After many years of complaints from small streamers due to the platform’s discoverability issue, TikTok is finally tackling the problem with the launch of a “Discovery Feed.”
During TwitchCon Paris 2023, TikTok announced that the feature is “a scrollable feed in the Twitch app that shows users a personalized mix of clips.” These clips are from a mix of creators’ streams and appear in users’ feeds, regardless of whether the streamer is live or not.
Although Twitch’s main focus is long-form content, it acknowledges that short-form content is successful in getting advertisers and driving more audience to its platform. However, the platform emphasized that its focus is still livestreaming, and that the short-form video features are there to help smaller streamers get discovered easier.
In a blog post, Twitch said, “Because Twitch is all about live, interactive channels, it’s not our goal for viewers to spend hours in a Clips feed.” The company added, “Our investment in Clips is to help viewers discover your channel so they join you and your community when you stream.”
Additional features from Twitch
To support the Discovery Feed feature, Twitch will add new editing features that allow creators to edit their clips in vertical format and directly export videos to YouTube and TikTok. Additionally, the livestreaming platform is launching the Guest Star option, a “streaming together” feature that allows up to five streamers to collaborate on a stream while appearing live on their own channels. This feature will be available for everyone, which means all streamers at any level can grow their engagement.
Twitch also announced that it will launch Stories in October. This feature will be available in the Twitch app. Creators can set the visibility of Stories to either public or viewable by paid subscription.
Lastly, Twitch is addressing its issues with ad breaks. Starting in July, streamers can alert their chat that an ad break is imminent using a countdown timer.
All of these features, especially the Discovery Feed, aim to help streamers expand on the platform. Recently, Twitch has faced criticism for updates to its ad policy and revenue splits for streamers. Despite these challenges, we hope these announcements aid smaller streamers in expanding their followers on Twitch.