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.

If you are going to have midrolls you need to provide us tools to work with the midrolls as best we can as creators. Enough people have given you a reason it is a bad idea. I am offering up ideas to make it at least workable if you continue this route.

• We need a countdown on the streamer dash and the mod view on when the next ad will roll. Like a producer would have.
• We need a limited ability to push back an adroll. Like a one time 2 minute snooze button, or a trigger early button.
• We need an API triggered event when an ad runs so that we can use our bots to let us know, so we can wait on what we are doing.
• The ONLY reason I would want this is to eliminate preroll ads. If you aren't eliminating preroll just don't bother.

I wish there was a option for affiliates and Partners alike to turn off preroll ads, a lot of us especially the smaller streamers hate that this is a thing and having a option to turn it off would make a lot of our streams a lot better. The reason why I say a toggle feature is because some streamers have a living from this so its not fair for them not to have it but the smaller streamers we dont like it and it drives away a lot from us

Thank you for reading this and taking this into consideration

Obviously we don't want Twitch to lose money and die out like other streaming platforms. The ads are a necessary evil. Let streamers control when the ads drop during the stream. Give them a requirement for how many ads have to be run per hour, or whatever the terms are, but let them determine when they run. Bathroom & food breaks would be ideal. Some streamers find the beginning of the stream critical, so running pre-roll is a bad idea for them. If the streamer doesn't run the required number of ads, hit them where it hurts - their wallets. That's a guaranteed way to make sure enough ads are run to hit revenue targets, and the streamers can benefit from it.

Also, increase the variety of the ad pool. Nothing drives viewers crazier than seeing the same stupid ad every single time an ad rolls.

Consider a minimum viewer count/average for ad requirements. If a streamer only averages 1 viewer, they shouldn't be required to run those ads. That's unfairly squashing the competition. Wait until they get to a higher number, like 500 viewers on average (for example). Then require the ads for them.

How about a section that isn't about ideas and about direct feedback of experience(s) and or complaints. Before you say, " well if you are going to complain then provide a solution" .. that isn't my job as a user of twitch. I'm also trying to understand who uservoice is since twitch doesn't own uservoice? Here is my feedback and complaint ----> In short , in the last couple days, i went from seeing a single ad before watching the streamer to now, SIX ADS IN A ROW. What is that? It's also disturbing when the arrogant top tier streamers say, "SUB then you wont see the ads. It's one thing to get a single ad or even two before watching a streamer or mid roll but shoving down 6 ads NOW is ridiculous. This all happened ( for me ) in the last couple of days. Also, the arrogant comment by the streamer must understand subbing someone just doesn't happen and i know they are use to it with this youth just dumping subs but there is a reason you have a follow button right? Then sub button. If i had to sub the amount of people i follow on my list i would be able to make a 400 dollar car payment. Its just ridiculous. You cant tell me something didn't happen with now getting 6 ads before watching the streamer to how it was barely a couple days ago.

When hopping into a stream for the first time you get an ad. There is then some cooldown before you get another ad even if you switch between streams.
On mobile, if you click a link in chat (for example, a clip from something that happened earlier in the stream), it redirects you to a different video player to play the clip.
The only way to return to the stream is to close this new video player, and go find the stream again. This then plays another ad because the clip took you away from the stream.
This is a minor inconvenience in the scope of all the issues that ads are bringing to Twitch, but this simply should not happen. Getting dragged away from the stream in the first place is strange, but getting punished for watching a clip of the stream is an awful user experience.

Stop blocking a live broadcast with the same three ads. This is live entertainment and your ads more often than not play at the most inopportune times. You're actually worse than cable TV because they pause the content you're watching for an ad break, you guys just want us to suck it up, consume your ads, and line your pockets with our impressions. I get it, you're a business, you need to make money, you're also the largest gaming livestreaming platform on the internet and taking a play from cable TV's playbook without the CRUCIAL component of pausing the entertainment is asinine.

You are in an arms race with adblockers, your ad experience is so horrific people are jumping through hoops so they don't have to use your underdeveloped video player to open a second tab to load the entire VOD, rewind to see what they missed, then jump back to the live broadcast until this happens again, during this time missing content. I can rewind a YouTube livestream while watching live, I can't do that on your website without opening another tab.

You don't have the infrastructure for the kind of ads you're doing. You came at this way too fast. Your ads shouldn't block the entertainment to begin with, at most it should fill chat or you give use the basic ability to rewind without needing to open the entire VOD by itself.

These are some ideas to improve the experience of the user when trying to find new channels to watch.

1. Disable pre-roll ads for streamers with few viewers. Right now the user is actively punished for switching channels and this actively harms the discoverability on the platform.

2. Add a cool down since the last ad was played before a pre-roll can be triggered again. A value as little as 5-10 minutes could greatly improve the experience.

3. When running ads not triggered by the streamer it should continue showing the stream (eg. picture in picture with the stream audio muted). Right now the user is disconnected from the experience, has a giant ad shoved in their face. By continuing to show the stream (though small) it might encourage the user to stick through the ad.

4. Add a timer until the pre-roll is triggered. This allows the user to get invested into the content before they are assaulted.