Twitch’s Proposed Guideline Changes Ignites Streamers to Advocate for Their Revenue

Recently, Twitch announced that they would be making huge changes to their ad guidelines for streamers, greatly restricting their ability to utilize advertisements in their videos. Almost immediately, they revoked these rules in light of intense backlash on Twitter, which claimed it was a way for Twitch to take advantage of streamers’ revenue.

Because most streamers only get to keep half of the money their videos make, the other half going to the company, they greatly rely on advertisements to make most of their income. The guidelines say an ad can only take up 3% of a screen, and burned in video, banner, and audio ads are prohibited. This limits creator’s abilities to utilize brand deals because brands would be less likely to sponsor a video they knew they were hardly featured in. Twitch made these restrictions because they cannot take a portion of ad revenue from a creator. This has enraged their audience because it takes a stand away from supporting creators and toward capitalizing off of their efforts. Further, creators have called the company out for inaccurate communication, as the ad they propose as correct still takes up more than 3% of the screen.

Streaming alone isn’t enough to support the careers of the creators, so advertisement revenue is vital to their existence on the platform. Revoking rights to these would not only encourage boycotting, but force some streamers to leave because they would not be making enough to support themselves. While Twitch retracted the statement of these guidelines, the fact that they put them in place to begin with rubs many the wrong way regardless, because it highlighted the company’s priorities. Further, this news follows their change last year to move toward a universal 50/50 revenue split between creators and Twitch, when usually, highly popular accounts could increase that proportion to 70%. Instead of shifting toward higher pay for all creators, they shifted toward lower pay for all creators. With this on their track record, it is no surprise streamers are concerned for their representation and rights on the platform.

“Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately.”

Twitch via Twitter

Your Twitch ads are safe, as of now, but keep up with the situation below.