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How can we improve the ad experience?

Ads: Feature Request

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Creators Need Tools to Customize Ad Content

Creators need tools that customize ad content to improve the ad viewing experience on the platform. It is a serious flaw in the system that creators do not have any input on what ad content is shown to their viewers.

To share what prompted this idea, the other night a viewer informed me that they had been shown an ad for Hogwarts Legacy. This was very upsetting, because my stream has become a haven for marginalized folks on the platform (I myself am a triple minority). The promotion of JK Rowling's media on my stream was very upsetting to my entire community, as she is an outspoken bigot who profits off of marginalizing others.

To be clear, my complaint is not about the existence of the Hogwarts Legacy ad. I understand that Twitch profits from running ads on our streams; this was merely one of many ads being shown on the platform. My problems with what happened are the following:

1) The ad was harmful. It actively marginalized folks in my community.
2) The ad made the viewing experience on Twitch far less entertaining for my community.
3) The ad was completely ineffective. No one in my stream supports or condones the product being promoted.

Creators have zero tools available that address the problems I outlined above. We need a tool in our dashboard that allows us to set preferences for the types of ads that would interest our audiences: we need to be able to customize ad content for our viewership.

Let's take another example. Let's say that a streamer knows that they have a disproportionate number of vegetarian or vegan viewers. As of now, creators cannot give the algorithm feedback on their viewers' interests. At some point, these viewers would be shown ads that promote burgers and other meat. Such an ad would not only be a turn off for most of those viewers, but also the ad would be ineffectual in advertising its product.

Broadly speaking, viewers want to see ads for products that interest them, while advertisers want their ads to be effective. Without any tool for creators to customize ad content, ads only have a random chance of intriguing viewers.

If we had tools to customize ad content, it would not only improve the ad experience for the viewer, but also would help advertisements reach target audiences. More effective advertising would make the prospect of ads more appealing to advertisers, generating more revenue for Twitch and creators.

I hope that this suggestion can lead towards improving entertainment on Twitch.
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  • Ben42 commented  ·   ·  Report

    Other sites which serve ads for hosted content allow you to filter what is shown; for example if you don't want gambling ads, you can choose an otpion to opt out. I have often wished for a lack of gambling adverts on my channel.

    It would be great to see twitch implement something similar!
  • Likara7 commented  ·   ·  Report

    Yes, yes and yes. There's certain stuff out there I REALLY don't need an ad reminding me exists, and I'm part of communities who think the same. Showing us such ads are at best ineffectual, and at worse actively harmful. My anxiety is bad enough without worrying about ads reminding me about stuff I don't want to think about.
  • WoahItsTony commented  ·   ·  Report

    Should've been the way things worked for years, tbh.

  • Gaawa_chan commented  ·   ·  Report

    To be honest, it's a bit shameful that this wasn't implemented years ago.
  • pixlrik commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is a fantastic idea and one that I hope Twitch seriously considers implementing. Having complete control over your stream and making sure that it is a comfortable and safe space for everyone is incredibly important.
  • caeshura commented  ·   ·  Report

    Having the choice of saying, I don't want ads showing "x, y, and z" because my family is [family friendly, mature, LGBTQ+ friendly, other reasons here] is extremely important going forward, in my opinion.
    I've heard streamers say they wish they had control to prevent ads for content targeted towards children on their MATURE streams, at the very least, and I can only imagine it expands out from there.
    For example, if I'm playing Minecraft and my viewer base is primarily 13 year olds -- what's the point of showing them a car insurance ad? They don't care.

    In this way more sponsors may actually BENEFIT from this tailoring, as the ads will be more important to the viewers in questions, and thus more successful.
  • Mysidia commented  ·   ·  Report

    Twitch may already attempt to target ads based on the streamer's category and tags, BUT the streamer ought to have the final say over what is okay to advertise with their content, because certain ads such as the Hogwarts one are a serious threat to the streamers' brand. There definitely ought to be overrides to block certain Ads, certain Advertisers, and certain ad categories.. Twitch could take some inspiration from Youtube here, because AdSense is serious about the safey of publishers' brands and provided Ad Blocking controls from the beginning.

    As demonstrated in the original post above, the nature of certain ads are at best a nuisance in some communities, and due to factors Twitch probably didn't anticipate - showing the Hogwarts Legacy ad in particular is a complete contradiction to the kind of environment many channels are trying to create in their stream.

    There are many other cases where Ads may be inappropriate from the content - Not compelling advertising, and offend the viewing experience.. another Example would be Loud ads playing on an ASMR stream.
  • KarraChr000 commented  ·   ·  Report

    I believe that Twitch already targets ads, on some level. I remember reading that, depending on the category you are streaming in, determined what pools of advertisers you could draw from.

    Seeing as how Twitch is currently allowing (or in some cases, forcing) streamers to choose an advertising package for a month, it should not be too difficult to allow them to disallow certain advertisers and see how it impacts their revenue for the month.
  • cathstrine commented  ·   ·  Report

    Advertisers do not want to antagonize viewers.
    This is good for everyone in the long run.
    Advertisers will be more inclined to pay for ads if they know they are aiming at strategically targeting the intended audience, instead of being flung wherever to whoever, greatly reducing it's potential efficiency.
  • ZombiKittie commented  ·   ·  Report

    We all know twitch has many communities and some ads don't go well with certain communities. I believe there should be an opt out for certain ads they may conflict with someone's personal beliefs. That way they can feel safe that they are having ad's that directly go against their beliefs or life styles.