SAN FRANCISCO, June 28 ― Game-oriented livestream site Twitch TV is encouraging more paid memberships through a new Subscriber Streams option.
A new tier of broadcast for Twitch TV channel streamers encourages monthly subscriptions in order to access exclusive content.
Subscriber Streams are going into beta for channels with Twitch Partner or Twitch Affiliate status, allowing them to provide broadcasts oriented specifically towards a paying audience.
The caveat is that these streams are not strictly private.
Twitch is dissuading bad behaviour by allowing Subscriber Stream visitors a free preview and requiring Partner and Affiliate channels to have at least 90 unique days without a rule violation; any terms of service violation resets the count to zero.
Just as YouTube has paid channel memberships, Twitch users can subscribe to a channel at one of three levels: US$4.99 (RM20.67), US$9.99, or US$24.99 per month.
As Twitch is owned by Amazon, membership of the US$119/year Amazon Prime priority scheme also confers Twitch Prime membership, allowing those users one complimentary Twitch channel subscription at the US$4.99 tier.
However, additional channel subscriptions require user payment.
As well as supporting their favorite Streamers, Twitch subscribers have been given access to exclusive emoticons, badges, chat privileges and other community-oriented perks.
The service already allowed channel hosts to set up subscriber-only text chats if they so desired.
One Twitch streamer not participating in the Subscriber Streams feature at launch will be one of the service's most well known, Guy Beahm, whose on-screen persona, Dr. Disrespect, controversially broadcast from in-use restrooms at the 2019 Electronic Entertainment Expo, earning himself a suspension from both the event and Twitch itself.
That two-week Twitch suspension has now concluded but, due to Twitch's 90-day violation-free requirement, Beahm is excluded from the Subscriber Streams program for at least another three months. ― AFP-Relaxnews
