GIFs in Twitch Chat

You can now post Animated GIFs in Twitch Chats, as long as you are a Tier 2 ($10 USD or local equivalent) or Tier 3 ($25 USD or local equivalent) subscriber to the channel. The feature (enabled by default) allows T2/3 Subscribers to post a GIF roughly every 30 seconds.

There is currently no way to moderate the GIFs themselves, but they are set to "PG or G" according to the GIF partner, GIPHY. Creators' only option will be to turn them off, which will alert your Tier 2 and Tier 3 subscribers that you've removed a perk, should they want to unsubscribe before the next billing cycle.

More details here.

Context:

Twitch is adding value to Tier 2 and Tier 3 for the first time since Emote Modifiers (2021) and Badge Flair (2020).

As GIFs are a centralized perk, Twitch needs to inform viewers if a creator removes a perk (thus the email above). However, the email is a bit callous given creators had no choice and were automatically opted in.

My Thoughts:

Adding GIFs as a value driver for T2/3 subs is a good call. Not only does it create value for those tiers, but because it's paywalled, the likelihood of abuse is reduced. It probably does increase the risk of chargebacks, but hopefully not significantly. Viewers can opt out of seeing GIFs, but they also have to opt out of seeing Animated Emotes. I think those present different value props (and chat real estate) and should be split into independent toggles. In the long run, iterating to enable common GIF pinning, add better controls (custom cooldown periods), and add a direct GIF upload flow would be a nice addition. (Also, they should move to Klipy instead of GIPHY).

Check out the conversation about this on Twitter, Bluesky, or Threads.