📣 | Twitchcon 2026 Updates, Bluesky Live Ring, Amazon Ads Twitch AI, + Platforms Banking on Podcasts
Good day and welcome in! Twitchcon Rotterdam 2026 has come to a close; it's third and final year in the city - as the convention now heads to Berlin, Germany, for the 2027 edition. And what an interesting convention it was - largely because it was a mixed event, with roughly 1/3 of people attending exclusively for Minecraft (and the Cape$), according to ticket sales projections before and after the Minecraft announcement. That kind of hybrid event may be the best path forward for Twitchcon, sharing the burdens and the benefits of both communities. In any case, there's a lot to catch up on here, so let's get into it!
At Twitchcon Rotterdam, Streamlabs was showing off its new innovations, including the ability to pair a stream with multiple devices to leverage a mesh of data connections. So, in addition to your own phone, you could connect your stream to those usually slow Guest WiFi networks and any friends or family you're with to share some of their bandwidth - and the result is a much more stable connection. I don't think they have any public documentation on this at this point, nor have I asked if it's okay to share, so if this is the last Streamlabs-sponsored section, we know why... But it's innovations like this that will help the streaming space grow by increasing streaming's viability in regions with slower data connections!
On a related note, they also had a panel on the Rise of Hybrid IRL streaming, which you can watch by clicking below. It goes hand in hand with their Stream Shift feature, which lets you switch instantly between Desktop and Mobile streaming! It's worth a watch!
🟪 TWITCH
- Amazon Ads is adding two AI-powered Sponsorship tools: Campaign Assist will analyze how creators speak during sponsorships and prompt them on things they need to say, while Chat Sentiment Analysis will process all chat messages to analyze viewer reactions. My thoughts.
- You will soon be able to post GIFs in chat if you're a Tier 2 or Tier 3 subscriber to a channel.
- Twitch is going to experiment with an AI summary for people who join midway through a stream. Monday Morning Update: You can apparently turn this specific feature off from appearing on your stream, but Twitch AI experiments/learning will continue.
- Twitch will roll out payments in Euros via SEPA. This will eliminate USD conversion fees (European creators should earn more as a result).
- Twitchcon showed off the new "Do Not Stream" lanyard. IRL streamers must not prominently feature people wearing them.
- New Badge: Mod Club Founder (Apply here and get accepted into the Moderator Discord before June 30, 2026).
- Twitchcon Europe 2027 will be in Berlin from May 22 to May 23, 2027.
- Twitch launched three new Guilds: Asian, Disability, and Indigenous. Apply here.
- Dual Format streaming (Horizontal + Vertical) will soon exit Beta and be available to all creators via Enhanced Broadcasting. This will also include 2K resolution.
- Twitch started enforcing the new viewer cap for persistent viewbotters, impacting an estimated ~88,000 CCV across eight streamers on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the weeks ahead.
- Twitch released Modiversaries, a way for mods to share how long they've been moderating a channel. There's also an API coming.
- Kira Karlstrom, Twitch's Head of Global Entertainment Marketing, has left the company.
- A new Mythic Hype Train will drop 24-hour Golden Emotes.
- The Clip That button in streamers' Quick Actions now automatically detects gameplay and camera, then formats the clip for the Vertical Feed.
- Stream Summary now lets creators post all stream clips to Stories with a single click. I don't think flooding Stories with slop will work.
- Twitchcon Rotterdam 2026 Community Gift: Small Polyester Bag + Promotional Papers.
- Twitchcon Rotterdam 2026 Affiliate Gift: Phone Holder + Cleaning Cloth
- Twitchcon Rotterdam 2026 Partner Gift: Baseball Hat.
🟥 YOUTUBE
- YouTube is making AI disclosure more visible across the platform. They are also introducing automatic AI detection and labeling.
- YouTube is adding new features to Premium, largely centered around podcast listeners. On-the-go mode will offer simpler controls, auto-speed will dynamically adjust podcast playback speed, and Ask Music will help you find new podcasts.
- A Membership tab is being tested in the menu on mobile devices.
- YouTube's new Unique Reach metric will increase your view counts. TLDR of how it works: If you watch a video 3 different times, that's 3 views but 1 unique viewer. If you watch it on TV 1 time with two friends in the room, it will count as 1 viewer, but 3 co-views. This chart visualizes it well.
⬛ TIKTOK
- Creators can now indicate they are open to working with brands on TikTok.
🟦 OTHER STREAMERS
- Kick now allows streamers to hide their view count. Sort of, as anyone can see the number via a URL.
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