2K STREAMING

First mentioned at TwitchCon San Diego 2024, Twitch had every intention of starting a closed beta test for the next evolution of stream quality. This went ahead and now the open beta is available to Partners and Affiliates!

This upgrade to quality will take your streams to 1440p with an increased bitrate and newer HEVC coding, using their Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting technology to make sure the quality remains without stuttering.

REWIND STREAMS

Watching your favourite streamer but need a minute to brb whilst they are currently live? Testing to begin this summer, Twitch is bringing a rewind option to streaming so you can hop back in where you left off on a live stream, and catch up on what you have missed.

DUAL FORMAT & VERTICAL STREAMING

Exciting news for mobile and tablet viewers, Twitch are starting the roll out of a dual format when streaming for a small number of channels this summer. What it means in short is that your stream will display in vertical mode if the phone is held that way, and will still be viewable in landscape if you switch to that view.

CLIPPING TOOLS

Twitch are currently developing new tools to enhance how you create and publish clips - for both the streamer and the viewer. These will include clip suggestions based on engagement, less disruptive clipping for viewers, clip reactions and a Clip Leaderboard - the latter coming with exclusive badges and rewards in your channel!

WATCH STREAKS UPDATES

Keep your Watch Streaks and save your points by watching a clip or VOD from streams - Twitch is getting ready to release this option to all channels later this year.

MONETIZATION UPDATES

From later this summer, all streamers will have access to monetization and community tools from the get go - but will still only be able to receive payouts from Affiliate or Partner levels. In preparation for this, Twitch are also reducing the threshold for Affiliate to make it easier to reach. This will be available within your channel creator tools, but it has been reported to be - 25 followers, 4 hours streamed, 4 unique broadcasts and 3 average viewers. Apart from the viewer requirement, it would seem that the previous requirements have been halved.

COMBOS

A new way to celebrate moments on stream with Bits is currently in closed beta. Combos are a way for chat to build upon each other's Bits donations to trigger bigger and bigger events that translate to visuals and animations.

PROMOTIONS

New streamer-led promotions are coming to Twitch. Similar to Subtember, streamers will be able to host their own promotions for gifted subs. Partners and Affiliates will be limited to 7 sessions slash 70 hours of promotional time for the year - currently this stands at 35% off bundles of 5 plus gifted subs.

ADDITIONAL VIEWING OPTIONS

Twitch is launching a right-to-left Arabic format for Twitch and are planning to increase the amount of IRL events over the year.

MOD COMMUNITY UPDATES

Mobile Mod View is now on Android! And Twitch have also launched a new, private discord space for Mods called the Twitch Moderators Club. You can apply for the Discord here.