I formulated the title drastically because it‘s a serious problem lately happening on Twitch and don’t see that getting addressed from them, at least not in the level as it should.

I said it several times on social media and i also say it here: Twitch is ruining their ads business, constantly and -seems like- willingly:
- The sheer amount of ads which you face as a viewer of the platform is simply ridiculous
- You‘ve guys taken the control of the ads out of the hands of the content creators
- You implement changes to the ad system without notifying anybody nor testing it out
- the Ads for bits function is not working

So, let me explain that points one by one:
— Amount of Ads —
If i enter a stream (the so called „pre-roll ads“) the player tells me:
- „Ad 1 of 2“, then ofc „Ad 2 of 2“ and then it starts over again, 8 times in a row.
- Which makes by
- - an average ad length of 10 seconds (lowest value in Twitch advantage and easier to calculate here),
- - 20 seconds per „block“
- - which makes it 160 Seconds or over 2,5 Minutes i watch ads.
I really have to ask you Twitch: Are you guys kidding us?

Not is that just annoying, which leads me (and many others i spoke with) to leave the site. Which means the tab will be closed. And your mid-roll ads have the same issue.

— No Control for Content Creators —
Yeah when we are at the mid-roll ads let‘s come to a good point. You guys implement the mid-roll ads without any control for the content creators.

Okay, the streamers can trigger ads to push the mid-rolls out, but that‘s not the control i‘m talking about. It‘s about the content won‘t be interrupted suddenly by an ads in the worse timing, well how could we prevent that? OH by giving the streamers the fully control about the ad placement for example.

You guys know that streamers suffer from your „fantastic test“ right? They loosing viewers which leave the channel because of the mid-roll ads, they try to come back but the ads keep playing and playing and they won‘t come back. Many Streamers i spoke with recommended their viewers to install adblockers to keep them in the channel! If that is not an indicator to you Twitch that something is completely wrong with your ads then i recommend to not be ad based anymore.

— Implementation Failures and Bugs —
We, as Twitch Viewers, are already used to bugs all over the place: Emotes and Badges don‘t load, Whisper Function does often not working.

But the implementation of the mid-roll ads, takes failure to a whole new level! Not that nobody was informed, not partnered streamers, affiliates, normal streamers or viewers. The mid-rolls have also been served to subscribers of channels which is a complete no-go. Obviously nobody tested that before implementing it into production or the test methods are not working at all.

— Ads for Bits Function —
Okay, let‘s leave that all to the side and imagine: We want to watch ads and get something for it, like bits. Welp that‘s also not working.

For months i can‘t use the „ads for bits“ function, at all. Strange when i see that you guys can serve the ads over 2 minutes, but if i want bits to watch ads there are suddenly no ads?!? Why don‘t you use the amazon ads here, why i don‘t see the other ads here? The only time a user would get a literal benefit from watch the ads you block the function? I have to repeat myself: Are you guys kidding me?

I wish Twitch would think more about the user and the content creators and simply not backstabbing on both of them by spamming the user with ads and barely severing and of the revenue to the streamer

Dear Twitch,

I think I speak for most of the streaming community when I say we do NOT like your new mid-roll strategy. Ads are among the biggest annoyances on the site and the solution is not to give us more ads. Here are some ideas on making ads on Twitch better for both the creator and the viewer.

1. Give the creators an actual cut of the ad revenue
   Right now, this is absolutely peanuts when you compare it to other video content sites, it’s actually insane. This would make running ads also a bit more attractive for creators and viewers will know that these ads would actually support their favourite creators a lot more than now.

2. Make your ads shorter and skippable
   The ads that are currently running on Twitch are often way too long. Myself and other viewers have often skipped these ads by simply going to a different channel, that is not okay. That should not happen.

3. Consider adding closable lower third ads
   When you first launch a stream you can have a lower third ad hovering over the videoplayer. Be sure to make it so that viewers can click these away.

4. Let creators and viewers (individually) control mid-rolls
   I really like the fact that as a creator you can roll an ad, for instance, when you need to take a snack break or toilet break. What if we add a feature like that for every viewer. Let’s say you have a button somewhere next to the stream that viewers can opt for an ad to support their favourite creators, this way both the creator and the viewer has more control over when they want to see ads.

5. Bits for ads
   Why is this not a thing worldwide? This is such a nice concept and should be implemented all over the world because it gives the chance for viewers that can’t afford a sub or bits to give bits anyway by just saving them up by watching ads here and there. This can go hand in hand with the ad button for viewers.

6. A certain amount of paid subs (gift subs excluded) = Twitch Turbo
   Lastly, make it so that viewers that have a certain amount of paid subscriptions across multiple channels have Twitch Turbo perks. However, they could still opt to see ads to support a streamer with the button and still see mid-rolls from the streamer.

In summary, I think there is a lot to learn from other platforms in regards to ads on Twitch. These are just some loose ideas, I’m sure there are plenty of people that have better ideas than me or that can make these ideas even better. Thank you for reading and hopefully, maybe, something will be done with this.

Special shoutout to @HarrisHeller and @Jasper55RL (both on Twitter) for providing some of the points talked about in this post.

Automatic mid-roll ads would be much better for the streamer and viewers if there's ads that doesn't interrupt the stream audio content totally, instead just taking most of the screen to display the product/service advertised, with the stream visual being shown in the picture-in-picture. Leaving it as an option (if mid-roll ads have sounds or not) to the streamer would be the best so you could know what the creators want to have on their stream. I know silent ads usually doesn't pays as much as full video ads with sounds, but having less intrusive ads would allow you to play more ads before it's too much for the viewers and have them quit/use an ad blocker.

Right now Partners and Affiliates have the ability to give their subscribers 'ad free viewing'. I think subscribers should be able to opt-in to watching ads on a channel their subscribed to even if the channel has 'ad free viewing' turned on for subscribers.
There's not many ways you can have an ad feature that is a win for everyone involved, but I think this is one of those ways.

For Twitch:
- More ads watched on their site.

For Streamers:
- More ad revenue, while also keeping 'ad free viewing' as a perk for those who want to subscribe.

For Viewers:
- More control/choice over the content they're watching. The would be able to toggle ad free viewing on or off depending on if they want to see ads or not.

Some people may wonder why even have this as a feature?
My reason is because right now the streamer only gets ad revenue for ads that are viewed. If you have 'ad free viewing' turned on for subscribers, then none of those viewers will see the ads. If a channel's viewers are made up of mostly subscribers then no ad revenue is being made from an ad break. If anything that ad break is turning away non-subscribers who are the only one's seeing the ads.
Some subscribers may want the ability to support the channel their watching through viewing an ad so the streamer gets that ad revenue. It would be 100% voluntary by the subscriber to toggle on, and give them another way to support Twitch and it's streamers.

Ads are intrusive, annoying and serve no real value to a viewer or creator in a live streaming platform. But if they must exist, why not make them not so intrusive to the experience?

Currently the PIP solution does nothing good for either party. It still essentially shuts off the stream on a whim and if people don't know where to look, it's all but gone for the time the ad is running. Why not put the Ad window where the stream window goes now, and let the stream keep running as normal, so we continue our engagement with the creators and enjoy our time using the platform.

Make it optional to even watch the multiplayer ad, and incentivize participating by awarding the viewers with the bits. This is not a great replacement for bit ads, all individuality is taken away, and this is just another thing to obscure or block the content I'm currently trying to watch, and being FORCED into, instead of CHOOSING to support by watching ads. In addition, if I'm subbed to a creator, ad breaks and ads when joining the stream do not play, so if I suddenly wind up being forced into ads so the streamer can give himself some bits by making all/most of chat watch an ad, I'm going to be pretty upsetti spaghetti.

Pre-rolls on twitch are not working right now because they are ignorant and focus on maximizing profits instead of the viewer experience. The dodge rates are incredibly high.

Change the system, let the creators hook the viewers into their content first before you throw an ad on their screen. there are two ideas on how to do it:

Let the creators modify the first picture of the thumbnail preview. this will drastically change the look of the main page, but it gives creators an additional window to communicate with potential viewers. You can send a message to showcase your content, instead of having only a limited title to work with.

Another idea without altering the look of the browse tab would be a delay of the pre-roll. Don't play it right away, but after 2-3 minutes. that way viewers have enough time to find a stream they enjoy before they receive their first ad. Afterwards the viewer is clear from ads for a set time on the channel he's watching.

Both ideas give users the opportunity to arrive on a stream, or get some expectations about what's coming up. right now there aren't any, that's why the motivation to watch the ads is often times extremely low.

After having read your new feature that allows streamers to disable Pre-Rolls by playing enough ads (30 seconds = 10 minutes), I think you've missed the mark slightly.

I DO think it's a good idea to disable the pre-roll for people discovering new content. As such, I believe a better implementation of the no preroll idea is the following:

• No pre-roll for users the FIRST time they join your stream BUT a forced 30 second 10 minutes into the stream if they stay.

This solves two problems. First, it solves the problem of discouraging people from discovering new content. You have clearly identified an issue with pre-rolls in how it impacts new viewers and presented the current solution. Second, it solves the financial issue by running the ad they would have seen in the pre-roll. It's the best of ALL worlds.

The idea of rewarding only the creator for every vote seems like a wasted opportunity for me, normal ads do that already.

Instead, what about giving back to both, the creator and the viewer?

The way I understand it, every vote seems to get a certain value (e.g. 5 bits) which will then be all added together and sent to the creator after the ad is over.

What if instead of bits, this value would be divided into gifted subs and every participant then gets a chance to win one of them, while any possible remainder gets paid in bits to the creator.

This way, viewers would have more of an incentive to participate in these interactive ads, the creator would have more of an incentive to run them, and all sides have the chance to get something in return.

Please stop the fight against ad blockers. Not everybody is able to afford Twitch Turbo and those aren't people who you want to serve with ads, anyway, since they're low converters. Or do you want to sell ads to your worst viewers? The ones who don't spend money on your premium subscription are also unlikely going to purchase a product after seeing an ad and your advertisers will sooner or later figure that out when they see their low conversion rates...

Users who use ad blockers are annoyed by ads and naturally indisposed against companies who try to force their way into their door as well, so they are selling a spammer image instead of gaining reputation.

The only thing you do by pushing those ads is creating an artificial need on users who can afford to pay to remove them by making your platform substantially worse. Youtube has a massive back library and their subscription service is much cheaper than yours, they don't fight ad blockers and people are much more willing to subscribe to their premium service.

Now, if you don't want poor people in your audience, maybe you should put the entire site behind a paywall instead and be done with it.