📢 | Twitchcon 2010, YouTube's Big Bets, TikTok Downloads Resume, + Spotify Creators

Happy Family Day from a very snowy Ontario, Canada!

In an ongoing effort to increase this newsletter's value, I've been looking to add more creator sponsorships. It's always been something I'd love to see a lot more in the live creator space. Unfortunately, most of the opportunities I find are for video creators (i.e., TikTok, YouTube, Instagram) rather than live content, so I've not included them. But that's changing! Starting in this newsletter, you'll see more paid opportunities than before, but in many cases, they'll be for the platforms mentioned above. This will hopefully help you find new sources of revenue AND potentially bring those brands closer to the live streaming space—a win-win. And with that, let's get into the recap!

Platform Updates

🟪 TWITCH

• Twitch reduced payout fees for Affiliates. Depending on the payout method, affiliates can expect to save $0.25-$5.
• Twitchcon Rotterdam 2025 tickets are now on sale. The price remains the same as 2024, at €75 for 1-day and €125 for 2-day tickets.
• The Twitchcon Rotterdam 2025 badge features an embossed 10.
• Twitchcon tickets are again powered by TicketFairy, which means a referral system exists. The referral system gives refunds based on the number of buyers and pays that out weeks after the convention.
• This is the 2nd longest ticket sales window, with around 109 days.
• Twitch is hosting a social event at SXSW for Partners.
• Almost all Twitch Merch on Amazon.com was $5 this week. There remain some options, primarily t-shirts.
• Offline channel pages now have a shelf for clips of your channel.
• If you share a Twitch clip in the next two weeks, you'll unlock a Share The Love Badge.
• A new emote called ShouldiCelebrate for the Level 110 Hype Train was launched this week.
• A limited-time set of four Valentine's global emotes is now available.
• Twitch's Head of UX Operations, Baylie Brenner-Bruzgis, was on a podcast.
• Twitch's Chief Information Officer, Arul Daniel, is speaking at the Business Innovation Summit.
• Adam Syed, who was allegedly responsible for Twitch's Mobile Headliner Ads, the Discovery Feed, and Stories on Web, was interviewed about his new job at LinkedIn.

🟥 YOUTUBE

• YouTube CEO Neal Mohan shared his big bets for 2025.

⬛ TIKTOK

• Apple and Google have restored downloads of TikTok in the USA.
• TikTok shared its 2025 Discover List featuring 50 global creators they recommend.
• TikTok is recruiting for TikTok LIVE TV.

⏹️ DISCORD

• Discord will soon start archiving user avatars.
• Discord shared a blog about celebrating Black History Month.
• The Guild feature on Discord is being deprecated.
• You can now Ignore users on Discord (instead of having to Block them, something that would inform them you've done).

🔲 OTHERS

• Spotify's creator program has resulted in a 20% increase in video podcast views and a 300% growth in Spotify payouts to creators year over year.
• Korean streaming platform SOOP has seen boosted revenue thanks to several 'suggestive' creators.
• Netflix is exploring launching video podcasts by creators.