Twitch Needs A Real Solution For Its Ad Problem (& One Is Right There)
As Twitch has become a massive force in the content creation industry, its pursuit of revenue through ads has turned into a complete mess. For quite some time, ads were left to the discretion of streamers, and it was common for many of them to choose not to run ads on their channels. The anti-ad mentality that was fostered within the community, and the prevalent use of adblocking extensions, has reached a stage where Twitch clearly feels the need to act on it.
Twitch's first move towards pushing ads was a fairly simple one. Partnered streamers are now required to run a predetermined amount of ads every hour or so. This has resulted in streamers taking breaks to run their required ad blocks and then resuming the stream. This puts all of the viewers on the same schedule, gives the creator control over when people are seeing the ads ,and ultimately doesn't have a major impact on the viewing experience.
In recent months, Twitch has began pushing ads out that streamers do not have control over. These ads play automatically when viewers begin watching a channel and can randomly play if the streamer is not running the ads on their own. It's understandable why Twitch is pushing these ads but they are incredibly harmful to the viewing experience. A pre-roll ad dissuades viewers from not just exploring streams they haven't seen before, but from browsing streams to find one they want to watch. Because mid-roll ads randomly occur, viewers can get stuck watching ads during a highlight of the stream. These kinds of ads frustrate viewers and push them towards using ad blockers, so just this past week Twitch has instituted a new system that pushes these ads through the blockers. When the ad blocker is identified, Twitch automatically continues pushing ads through. This system results in a consistent stream of ads until the viewer disabled the blocker. Ultimately, this system just isn't good enough to solve the problem.
Back when Twitch was first starting, Turbo was effectively just a $5 monthly subscription to the site that offered viewers a few little benefits in chat and an ad free experience. As Twitch has grown and individual channel subscriptions with their own perks became standard, the Turbo subscription was de-emphasized and received a price increase. Now at $9 a month, Twitch Turbo is nowhere near enough to justify its subscription fee. If Twitch is trying to find new revenue streams, Turbo is currently a wasted asset.
Prime Gaming is very popular and already offers one free channel subscription per month, but it could also be integrated with Turbo. For example, a Twitch Turbo subscription could be offered at a reduced cost for Prime users, or it could be bundled with an additional subscription to any individual channel. Something like that would be both beneficial for Twitch and reasonable for users looking to support the platform without being pestered by ads.
Twitch's attempts to increase revenue just aren't good enough. This isn't a site like YouTube where the content stops, an ad plays and then the content resumes where it left off. The streams are live and interjecting ads disrupt the viewing experience. Even just an overlay ad that viewers have to manually click out of would be a superior choice to these kinds of ads. The live viewing experience is the most important thing for this kind of platform, and Twitch needs to find more creative ways to generate revenue than invasive ads.