Return auto host to "live" view
Rollback the changes to auto-hosts that make them not appear in the "live" view of the channel page. It effectively removes all usefulness from auto-hosts by forcing users to seek out the creator being auto-hosted rather than seeing it by default.
We and many other creators have already seen how this negatively impacts our viewership and discoverability.
Auto-hosts have the potential to function as a community building tool that leads to a more supportive and less competitive environment. The recent change to auto-hosts completely destroys that potential.
Thanks for kicking off this conversation! Hoping we can provide a bit more context for why we decided to make this change. While manual hosts will still appear in the live view and channel carousel, we made the decision to have auto-hosts appear only in the channel carousel going forward.
As part of our ongoing research and development for the offline channel page, we conducted a number of experiments over the past year to pinpoint what was most effective in streamers using their channels to enable discovery of other streamers. This includes things like auto-hosts, manual hosts, and raids.
Auto-hosts in live view specifically were found to be confusing for new viewers, and did not result in viewers sticking around to watch the channel. We made this change to reflect viewer habits, and ultimately to prioritize manual hosts that see significantly improved discoverability.
We conducted another experiment to compare a personalized auto-host list versus the “random” order auto-host list which resulted in improved watch time on newly discovered channels, and even the ability for streamers to give more discoverability to more streamers. Because of this, we replaced the “random” setting with the new personalized setting. Now, when you select the personalized option, you can have a larger auto-host list without putting newer additions to the list at a disadvantage based on the default order.
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WickedSlick420 commented
Not Sure Why it Was Removed But it Would Be Pretty Sweet if Auto-Host Actually Hosted The People in The Auto-Host List.
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KensonPlays commented
I'm getting less and less happy with Twitch day by day. Once a good alternative pops up I'll be jumping ship. (Something with clips for everyone or opt-in)
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AnaiyaFalcon commented
I am seriously disappointed that a Twitch employee made the decision to decline this request without even allowing for community feedback. Auto-hosting is completely useless with these changes and as another user pointed out - I would like to know who asked for this? Who did you poll? What were the issues?
Also, after making such a serious change on the platform in such an under-handed way, does Twitch not want to know what we think? Especially since we were not consulted beforehand?
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audi0c0aster1 commented
As a user that has found some streams through auto-hosts and hosts, WHY?
This hurts everyone that isn't a big name, not shocking though.
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BetweenTwoGays commented
I find it hard to understand how the response you gave us thanked us for kicking off this conversation. It seems like Twitch is trying to stifle suppress any conversation there is to be had about this issue.
Contrary to what some people at Twitch might think, many of us have the intellectual capacity to look at a data set and determine if the results being claimed check out.
Additionally there is no world in which we would trust a ‘personalized’ setting from Twitch to function in a way that was designed thoughtfully to avoid impacting BIPOc and LGBTQIA+ creators who already deal with decreased discoverability on almost all online platforms, including Twitch.
There needs to be clear and transparent communication around plans like this otherwise there is no way Twitch will ever gain the trust of its users.
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Pollyphemeus commented
Could you stop breaking the only things that work on your netwotk, while also ignoring every single request by your user base? It's starting to feel like you are specifically targeting marginalized groups on your platform. Which would be a hate crime btw. Just saying.
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wolbee commented
As someone who actively used auto-hosts to find someone to watch and/or raid, this change is incredibly inconvenient and unwanted. Yet another example of Twitch hurting the small streamers by adding/changing something that wasn't asked for, rather than what is actively being asked for...
If the issue is people being confused as to the difference between a manual host and an auto-host, why not add a way to clearly identify what type it is? Even an asterisk would probably do... or collate all the auto-hosts into a subsection of Hosts, and call it "Auto-hosts" (or to really hammer home that it's different, completely omit the word host: "Channels you follow recommend these channels")
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Ligerzero_Gaming commented
So rather than figuring out better way to show that a channel is being hosted vs the streamer being live...you just removed the feature. Additionally, what research was done? What was the sample size? What was the average account age of the the people asked? Hosts are 0% confusing to anyone who's been on the site more than a month.
This is incredibly disappointing, but par for the course for y'all
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GamingHuskies commented
This hasn't been just effecting Auto Hosts as I discovered the other day, when I manually hosted a channel, they still did not display on my main channel page. We would be interested to see where Twitch is collecting their data for new users feeling confused by the hosted channels given that at no time Twitch has approached the community public about this and questioned our viewers.
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MegaMeowMilitia commented
No prior official announcement makes me think this is not a real reason and just pure PR damage control... because it seems like you tried to hide this change.
From what I've read on twitter, almost nobody uses the carousel: you gutted the auto-host function and it's pretty much pointless, now.
For teams, we currently have to manually host each others all the time... and it is super annoying and unnecessary, I actually thought it was broken, at first.
And you did all of this knowingly, without even asking for community feedback.
This will hurt small streamers for sure, because the discoverability on the twitch website is almost non existent, we always have to self advertise a ton, elsewhere.
We are not happy.
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BlindiRL commented
This change is going to massively impact my channels discoverability. As a niche broadcaster I depend on auto hosts from friends channels due to the lack of discoverability features on the site.
I am not okay with this.
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JackAttackDX commented
So, you roll out this major change to a feature a lot of us count on for our views without ANY COMMUNITY FEEDBACK, and didn't even make a public statement about it? Not cool, Twitch. Not cool.
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OOZwin commented
This is a terrible change and negatively impacts users
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SushixPANDA commented
This is such a terrible change. I wonder how many viewers actually want this? If VoDs are desired, it's already simple enough to browse and find exactly what you want in seconds. Autohosts are a key feature in supporting one another and boosting discoverability on the platform, shoving it away into the carousel massively harms that.
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moshkaine commented
please fix this, us little guys have a hard enough time getting any exposure as it is. this is one of the only tools that actually helps.
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Not_So_Super_Fraz commented
Removing auto hosts impacts every creator. A smaller streamer getting one that gives them even a couple of views could make a difference.
By taking auto hosting out, we're gonna see people struggle to get off the ground again and even some creators take steps back in viewership particularly if they're going for Partner. Those views add up, those views can mean someone new coming in all because of a slight bump up a directory.
Support your creators Twitch and give them opportunities to grow instead of taking away useful tools.
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knifebun commented
Agreed. No clue why they ruined this feature.
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Damanique commented
Literally what is the point of autohost if not the feature that was just removed?
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Cobie commented
Totally agree. Removing autohosts from this tab really means there is no point in autohosting. Individuals are NOT going to be checking each one of their usual streamers to see who they're hosting, the hosts NEED to be viewable in a single page. please roll this back.
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Arkstarker commented
Part of the infrastructure of Twitch is its tools, and a greater part is how those tools build up as they're used. This change breaks a piece of Twitch infrastructure.