Twitch "Peak Ad Season" Email

Twitch has emailed creators to let them know we're entering the "Peak Ad Season," October through December. The email suggests to creators that increasing ad density can drive up to 30% more potential ad revenue per hour streamed.

Context:

October through December, aka Q4, is well known as the best time of year for advertising, sponsorship, and general spending. It coincides with many Holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year). Brands increase spending across all advertising channels, creating more opportunities for creators. Twitch's email is NOT wrong in that regard. However, the email presents a strange predicament.

Most creators running scheduled ads likely run the minimum to disable preroll ads: 3 minutes per hour. So most creators who respond to this will increase ad time from 3 to 5 minutes per hour. That represents a 66% increase in ads. So why then does it only increase revenue by up to 30%?

My Thoughts:

Ads do make meaningful revenue for creators later in their careers (say 250+ CCV). The vast majority of onboarded, affiliate, and even Partners earn minimally from ads compared to their potential for fan funding (Tips, Bits, Subs). As such, the community reaction will always be negative to this pseudo-marketing.

More frustratingly, Twitch doesn't provide metrics on how ads affect viewer retention. The CPO Mikey Minty has said that prerolls have minimal impact on viewership. They should give creators that data. If data proves to a creator that ads have minimal impact on viewership, creators would run more ads UNTIL it adversely impacts viewership. That's far more compelling than just saying "Hey, run more ads and make more money." But I fear Twitch has proven time and time again that it prefers to keep creators in the dark.

PS. If you are a creator who wants to run more ads, I recommend being upfront with your community. And then when ads run, try to take a break so they don't miss anything! Mutual benefit.

Check out the conversation about this on Twitter, Bluesky, or Threads.