Anyone who became a partner of the platform as a Twitch streamer had to hold back on live streams on other portals. Now Twitch is relaxing the exclusivity – but not the same on all platforms.
This is new now: In an official FAQ, Twitch explains that partners no longer have to offer their live streams exclusively on Twitch, but can also stream live on other platforms.
This should enable partners to further expand their community regardless of the platform. This change should apply to a “majority of Twitch partners”. The exceptions are streamers who have been notified of additional agreements – so there are at least some partners who are still exclusively tied to Twitch.
There is one important catch: the new system allows for streams on other platforms, but not at the same time as a twitch stream. “Once you’ve finished your live stream on Twitch, you can immediately continue streaming elsewhere,” it says.
“Simulcasting”, i.e. simultaneous streamers on different platforms, remains largely prohibited. But even here there are exceptions.
Instagram and TikTok get different rules than Facebook and YouTube
These are the differences: Twitch rules out concurrent streaming on “web-based Twitch-like services” that support longer periods of time.
Streamers are not allowed to be live on YouTube and Facebook at the same time if they are also running on Twitch: “Because we believe that using two streams at the same time can lead to a suboptimal experience for your community,” Twitch says (via Twitter / FAQ).
Streams must therefore be ended here before broadcasting continues live on one of the two platforms.
The situation is different in short formats: “However, we know that many creators want to use other services to expand their communities,” says Twitch: “Therefore, simulcasting in short formats is allowed on mobile services such as TikTok or Instagram Live.”
This is what the community says: The partial end of the Twitch exclusivity is currently being discussed in the subreddit “LivestreamFail”. It is seen by many as a step in the right direction, but the innovation also raises other questions.
But there are not only positive voices on the subject. For example, the lack of a simulcast option on YouTube is criticized – although it is also noted that YouTube is probably the biggest competitor to Twitch in terms of streams.
Also, some are wondering how adjusting exclusivity will affect the money spent in streaming. In the past, portals such as YouTube and Twitch sometimes spent large sums of money to secure exclusive streaming rights for some people.
YouTube, for example, signed streamer Valkyrae in 2020 with an exclusive contract from Twitch, who then quickly became the largest streamer in the world.
However, there is no official information on this. So it remains to be seen how the change will affect the streaming landscape in the near future. We will keep you up to date at MeinMMO!