Twitch rolls back controversial ad guidelines after outcry from creators

The Twitch creator community has been in turmoil after the leadership behind Amazon’s live streaming platform introduced — and subsequently rescinded — new guidelines for how content creators can run ads and monetize their streams.

On Tuesday, Twitch has released new guidelines for branded content, as well as a tool to report branded content, which would go into effect on July 1. The new guidelines would limit creators’ ability to advertise on stream, including no longer allowing creators to insert “burned-in” video ads (ads that creators place directly into a stream through a streaming and production app) . The proposed guidelines also include other changes, such as limiting the size of on-stream brand logos so that they cannot take up more than 3% of the screen size.

However, hours after these new guidelines were introduced, Twitch appeared to be on the decline, after top creators like Asmongold, who has more than 3.4 million followers on Twitch, openly talked about leaving the platform and thousands more spoke out on social media to criticize the changes.

Twitch issued a statement on Twitter calling the branded content policy “overly broad” and apologies for any confusion. The company said it would rewrite the guidelines to be clearer.

“We do not intend to limit streamers’ ability to form direct relationships with sponsors, and we understand that this is an important part of how streamers earn revenue,” read a tweet in the Twitch thread. “We wanted to clarify our existing ad policies that were intended to prohibit third-party ad networks from selling burnt-in video and display ads on Twitch, which is consistent with other services.”

Streamers have many reasons to object to these changes to the branded content policy. If implemented, these changes could shake the foundations of Twitch’s creator economy. For many streamers, additional sponsorship opportunities and on-stream advertising make full-time content creation a viable career. The new changes may threaten those opportunities. Smashley, a streamer about to celebrate her eight-year anniversary as a Twitch partner, explained how the changes would affect her.

“Placing these arbitrary restrictions on broadcasters will create tensions between sponsors and what can only be assumed is a reduced rate or less sponsorship altogether,” she told Polygon via Twitter. “More than our own voice, it limits the voice of our sponsors, even those we want to promote. I will have to change my whole branding.”

Other forms of highly sponsored content, such as charity streams and award shows, would also be more difficult to run under the new rules. Smashley said under these new guidelines, her recent charity outreach with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital would not have been possible. In addition, the creator of The Streamer Awards, QTCinderella, tweeted that she didn’t know whether the award show could also “exist” within the new rules.

Several top makers also took to their streams and Twitter to criticize the proposed changes. Some, like OTK Network members Asmongold and Mizkif, threatened to leave the platform if Twitch complied with the new rules. In an interview with Polygon, OTK Network co-founder Tips Out said that OTK Network would make the decision to leave because policy changes like the new guidelines “affect creators at a deeper level than most realize.”

“Ultimately, we want to partner with the platforms that were originally built to amplify the work we do and ensure everyone can build a business in a way that best supports their goals and creates long-term success,” he says . said by email.

Mizkif, who has more than 2 million followers on Twitch, said the organization would move to YouTube, Rumble or Kick if the changes went through.

Polygon also asked Tips Out about the organization’s current relationship with Twitch. He told Polygon that the primary purpose of the group is to advocate for other creators.

“OTK maintains a strong relationship with various platform partners, such as Twitch, YouTube and Twitter. We have always prioritized maintaining an open dialogue with these partners, including Twitch and its management,” he said. “We are actively involved in providing feedback and suggestions to these platforms, with the goal of improving their performance from a creator’s point of view.”

Polygon reached out to Twitch for comment and received the following statement from a company representative:

We’ve published a thread thread on Twitter with our official statement – clarifying that streamers can still pursue these ad formats as part of their own direct sponsorships with brands, but our policy prohibits third-party ad networks from selling burn-in video and display ads on Twitch.

As mentioned earlier, we are updating the policy language to make it clearer and will share it with our community as soon as it is available.

Polygon followed suit, asking if the company plans to rewrite key guidelines, or if the rule was simply misinterpreted and will be edited to be clearer. In addition, Polygon asked if other policies, such as the 3% logo size rule, would remain unchanged. The rep declined to answer the second question, telling Polygon, “We are rewriting the policy to be clearer to avoid misinterpretation/confusion.”

The controversy illustrates the long-running push and pull between Twitch and its creators. The platform saw record viewership during the pandemic, but has since dealt with controversy after controversy. In 2021, creators planned to boycott the platform in response to frequent hate attacks. More recently, the platform had to deal with outages about a change in the platform’s revenue distribution and policies regarding gambling flows.

Ultimately, events like these test makers love Smashley’s relationship with the platform.

“I’m honestly discouraged. I’ve been broadcasting on this platform for 8 years and it feels like every few months Twitch is trying to find a different way to make it more difficult to be or stay on the platform and make a living,” she said. “They haven’t developed anything for creators in years that wasn’t available before.”