Twitch launches beta for subscriber-only streams

Starting today, Twitch has launched a beta program for Subscriber Streams, which will allow streamers to offer another incentive for viewers to subscribe to their channel.

Subscribing to a channel on Twitch gives users access to several extra perks. The main incentives are a channel specific sub-badge that scales based on the length of the subscription and unlocking custom emotes to use in any Twitch chat.

But Twitch has recently been giving streamers more options to customize their communities. They can now give frequent viewers or friends a VIP badge that makes them stand out in chat without being a Moderator, for instance, and there are also several new options for sub-badges .

Subscriber Streams will act as a private show, letting viewers who subscribe at any tier or using Twitch Prime tune into the stream. If someone isn’t a subscriber, a preview of the stream will play for them and they can decide if they want to subscribe and join in.

Even after the beta period, this mode will only be available to Twitch Partners and Affiliates. This makes sense because it’s a controlled group, but the only streamers that have a sub button are Partners and Affiliates, so this would have happened by default anyway.

The streamer trying to use the new mode must be a Twitch Affiliate or Partner and have a clean record with no violations of the Twitch Community Guidelines in their last 90 days streaming. Subscriber Streams will be tagged as a “Subscriber Stream” on the preview. This tag cannot be removed and will always be the first tag on any stream that is using this mode.

When a Subscriber Stream ends, the stream VOD will be saved and made available only to subscribers on the video tab of the streamer’s channel. Each individual sub-only VOD can be changed to have no restrictions after the fact.

Viewers in the Subscriber Streams can still make clips and share them with no restrictions whatsoever. Subscriber Streams are available now to Partners and Affiliates who meet Twitch’s requirements and can be selected on the dashboard.