Pokimane Leaves Twitch, TikTok Loses UMG, Hover Returns(?), and Tyla Talks Twitch

I'm traveling this week and have a million things to do today, so unfortunately, I'm cutting this intro short! But, if you want to hear some of my thoughts on the space, I posted a video this week on whether Twitch will be Pay to Win in the future - food for thought. But let's get into the news!

Twitch News

• February marks the first month of initial eligibility for the Plus Program. February/March/April for eligibility in May. If a Partner previously had 350 points in December or January, you can still qualify under the old points requirement in March/April.
• The Black Brilliance shelf is prioritized again for Black History Month. So far, there has been some social promotion featuring DeejayKnight, Thormungandr, and EspeSymone.
• Concurrent Join Limits start at the end of February and will be scaled down from 100,000 to 100 by the end of June 2024. This means that accounts will be limited to joining 100 channels - so many of the bots you see in your chat will soon be gone.
• Amazon IVS shared a blog on how to use Audible Magic to identify copyright content. This is the same technology Twitch uses that mutes streamer audio. It's interesting to see them publicizing it.
• Twitchcon Rotterdam's call for content is now open.

Streaming Industry News

• YouTube is testing the ability for live viewers to Like a Super Chat.
• You can now feature your YouTube Top Clips on your channel page.
• TikTok is testing a Growth Bonus program for live creators. It offers unique-themed stickers, sub presents, and bonus payouts.
• TikTok is also starting to incentivize 1+ minute horizontal videos.
• Universal Music and TikTok failed to reach a new licensing deal, which resulted in Universal pulling their artists' music from the platform. Videos featuring that content are now being muted.
• TikTok is opening an LA Studio for livestreaming sales. Let's hope they are better than their live streaming factories in China.
• Kick has launched its Creator Incentive Program, which will pay creators an hourly wage. To be eligible, you need 100+ viewers, stream 15 days a month for at least 50 hours, and have 1500 followers on Kick.
• Elgato launched two new capture cards, the 4K X (4k144 capture) and the 4K Pro (4k60 + 8K60 passthrough.)
• StreamAlive received ~$1.6M of funding to build engagement tools for live content.
• Gamatica purchased Hover's domain for ~$800 and has rebranded it as their news site for their streaming service.
• A new pre-release build of OBS Studio 30.1 with several updates and improvements is now available.

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