Twitch experiments with big change: “Could change everything for small streamers”

The streaming service Twitch is currently experimenting with a change that will allow viewers to watch streams for a minute without having to see annoying ads or having to load the stream on a new page. Streamer Kacey “Lowco” Shields says: This change could be really good for small streamers, a real “game changer”.

What is this experiment? It’s a feature that’s not yet unlocked for all users, only for some. It’s called the “discoverability” test. Twitch is apparently testing whether users can better discover new channels for themselves in this way:

• If you click on a directory, for example “All current streams for the game Fall Guys” you can look into every stream that is listed there for about a minute
• You can enlarge the window as if “you’re watching the stream properly”, activate the sound, even read the chat
• After about a minute, the preview ends and the viewer is faced with the decision to continue watching the stream “in the channel” or to go to the next one on the overview page

The Twitch platform keeps writing weird stories:

No ads when previewing streams

What are the advantages? IAt the moment it’s annoying to “zap through channels” on Twitch and discover new ones. Because every time you switch to a new streamer, the channel first has to be loaded and then you have to watch an advertisement that cannot be canceled.

As Twitch streamer Kacey “Lowco” Shiels explains, there would be no ads on the new preview feature. She says:

I didn’t see any preroll ads while testing this. If that stays and you can actually preview a stream without having to click and load a new page and without having to see an ad, that could be huge for streamers.

Lowco says: Everyone knows how frustrating it is to search Twitch for a new streamer to watch – if the new update comes like this, that could change.

According to her tests, she sees it as a very good thing, especially for small streamers.

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Twitch apparently wants to make “rum zapping” more enjoyable

That’s behind it: Twitch is a “top-heavy” system: viewers have their regular streamers that they always watch, and because they’re the biggest, they’re also at the top of the rankings and are the first ones that always catch your eye:

With the change, Twitch ultimately wants to make “zapping” and “looking around” on Twitch more attractive by eliminating, at least for a minute, the many hurdles that currently arise when trying to join a new channel.

Twitch has confirmed: It is planned in such a way that there will be no advertising in the preview. Not even if the feature should become the standard.

It is not yet known if and when the new preview feature will become standard on Twitch.

We present the biggest German streamers on Twitch here:

The currently 5 biggest streamers in Germany: who they are and what they do