MoistCri1TiKal is the latest to criticize Twitch’s new sponsored streams feature, labelling it “a stupid idea” amid a wave of backlash as many hit out at the idea of Twitch’s 50% cut from sponsor-gifted revenue.
Twitch’s change to its revenue split to 50/50 has, unsurprisingly, split the community. This comes amid the streaming wars as YouTube and Kick continue vying for the top-dog status in the streaming world.
In the midst of all of it, Twitch has announced a new experimental feature it’s implementing. Moving forward, the platform will now allow brands to gift subs to a streamer they are currently sponsoring a stream from.
This has received a great deal of backlash already from various streamers on the platform. Included in that mix now is none other than MoistCr1TiKal, who has historically been critical of the platform’s decisions.
“So they will pay for your communities gifted subs, which is supposed to be money that they (the brands) will be paying you for doing the sponsored stream, but now it’s being split with Twitch,” he said, explaining the new feature.
“So they (Twitch) are taking 50% of the payment that you should be getting for doing the sponsored stream, which is a stupid idea,” he continued.
Charlie further explained that this doesn’t include the percentage that Twitch takes for curating the sponsored stream in the first place. “With Twitch curating the deals, they’re already taking a percentage of the sponsorship for bringing it to you. The same way an agency does.”
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“Then to incentivize the companies to pay through gift subs, Twitch is taking an even bigger percentage of the payment you should be getting,” he explained.
In response to the criticism, Mike Minton, part of Twitch’s monetization team, outlined the intention of the new feature.
This is not intended as a replacement for normal compensation. This is something brands can buy to increase the engagement of your sponsorship. This two hour stream brought to you by brand X. Brand X will also be dropping sub gifts during the sponsored stream.
— Mike Minton (@MikeMinton) April 5, 2023
“This is not intended as a replacement for normal compensation,” he said. This is something brands can buy to increase the engagement of your sponsorship.”
He gave the example, “This two-hour stream brought to you by brand x. Brand x will also be dropping sub-gifts during the sponsored stream.”
Of course, this feature is still in its early phases, having only just been rolled out in the midst of experimentation. So it will take some time to see how this feature will affect streamers. Early impressions, however, are clearly not on Twitch’s side.