Just a couple of days ago, the popular streaming giant Twitch TV announced that they would effectively stiffen the ability for its creators to work with sponsors and partners. Obviously, this didn’t go down to well with the creator community on Twitch who saw it as a controlling powerplay, potentially cutting off their income in the process.
Due to this move being so massively unpopular, Twitch ultimately reversed their decision on sponsorships within just a day. In a groveling PR-esque apology on Twitter, the official Twitch account wrote, “Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately.”
Before writing out two other statements too, saying, “Sponsorships are critical to streamers’ growth and ability to earn income. We will not prevent your ability to enter into direct relationships with sponsors – you will continue to own and control your sponsorship business. We want to work with our community to create the best experience on Twitch, and to do that we need to be clear about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We appreciate your feedback and help in making this change.”
Having said this, the split ad revenue was not mentioned, meaning users were still massively unhappy. Unsurprisingly then, many took to Twitter to bash and mock Twitch, as it was pretty apparent that their PR move hadn’t really worked. Overall, this is more proof that if you treat your community poorly, they will be annoyed. Stay tuned for more future updates as this one could potentially rumble on in the future.
