Twitch has introduced new tools that give streamers more control over ads and how much they earn from them. Ads have long been a frustration for both streamers and viewers, especially pre-roll ads.
These are the ads that play the moment someone joins a stream, and many viewers leave without waiting through the ads to see the content. Even Twitch’s CEO Dan Clancy admitted that these ads hurt streamers’ audience growth.
Addressing the frustration of pre-roll ads
To address this, Twitch has now given streamers more control over how many ads they run per hour and whether they want to turn off pre-roll ads.
Twitch’s Principal Product Manager, Ngoc To, shared in a blog post, “We’ve created a new ad density slider to make it even easier to understand exactly how many ad minutes you’ll be running, what revenue share you’ll be unlocking, and if your choice disables pre-roll ads for incoming viewers.”
New features for ads
The ad density slider is part of Twitch’s updated Ad Manager. The Ad Manager already has some helpful tools like a countdown timer for when ads are about to start and an Auto Snooze feature that pauses mid-roll ads during exciting moments in gameplay.
Streamers can now use the new slider to choose when ads run and see how it affects their revenue. Streamers will also get monthly updates on how their ad choices impact their income.
Disabling pre-roll ads will likely be a big improvement for streamers who want to keep viewers from leaving their streams early. It could also help boost discoverability on Twitch. Since viewers have to watch pre-roll ads every time they click on a new stream, it discourages them from checking out streamers they don’t already know.
Additionally, Twitch has updated the layout of the Ads Manager and added descriptions to explain each feature. To said that Twitch is committed to making these tools user-friendly and useful for streamers.