Twitch actually wants to remove pre-roll ads from streams

Twitch want to get rid of the pre-roll adverts that viewers see when they load up a channel for the first time, and they’ve got some ideas for how to change that. 

We’ve all been there, loading up a Twitch stream for the first time, only to be greeted by an advert or two. You might miss out on the hype moment you’re trying to tune in for, or a joke that will go down in infamy on the channel. 

Of course, there are ways to get around the adverts – be it through a third party or by subscribing to your favorite streamer – but nobody goes out of their way to subscribe to a new channel just to avoid the advert. 

With ads increasingly becoming a pain point for streamers and viewers alike, Twitch would like to change some things, especially when it comes to allowing viewers to get eyes on a new channel more quickly. 

Twitch wants to change pre-roll adverts on streams

Speaking to the Washington Post about Twitch’s future, the platform’s s VP of monetization, Mike Minton, gave an insight into why they want to change pre-roll ad breaks. 

“Nobody wants a pre-roll ad when you’re trying to find a new streamer,” Minton told the WaPo, touching on how these adverts can affect streamers being able to attract new viewers and subscribers.

“So removing ads out of the discovery experience has to be done in order to help more people find the streamers they want to find — and especially [for] the smaller streamers to not feel like they’re penalized by pre-rolls.”

Twitch

Twitch has tweaked with ads a fair bit.

As noted, there’s no set point that Twitch is targeting to change this by, but they have got a few ideas up their sleeve for changes. One, as the report touches on, is a set of display adverts – or banners.

These would appear under the player for the stream, sort of like a throwback to how YouTube did it back in the day. Though, how that would work if you went to full-screen mode is unknown. 

It’s a case of wait and see how it develops, but it’s clear that Twitch wants to make life easier for viewers and streams alike.