The TwitchCon announcements have been rolling in, some good and some bad, but overall we’re excited to see these updates. From changes to your channel page design to better mod tools, we’ll be covering announcements made by Twitch CEO Emmet Shear at Talkin’ Twitch, as well as some information that has been caught our attention elsewhere.

The new Twitch branding is more than just a logo

While the new Twitch layout was met with some negative reception, I actually think the new design is a great thing overall. For one, it looks like the redesign is very future focused, and based on the announcements made at Twitchcon this year this seems to be the case. Twitch recently introduced a new site design and the reception has been mixed.

Twitch Design Lightmode uai Twitch Design Darkmode uai

While I’m not a huge fan of the dark theme and some of the UI changes, overall the site seems to run smoother and appears to be gearing up for major changes.

Yes, a few of the color choices might drive you nuts (I’m looking at you #000000), but the rebranding and redesign have a clear vision.

This update is paving the way for a new channel page design, a better dashboard, more integrated mod tools, and better overall branding for the streamer. Soon you’ll be able to take your brand colors and integrate them into your pages design directly.

By the way, I really didn’t like the font at first, but now I think it’s one of my favorite parts. Roobert is a great fit for chat messages and, for me, it’s instantly recognizable as the new Twitch font.

Read more on their blog, but also make sure to check out their new brand identity page, if not for more information about their design, then for the Flappy Bird Clone.


A new design for your Twitch channel is coming

twitchpage example nathanordieWe all know that your channel page is the lifeblood of your stream. Until now, there’s not really been an opportunity to customize it to your brand, show people what you’re about outside of Twitch, or even have a simple channel trailer.

That’s about to change. The new channel page design is supposed to allow you to show your viewers more about who you are. Something that can be difficult to fit into a few Twitch panels.

If done correctly I think this will be a huge win for creators that take advantage of the channel page. You’ll be able to set yourself apart from others with an epic channel trailer, let your audience know when you’ll be live next, and give your viewers easy access to your social media and general information.

Twitch panels aren’t going anywhere

According to a tweet by Steve Mieczkowski this update won’t remove your Twitch panels. The panels simply weren’t shown in the wireframe mockups and there will be a different view when the channel is live.

The new schedule module is not required

For people like myself, who stream sporadically, or who just don’t follow a schedule at all, it was also tweeted that the schedule module will not be required. Instead, the module will just show the last week’s history.


Ads on Twitch are getting an overhaul and they’re a lot less annoying

If I wasn’t a Twitch turbo user then I think that this announcement would have been my favorite one of Twitchcon. It not only looks at ads from a streamer’s perspective (both partners and affiliates), but also from the viewer’s standpoint. For some reason I feel that most platforms haven’t put thought into how to make the advertising experience for the viewer.

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The big changes coming to the Twitch ad experience

  1. Affiliates will now receive a revenue share from ads
  2. Ads from non-partner and non-affiliates will be completely removed
  3. Partners and affiliates that serve regular ad breaks will received disabled pre-roll ads on their channel
  4. Ads will also be featured in a picture-by-picture mode on all gaming categories
  5. Ads will be filtered through a new volume normalization system that is aligned with the volume of your stream
  6. The new dashboard will show you an estimate on how much you’ll earn for running ads

Subscriptions from iOS are coming

It’s about time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to subscribe to a channel from my phone. Anyone that lays in bed at night watching Twitch or that uses a Chromecast to stream to their TV probably feels the same way.

But, there’s a catch. Tokens.

Tokens are purchased through the app store and each token allows you to subscribe to a channel for one month. While you can easily choose how long you want to sub for, you’ll also be shelling out the Apple tax.

Tokens can be purchased through the iOS app store and are used to subscribe to a channel. In their promotional video one token is $5.99, as compared to $4.99 when directly through the site.

While it’s a step in the right direction, and one that allows over 20% of your audience to subscribe, it has a few flaws that haven’t been discussed just yet. When can we use Twitch Prime on iOS? Will iOS subscriptions receive discounts during events like SUBtember?