Twitch Kills BibleThump, TikTok Subscriptions for All, Political Streamers + Discord Bookmarks
Hello, and welcome to the last Monday of the Month! As we go into October, it's important to remember that this is "prime time" to be a creator - especially a live streamer. You have multiple month-long themed holidays to center content around at the same time as brand spending on advertising maxes out, while people spend a lot more on gifts, entertainment, and charity.
Many intelligent, business-savvy creators theme their content and update alerts/overlays to match the holiday. Others take it further and introduce new content or support tools for their community. Things like subathons and launching new merchandise are increasingly common among creators in the last quarter of the year. They also run charity streams to give back and support causes they care about. Ultimately, how you approach it is up to you, but I think you should start thinking about it now! And with that, let's get into the news!
Twitch News
- Twitchcon Hangover: My final attendance estimate for Twitchcon San Diego 2024 is 23,400-24,000. Also, can you answer this ONE-question survey?
- Twitch randomly announced that the BibleThump emote was going away because they no longer had the rights to it, which the creator argued wasn't the whole story. Twitch then held a Twitter vote to pick the new one, BigSad.
- This week, a new Writing & Reading category was created. The category card was previously called "Writers & Bookworms."
- Subtember's Bonus Gift Sub event ends tonight (if you're reading this on Monday). This was an unusually generous event!
- If you subscribed or gifted a sub this Subtember, you'll get a Halfy chat badge. Twitch calls it Subbie, but I call it Halfy.
- Twitch launched an official app for Meta Quest devices.
- Many creators were indefinitely banned early in the week for alleged Bits fraud. Twitch reversed these suspensions after determining it was an error on their part. A painful side effect is that creators' subscriptions were canceled, so those viewers must re-subscribe.
- There are growing calls for Twitch to end its partnership with Chevron.
- You'll get an in-game mask if you watch 10 Minutes of Minecraft Live on Twitch. If you gift a sub to a Minecraft Live streamer, you'll get the Terrified emote.
- PAX Austalia will feature a Twitch Kappa Cafe.
- New Global Emote: AndalusianCrush. It appears to be part of a tourism campaign from Spain.
- Shared Chat with Guest Star officially launched.
- Leaked emails show that Twitch is not following Amazon's RTO policy. In reality, Twitch has an exception, as it has significantly downsized its office spaces.
- 20th Century Studios and Twitch won a European Video Award for streaming technology.
Streaming Industry News
- Streaming analytics service StreamBee shut down this week.
- Discord is testing Bookmarked Messages as well as Message Reminders.
- TikTok LIVE now has a Network Connection tester and Suggested Quality tool.
- TikTok has opened its subscription product to ALL creators. It was previously limited to LIVE creators. They've also added some new features.
- MixItUp has undergone a massive overhaul of its service, including changes that may break some current overlays. Read before you update!
- You can get a Bog Dweller Minecraft mask if you watch three minutes of Minecraft live.
- Noice is now open to all creators who stream Apex Legends, Fortnite, Dead by Daylight, and Valorant.
- YouTube is expanding its conversational AI tool to all US Premium members on Android.
- Due to a legal dispute, YouTube has had to block/mute SESAC music on the platform. This includes Green Day, Adele, Bob Dylan and more.
- Kick is testing weekly payouts with users and plans to launch it sitewide.
- Twitter/X is changing how the Block feature works. Instead, it will prevent people from engaging with your content but won't block them from seeing it.
- Dextero is no longer updating its CharlieIntel website.
- TikTok will shut down its music service in November.
