Twitch introduces feature that allows viewers to promote streamers for a fee

Streaming platform Twitch has unveiled a new feature that allows viewers to pay the company to ‘boost’ their favorite streamer on the site. The more viewers pay, the more Twitch will recommend the streamer on its site.

The feature will allow viewers to purchase ‘Boosts’ for a streamer with real money, a Twitch livestream revealed. The Boosts cannot be purchased throughout the stream; viewers will have ten minutes at any point during the stream to collectively purchase as many Boosts as possible for the streamer. The more Boosts purchased, the longer the stream is recommended on the front page of Twitch afterward. The money that viewers spend on this ‘Twitch Boost’ feature goes entirely to the platform.

Twitch product manager Jacob Rosok said in the stream about the feature: “Boosts give viewers the ability to buy visibility for their favorite streamers as a promotion, and such positions on the platform come with a price.” answer to the common complaint that as a small streamer it is difficult to be discovered on the platform. The feature will first be tested among a small group of streamers within a few weeks.

Twitch Boost was already tested in December, but then the Boosts had to be bought with channel points. Viewers gain channel points on Twitch by watching the stream; the more viewing hours they have with a streamer, the more channel points they get with that streamer. Those points can then be spent on certain rewards, including, during the test period, Boosts. The difference is that buying Boosts will now cost real money.

Twitch is also working on other features on the platform. For example, it recently added new verification options against hate raids. It will also develop a method with which rights holders can report if streamers play their music without permission.