting off, these promotions will be limited to 35% off bundles of 5 or more gift subs. Based on this information, we were able to work out that if 1 sub costs 6 USD and 5 subs cost 30 USD, a 35% discount would equal roughly $10.50, meaning a viewer could buy 5 subs
[06:28] for their favorite streamer instead of food for their family. All of this extra income, though, will be needed as Twitch servers are about to become heavily burdened, not just by new encoding and resolutions, but also by the new playback feature, which proudly announced Rewind is coming, which led me to ask, did they at least
[06:43] buy him a drink first? The new Rewind feature allows viewers to drag their playhead back to rewatch any moment of the stream a feature that YouTube has had forever This feature was the most hyped by the community upon announcement with Twitch saying just scrub back no excuses To use this feature you need to be a paying Turbo member or have a subscription to the channel you using it on But there is one excuse
[07:03] Nevertheless, it is exciting to see such a heavily requested feature be implemented after 70 years, even if many consider it poorly. In fact, so poorly that many have taken back to the digital streets with one streamer saying, this is worse than the Chinese Communist Party. I can't breathe
[07:16] use all these restrictions, where is my freedom of speech? Mike Minton, Twitch head of monetization, explained this restriction isn't based on greed, but in fact is designed so that streamers don't lose out on ad revenue, a fair and reasonable explanation, for which streamers promptly ignored and continued to clip staff
[07:32] members out of context to farm likes online. Rewind isn't the only feature YouTube has inspired, but also the abilities of vertical and horizontal stream at the same time, otherwise known as dual format streaming. Using the ATM vertical plugin that has been used for multi-streaming, streamers can soon
[07:46] set up a vertical and horizontal canvas to stream the Twitch simultaneously. Twitch has announced that they believe this is one of the most important updates of the site and they care deeply about getting it right. It will include features such as better optimized viewer experience on mobile, allowing users
[07:59] to watch either vertically or, if they rotate their phone, horizontally. Supposedly this new update will also bring a better user interface, more ways to chat, engage and of course, for mobile viewers to participate in hype trains easier. While many are incredibly excited for this update, it's left others confused.
[08:14] streaming while fairly young has seen incredible results on TikTok and YouTube, thanks to both sites having millions of users watching billions of vertical short format content endlessly on the platforms, which, when compared to Twitch, simply isn't how users tend to use the site, instead
[08:27] preferring to second monitor stream content for a long period of time while they game to feel less lonely. Self-proclaimed stream experts have continued to push vertical and mobile-first tools as a way forward for Twitch, but when asked where the viewers were coming from or how to change
[08:41] the de-brutal Twitch culture that simply didn't use those features, they became awkward, stuttered a bit, and mumbled something about off-platform content under their breath. I've been LJ, my notes are still a cat, you've been watching the TwitchCon News Wrap,
[08:54] at best these changes are neat, at worst they're meaningless, none of this is going to change your life, so if you want to learn something of value that other self-proclaimed stream experts can't do, click here to learn how I monetize a new gaming channel in just a quick upload, or here to become a member for just one dollar, and see how I make gaming
[09:09] video thumbnails that go viral. I'm very tired.