This weekend, Twitch hosted its famous European TwitchCon. After leaving Paris last year, the event moved to Rotterdam. Over the course of two days, attendees were able to meet the continent’s most popular steamers, take part in workshops, and even take part in a ton of conferences and shows of all kinds. However, it was during the opening ceremony that Dan Clancy, the firm’s CEO, made some juicy announcements.
Among them, the complete overhaul of the Twitch mobile app. Until now, the mobile version of the platform offered the same design and the same possibilities (in less good) as the desktop version or the PC application. Navigation is optimal if you know who to watch, but it is much less so if you want to discover new talents. This is why the Twitch app will soon have a brand new format, similar to TikTok.
The company explains that this idea came from a simple and unequivocal observation: 70% of new users use their smartphone or tablet to consume livestreams on Twitch. This is why it is important to adapt to this audience by offering a simple and effective way to launch any stream. Although it won’t be deployed for several months, visitors to TwitchCon were able to get a glimpse of its first features.
Twitch’s TikTok
Once the app is opened, users are greeted by livestreams. Now, a simple scrolling gesture is enough to move on to the next one, and this while supplies last (spoiler: it’s impossible). Recommended broadcasts are a priori based on your preferences, your games or channels followed, or even the themes of your own lives. This redesign is therefore the perfect way to find new personalities with a simple gesture, without having to search via categories or by nickname. To actively participate in a live, you will only have to click on it.
The channels you follow are also very easily accessible, but users will have access to a whole new world, at their fingertips. This will increase the visibility of all streamers, and could bring its share of cyberharassment along the wayAsked about this subject, Rachel Delphin, chief marketing officer, assures us that the usual tools will still be in place and that this should prevent the spread of toxic behavior.
However, we must remember that not all modest content creators are equipped with moderators, and could encounter problems with all this new flow of people, as is also the case on TikTok. No one is anonymized and you must always have an account to post any comment. It remains to be seen how this will behave once the application is finally in hand.
A redesigned experience for mobile
Secondly, Twitch will also update your stories soon. They represent a major new mobile feature. They allow streamers to share 60-second videos directly with their community, even when they are not live. Partners have already been able to use this feature since June 24, and Affiliates will have access to it during the summer. Stories will also be available on the web version of Twitch, but we don’t have an availability date at this time.
Finally, Twitch wants to simplify the creation of clips, by optimizing the process of finding streamers. The goal is to be able to automatically generate portrait and landscape versions of clips. This enhancement allows broadcasters to edit, title, record and publish clips in one step. The portrait clips are designed specifically for viewing on mobile media, such as the Discovery feed, and will soon be visible on the channel’s mobile page.
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