Allow Merging Chat in Simulcasting
As of today's announcement as TwitchCon Las Vegas 2023, Twitch has changed it's simulcast policy.
It states: ..."do not use third-party services that combine activity from other platforms or services on your Twitch stream during your Simulcast, such as merging chat or other features"...
In other words, embedding YouTube or TikTok chat into the live stream is not allowed.
I think this will hurt the industry, as other platforms may follow these rules as well, making it less likely to embed chats in live streams.
As third-party developer i see that embedding Chat in live streams is a core feature for streamers and highly requested. It also makes Chat more accessible to mobile users who have a limited viewport.
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mountain_matthew commented
This is dumb. You state that we can not use third party services to combine activity from other platforms. As I am a developer, if I create my own service that combines activity from other platforms, it is no longer a third party service, correct? I'm half way tempted to do that or just remove twitch from the platforms that I stream to. The only thing worse than a degraded steam is no stream at all. I sure as **** am not going to solely pick twitch over multiple other options.
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2rogues commented
It makes no sense to allow multistreaming and not allow other chats. In fact it makes the viewer experience worse and more confusing; either the streamer not addressing the other chats at all makes the streamer look bad, or the streamer addressing chats that aren’t on screen or in twitch’s chatbox is confusing for twitch viewers.
Not only is this easily solved by allowing the visible presence of other chats, it even drives new membership to Twitch, as Twitch chat communities advocate to other chats about the benefits of watching on Twitch. I have personally seen this happen numerous times, and it creates new Twitch users.
Twitch would be very foolish to actively impede this process! -
Laxxor_Borocillicase commented
This directly addresses an inconsistency / contradiction in the multi-streaming rules:
"You ensure that the quality of Twitch users’ experience of your Simulcast is, at a minimum, no less than the experience on other platforms or services, including by your engagement with the Twitch community, for example, via chat."
What this means is that Twitch viewers experience must be ensured to be 100% of the content and we shoudl not allow things to occurr on A N Other platform that cannot occurr on twitch.
SO.. the rule being addressed by OP stated we cannot merge chat. This 100% detracts from the twitch viewer experience by excluding them from the chat from other platforms.
This is a contradictory rule in the Simulcasting Guidelines
https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/simulcasting-guidelines?language=en_US -
Evilw0rm commented
Seems to me twitch is trying hard to have less viewers.
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multi987 commented
Viewer perspective: Twitch has the best live stream watching and chatting UX by far. If a stream showed Youtube chat so I could react to it in Twich chat I wouldn't switch to watching the stream and chatting on Youtube. Have more confidence in how good the user experience is on Twitch.
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TheLumbleHumberJack commented
Allowing content creators to merge chats makes for a better experience on twitch, as users can stay on twitch while being a part of the creator's community.
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ItsRogueRen commented
Literally a middle finger to viewers to notnlet chats be combined. If I have viewers on Twitch that want to reply to users on YouTube, they have to LEAVE TWITCH to do so. That completely defeats the point.
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Why_I_Game commented
This is a ridiculous rule, and makes the simulcasting unusable and pointless.
"We allow you to drink water, but you're not allowed to put it in a glass."
Really? So what's the point, exactly?
Everyone that simulcasts regularly wants to have combined chat so the multi-platform community is all interacting with each other and seeing the same thing.
This is the same stupid vendor lock-in we had before this change.
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franklyeverything commented
Agreed, they got 80% of the way there. if this statement is true, " We believe in giving you the freedom to simultaneously stream on other services..." there should not have been a "but" following that statement. Unifying chats unifies the community and the experience. Twitch providing the full package is the WIN. So close...
This move would have brought me to twitch exclusively. I will continue to split time I guess.
Maybe provide an 'enhanced' experience to twitch chat users if you need something to differentiate.