Twitch 70/30 Scare, 180 Second Clips, Discord Squads, + Geega's Sponsorship Startup

Hello! A pretty interesting week for creator news, punctuated by the fact that so many platforms continue to make some (surface-level) odd choices. Granted, it's all driven by the rapidly changing economic environment we've seen over the last 5ish years and what I expect will be more disruption ahead.

If you are a creator, my advice is to diversify your platforms and revenue streams and plan ahead. A couple of questions to ask yourself: If your content viewership drops by 33%, can you handle it? If your revenue drops 5% over the next year and 25% over the next three, will it be sustainable? Unprofitable platforms will continue to pivot towards what generates revenue (or cuts costs), while profitable platforms will become more competitive for creators (in an AI content world). So, by thinking about these risks now, you'll give yourself a better chance of successfully navigating them in the months and years ahead!

And with that rosy way to start your week, let's get into the news!

🟪 TWITCH

• Twitch informed creators on legacy 70% sub split contracts that they had been moved into the Plus Program, but would retain their splits. Twitch says this was a technical update and is honoring the contracts. The words "at this time" are a cause for concern, but Twitch says its lawyers won't allow it be definitive.
• Twitch is soon testing a Creator Badge Reward system that allows creators to drop badges to their community. Apply for access here. Tell them I sent you!
• Pause Screen Ads are a new ad format being tested. As the name suggests, display ads (no video) appear when you pause the player and disappear when you unpause.
• Twitch is testing a new rare Hype Train called a Community Train. These trains give out a limited number of emotes to viewers, regardless of their financial support.
• Streamers and Moderators will soon be able to delete their own chat messages.
• Viewer card message history is now limited to the last 3.5 years.
• Unable to view your VODs last week? Twitch had a minor corruption issue that has now been resolved - unfortunately, the VODs are not recoverable.
• Twitch experienced a payment issue that led to overpayments for some creators. They are clawing back those payouts and issuing new ones, though the process is expected to take 5-10 business days. Impacted creators received an email.
• New Badges: Deer (Watch Time), Fischer (Watch Time), 7 Day Survival (Watch Time)

🟥 YOUTUBE

• YouTube is running a small experiment in which people with "All Notifications On" who don't engage with them won't receive them. Their goal is to address notification fatigue.
• YouTube now automatically turns on captions when you mute the player.
• While YouTube is increasingly gaining TV market share, some advertisers are not converting their budgets to the format.

⬛ TIKTOK

• TikTok USA is rolling out Local feed. High accuracy mode is currently opt-in. This feature was previously rolled out in the UK, France, Italy, and Germany.
• BBC reports that TikTok is tracking you, even if you don't use the app. BUT it also offers solutions for preventing it.

🟦 OTHER STREAMERS

• Kick has launched 180-second clips. Three times the length of a Twitch clip.

🟧 SOCIAL PLATFORMS

• Bluesky has added Drafts.
• Discord is beta testing Nitro Squads in Australia, offering 6 users Nitro for $33.99 AUD.
• Discord responded to widespread criticism of its age-assurance update, saying the 'vast majority' of adults won't need to verify their accounts.
• Threads is expanding the Dear Algo feature to the USA. It lets you ask your algorithm what you want to see more of.
• Instagram is testing a Snapchat rival called Instants. Clever name.
• Meta plans to add Facial Recognition to its Smart Glasses.