Do not deprecate hosts.
There was a notice put out about hosts becoming deprecated next month.
This is an awful idea. Do not do this.
The reason given for doing it is clear and obvious deflection; it's false. No one with average viewership under like 6000 uses twitch chats as a community server; when someone is offline, that's it. Their attention is off the chat and elsewhere. The idea that hosts prevent interactions with streamers is complete bull.
Moreover, raids are not a direct replacement for hosts (most people don't even -know- this because this fact has been so thoroughly obfuscated,) because of the referral ID causing a viewer to not count to the raided channel for ad or partnership metrics. Hosting was an incredibly useful -community building tool- on twitch; you host into another channel, that user notes you down, they host into you and share their audience in a way that actually contributes useful numbers beyond "was a viewer". Raiding does not do this. Raiding is an anti-growth tool. Viewers might follow and check someone out again following a raid, but many are there primarily just because a streamer raided them over and have no interest in staying; hosts, because they required active interaction with the hosted channel were more likely to stay because it tested viewer interest.
Hosting was and still is an invaluable community tool. To remove it and not provide its actual functionality to raids is extremely anti-user.
mdct
shared this idea
Hello everyone! Thank you for coming together to bring us your feedback on Hosts. We made the decision to remove this feature because it consistently confuses viewers–particularly new viewers or those who are less familiar with Twitch–because they don’t realize the channel they visited is hosting another stream and also they cannot interact with the hosted streamer in chat.
We also hear your feedback and acknowledge the need for community building tools that help promote other streamers. We’ve recently introduced the following features that help you do that:
- We recently released a feature called shoutout that lets you promote another streamer’s channel in your chat and makes it easy for your viewers to follow that channel without leaving your stream. To initiate the shoutout during your stream, use the chat command “/shoutout [channel]” - viewers who do not follow the channel will see a pop-up with a follow button for that channel. If the streamer has an upcoming stream in their schedule, the shoutout will also highlight their next scheduled stream with a button to set a reminder to watch.
- Recommend another stream to viewers when you are offline by adding them to your Suggested Channels list in your channel settings (formerly known as your “Autohost list”). When their channel is live, their stream will appear in the carousel at the top of the page. You can also display your suggested streamers list in your streamer shelf.
We appreciate the feedback you’ve shared, and look forward to new suggestions that help your communities connect with one another.
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mdct
commented
That would be my guess too.
Alternative feedback: please be honest in your reasoning when telling your users why you're making a decision. -
CleveTheLand
commented
Today it was announced that the Host Mode will be leaving Oct 3 due to it, "being confusing for viewers".
This feature is a way for streamers to still maintain their own communities, while helping the discoverability of other streamers. I can share multiple different channels throughout the day via hosting. Now with this feature going away I can only share 1. Unless suggested channels is going to show thumbnails or a live feed, I see very few clicking through for recommendations. Once again this is a blow to discoverability.
Keep Host Mode.
If you believe it is confusing, fix it, not remove it.
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KateLibC
commented
My guess is that Twitch is ditching the host feature because it doesn't trigger pre-rolls when used whereas using a raid does.
This is a revenue decision and has nothing to do with the make-believe story that their FAQ states.
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RandomKorok
commented
Please don't deprecate this feature. It is a great way for the community to interact and share each other's streams. In addition many viewers use this instead of raids so they can passively introduce the channel. Raiding means they are forced to the chat but not so with hosts. Also many people like to have the hosted channel to watch while sitting in chat waiting for stream to start.
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Faevyn
commented
I understand the suggestions that Twitch is giving for other options however none of them do what Hosting has and can do. Instead of removing it there should be an expansion on discoverability before removing such a feature.
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Go1den
commented
Hosting a stream is akin to raiding silently. I personally hate raiding because I don't want to interrupt what the streamer is doing just to share their content with my audience. Hosting cannot possibly cost Twitch more resources. I can't understand a single benefit to deprecating this from Twitch's perspective. Please don't deprecate a good feature.
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Rosuav
commented
Hosting is an important way for small streamers to help each other. Among the creative channels of Twitch, hosting - even with the recent nerfs - is still very much appreciated and wanted. Please reconsider its removal from the platform, as this will hurt small streamers.