Twitchcon Rotterdam 2024: All the Announcements + more!

Hello! There were quite a few updates this week, thanks to Twitchcon Rotterdam 2024, which just wrapped up! While the opening ceremony reiterated some older news, it also had some new surprises! Overall, the early reviews are positive from what I'm seeing! A thread on accessibility offers a mostly positive review, with some opportunities to improve. However, this morning's most prevalent review (among the otherwise good experiences) is a touch of food poisoning. I hope they all recover quickly!

If you attended Twitchcon Rotterdam, can you answer this ONE question survey? It will only take 20 seconds!

And now, let's get into the news!

Twitch News

• Twitchcon: Twitch's most significant Twitchcon announcement was the launch of the Bleed Purple Statue - physical awards to mark 5 million, 50 million, and 250 million Watch Hours. Based on historical data, about 3150 creators will be eligible for one on Day 1. Here are some higher-resolution images!
• Twitchcon: Power-ups will be updated to include seasonal message effects, sound effects, text-to-speech (TTS), and, eventually, the ability for creators to make their own.
• Twitchcon: The new mobile app will be launched universally this summer.
• Twitchcon: The DJ program enrollment will open in August.
• Twitchcon: Twitch is launching Creator Clubs for IRL and DJs. These Clubs are cousins of the Unity Guilds but will focus on content types. They'll have a Discord, be open to Partners and Affiliates, have educational opportunities, and have Twitch staff support.
• Twitchcon: The attendee gifts to Rotterdam 2024 were a Plastic Bag for the Community, Sunglasses for Affiliates, and a Visor + Sunglasses for Partners.
• Twitchcon: CKibe made an official commissioned poster for both Twitchcon Rotterdam and San Diego.
• Twitchcon: Guest Star Drop-Ins was officially announced. It's a way for any live creator to call other live creators in a phone call-type function. You can decline calls or set favorites. Guest Star continues to be a boondoggle.
• Twitchcon: According to my data, Twitchcon Rotterdam 2024 sales were between 11,500 - 11,950.
• Twitch's Terms of Sales were updated. The most interesting part of "Broadcaster Offered Benefits" is that it directly confirms adding your own custom Power-Ups, but it could imply letting creators offer more direct benefits to subscriptions.
• Shared Chat may be getting tested for a limited group of Guest Star users.
• Twitch is testing video stories up to 60 seconds with Partners, with adjustable expiration times (1, 12, 24, or 48 hours).
• The ability to Watch Stories on the web is currently being explored.
• The Mobile App Discovery Feed will soon let you mute by default.
• Twitch CEO Dan Clancy did an interview with Fortune, where he said that slow growth is better than fast. He also sees Amazon and Netflix as competitors, not YouTube or TikTok.
• Clancy was also interviewed by Business Insider. He believes AI will be a boon for livestreaming, and Twitch is exploring APIs to make using AI tech easier.
• A new API for the Warning System is now in open beta and will be generally available in the next few weeks.
• Twitch's Press Center was updated with new information for 2023:
  • 80M monthly visitors in 2023 instead of 35M daily (2022).
  • 10M streamed for the first time in 2023, vs. 7M stream every month (2022).
• A Drops campaign for Final Fantasy XIV Online starts on July 2nd, 2024.
• Twitch rewrote parts of their Tips to Applying for Partner help document, including new FAQs.
• CommanderRoot shared his Q2 Twitch Stats.
• I jumped off CR's above post to do some analysis, including the number of partners, the reduction in active streamers, and viewership dropping 10% over the last three months.

Streaming Industry News

• Caffeine, a live streaming platform with nearly $300M in support from FOX, Cox, Disney, and more, shut down abruptly on June 26th.
• Tangia has launched a brand new feature called The Grid that lets your community pay to overlay images directly on stream! You control the safe zones and have full moderation control over the images. Once you're happy, sit back and let chat co-create the visuals for your stream! They also have tons of other unique ways to monetize—some streams, I earn 50%+ of my revenue via Tangia!*
• BBC has invested in Condense, a live 3D music service.
• Yamaha has become a Diamond Sponsor of the OBS Project.
• Discord is working on redesigning the Desktop client.
• Patreon has introduced the ability for creators to gift limited subscriptions to fans and sell individual posts.
• Digiday wonders if the "Year of Gaming" in advertising ever shows up? Or will it be like the "Year of Mobile" that never truly materialized.

*This is an ad.