Twitch is listening to community feedback from the UserVoice forum on advertisements that detract from watching their favorite streamers and will start testing a new type of ad that won’t override a broadcast.
Stream Display Ads (SDAs) are 10-second display ads that show up on channels without overly distracting from the stream. These ads will be banners that appear built into the video player, shifting the video but allowing viewers to see and hear creators while they’re being displayed.
Creators won’t need to do anything to implement these ads or change their layout at all. They will dynamically alter the video player automatically. This means that a small banner will push the streamer’s video up slightly or into a corner to display an ad while still allowing viewers to experience the full broadcast.
Twitch is pushing this initiative as a “less disruptive” method of serving ads and improving the overall viewing experience on the platform.
Just like normal ads, creators will earn ad revenue for each SDA shown equal to that of a normal ad and they can opt-out of using the feature via the Creator Dashboard in the Affiliate menu. But this is being listed as a test payout structure while the feature is being rolled out and could be changed at a later date. Any revenue earned through SDAs will be added to a creator’s normal monthly payout.
Viewers will be unable to close or minimize SDAs during the 10-second run time, with Twitch initially testing them at three per hour per stream. This will max out at eight per hour and they’ll follow the same creator rules, meaning if a streamer offers ad-free viewing for subscribers, SDAs won’t play for them either.
It’s still unclear exactly how the SDA rollout will work and how the new ads will be implemented into the current ad space for Twitch streamers. But Twitch did confirm that these new ads won’t contribute to pre-roll free time at launch.
