Twitch will offer streamers more ways to make money in 2023 and update the ad incentive program

Twitch has previewed its key updates for 2023, including offering more ways for streamers to make money and updating its ad incentive program.

In an open letter from Chief Product Officer Tom Verrilli and Chief Monetization Officer Mike Minton, the two detail the new products set to launch in the first half of the year.

“Our primary focus for the year is your growth—both for your communities and for your earnings on Twitch,” they said.

Some of the biggest changes are being made to the advertising incentive program. Streamers have criticized the existing system for its complexity and lack of control over the ads shown in their stream.

This year, the program is updated to give streamers more flexibility to adjust the number of ads, as well as more visibility and control over execution.

Other changes will be made to pre-roll ads. For example, running three minutes of ads per hour will disable all pre-rolls. Picture-by-picture ads are also applied to most pre-rolls. It will also make it easier for streamers to report incoming ads to their viewers.

Twitch will also explore new ways for streamers to make money. It’s said to launch Sound Bites, a first-party sound alert tool where viewers can pay to interact with streamers. Sponsorship features are also being tested, such as: B. Providing channel skins and clickable branding graphics.

Analytics is another area of ​​improvement. Affiliates and partners have access to Creator Home for personalized tips and recommendations, and streamers have access to tag impression analytics, data on best days and times to stream, and audience retention data.

A number of other minor updates will be explored this year.

These include: Improvement of the Guest Star function for better integration of multiple streams; first-party tools to celebrate viewers; a messaging product to engage followers when they are offline; and expanding customizable tags with persistent, searchable collections.

“We love seeing what you can do when activated and empowered. We’re introducing these features and tools because we want to make it easier and more reliable for you to build the communities you want to build,” the blog post reads.

It’s clear that Twitch published this blog post to promote transparency with its community, something it’s been criticized for in the past – particularly when it comes to security updates.

“Together we can make Twitch better for all of us, so it’s important that we show up, tell you what we’re working on, and get your input. We’ll also be sharing more regular updates to keep you excited about what we’re building,” the blog post reads.

All details can be found on the Twitch blog.