More details from Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/alison...
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More details from Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/alison...
Streamers + other Digital Creators in the USA are set to benefit from "No Tax on Tips." Creators will be able to deduct up to $25,000 in tips from 2025 taxes. Note: It's unclear to me what will constitute a tip. TikTok Gifts? Twitch Bits? Or more direct PayPal/Venmo Tips?
Netflix is launching a Clipping feature.
YouTube Vertical Livestreams are getting interactive Gifts (Character/Environment Effects) in the USA. Cat Ears, Good Job, Flower Crown, Celebrate, and Royal Crown will appear between 8 and 15 seconds when redeemed. Interactive Gifts are marked with a purple sparkle icon.
Not sure. I would assume it would have to though, using YouTube as the example.
It seems to work similarly to YouTube, in that the yellow bar at the bottom progresses (takes several seconds) until the end, then the Skip button appears. ☀️ You don't want to skip my weekly newsletter! tos.gg
Twitch is doing a very limited test of Skippable Ads.
Twitch is doing on-site and email blasts to all users, aimed at promoting Kai Cenat's subathon.
Twitch is running a global ad campaign to promote Kai Cenat's Mafiathon 3, which starts today.
All the platform and creator updates from last week, including: 🎁 Gifting Twitch Turbo 🍾 YouTube Expands Hype 🌱 Root (Discord Competitor) Beta 🏆 Rolling Stone Top Creators + Game Keys, Industry Jobs + much more! Join the newsletter for free!! tos.gg/stream-recap...
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Twitch Combos now have sound effects enabled for the streamer. You can control which features/alerts make sound effects, including the overall volume of all alerts from the Activity Feed.
Full details here: help.twitch.tv/s/article/subt…
SUBtember 2025 Starts Today (10 AM PT | 1 PM ET) ALL MONTH LONG 25% off 1-Month + 3-Month Subs 30% off 6-Month Subs (Self-Paid, New or Upgraded Length/Tier.) Sept 26-Oct 1 Bonus Subs (+1 or more) for Every 5 Gifted Subs
YouTube is experimenting with Gift Goals for vertical live streams with some creators in the USA.
![[August 28, 2025] Testing gift goals on vertical live: We're experimenting with gift goals, a new feature that expands the goals feature to vertical live streams. Creators in the experiment will be able to set a target gift amount and pick a timeframe to achieve the goal before sharing it with their viewers. With gift goals creators get a new way to engage with their audience and build community. We’re experimenting with gift goals on vertical live streams on mobile devices for creators in the US, and will keep you posted on our expansion plans.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qw5kcg3eizdv2lq3p7qu7h67/bafkreiau5ipjlmegnv7gfntr3iaamvrvrswwss3v5wm5dt5xg54jiqqzju@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Exactly. As it's happening, why not post "hey we broke something, it's going to look bad for a couple days, trying to fix it." Trying to retroactively change reality is a weird choice...
via Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
I didn't realize Karoline Leavitt now works for Twitch... In a statement to Forbes, Twitch Comms says that there was no viewership decline, and it's all just misinformation. So if you saw lower numbers last week; no, you didn't.
Twitch Support reports that there is an issue with Ad Revenue in the EU and AP regions.
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Twitch is testing Gifting Turbo subscriptions.
Twitch is indefinitely pausing further 4K testing. It will focus on 2K only for the time being.
Hype is a feature announced last year that allows communities to 'Hype' a video into a leaderboard to increase its discovery. It is currently free for subscribers in the above countries, but paid Hype is being tested in Brazil and Turkey. Details: blog.youtube/news-and-eve...
YouTube has expanded Hype to now be available in 39+ countries. Newly added countries include: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
(That or every viewbot service has found a solution already.) The chart today is almost directly in line with last week's. (Compared to the previous 4 days that were FAR below their last week's viewership.)
It's a bit too early to be sure, but it looks like Twitch undid this change today. Almost every example I looked at on Saturday that showed streamers having their lowest performing streams of the year between Thursday-Saturday, are back at their 30-day average today.
Fourthwall is launching "Fourthwall Pro" as an optional $19/month plan that offers sample credits, a free domain, and more. Accounts created *tomorrow* will have new caps and higher digital fees. So join today! link.fourthwall.com/join/zachbus... (Plus get $15 Sample Credit!)
Australia’s web safety watchdog has accused Kick of failing to uphold its own guidelines on harmful content. It raised the possibility of invoking enforcement powers that can result in fines of up to $49.5 million. www.smh.com.au/technology/s...
There are several mug types and sizes (11oz and 15oz). Quality has always been really good from everything I've ordered from others shops, and my own. Half my clothes are from there now. FW offers a TON of flexibility for pricing, shipping, promotions, deals, upgrades, etc. It's really solid.
Even if you don't need a merch store today, you may want one in the future, so it makes sense to get grandfathered in to the current free tier. There's no cost to set one up. *Also this is not an ad, but the invite link is an affiliate link with the bonus sample credit.
Fourthwall is launching "Fourthwall Pro" as an optional $19/month plan that offers sample credits, a free domain, and more. Accounts created *tomorrow* will have new caps and higher digital fees. So join today! link.fourthwall.com/join/zachbus... (Plus get $15 Sample Credit!)
It indicates that, like any platform with vanity metrics, people (either themselves or the acts of others) have viewbots on their stream.
It doesn't. lol.
I might create some generalized examples for the TOS.gg newsletter on Monday! (Free to subscribe!) And doing a deeper analysis on some of the larger creators being impacted for Premium members.
Twitch's crackdown on viewbotting has intensified significantly over the last 48 hours. Many top 5,000 streamers are experiencing their lowest-performing (CCV) streams of 2025. Sitewide viewership is down 5-22% (depending on the hour) compared to the previous week.
Twitch is launching a tester for the AutoMod settings you've selected for your channel, allowing you to see what it will allow, hold, or deny in your chat. Settings > Moderation > Click View Advanced Settings in "AutoMod & Message Filtering" > Scroll to the Tester
Twitch has updated the Moderation Settings with a simple visualization of all current moderation settings. Clicking Advanced Settings allows you to access all the various settings under each category.
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I am sure there will be a dev process for this, but I do not know of any specifics at this time.
That's added by third parties like BTTV/FFZ/7TV.
Twitch will soon indicate Chat Bots that have been invited to the chat by the streamer and assign them a Bot Badge (ie, Nightbot, Sery_bot, StreamElements, etc).
It's all good!
I don't think you NEED one to explain it... Most people probably understand 'I can only upgrade or extend my existing sub', but my brain likes a chart to follow. So I assume others do as well!
On September 15, 2025, TikTok is splitting Subscriptions into two products: 1. Subscriptions (non-live content, starting at $2.99) 2. Super Fan (primarily for live creators, starting at $9.99) This is a huge price increase for live creators who priced their subs below $10.
One mobile tier 1 one-month sub is $7.99. One mobile browser tier 1 one-month sub is $5.99. There is no lie here.
Entirely up to you!
Touch Grass Badge Unlocked on Twitch by downloading + sharing a clip from the IRL category from August 21 to 24.
😂
Twitch's SUBtember 2025 starts in 10 days; here's an offer flow to help you determine what discount you might be eligible for! (This looks more complicated than it is... but hopefully, it just clears up the confusion about SUBtember discounts.)
Vertiqal Studios (VRTS) announced a binding letter of agreement to acquire Luminosity and Omnia Media for ~$645,000. The deal is set to close on September 5, 2025. Details: dust2.us/news/64917/m...
Twitch suggests that if you're watching on mobile, you should subscribe on a mobile browser and save up to 25%.
Twitch is repurposing the Channel Switcher as a Clips Browser on Desktop. It's being tested with a small number of users.
TikTok Live is testing "Viewer Wishes", which allows viewers to spend money in exchange for performing specific actions while live. Full story here: www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-...
PlayStation is increasing recommended prices in the USA starting August 21. PlayStation 5 – $549.99 PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – $499.99 PlayStation 5 Pro – $749.99 via PlayStation Blog: blog.playstation.com/2025/08/20/p...
I suspect for Twitch, trying to comply with all these new regulations was more hassle than the income they generate from the region. So they're simply shutting it down.
Quick research; may not be 100% accurate. Kenya introduced Finance Bill 2025, which adds a new VAT on streaming services (16%) and a 3% Economic Presence Tax (SEPT) for non-resident businesses. It introduces new compliance requirements for international companies to track, report, and pay.
Twitch is suspending all monetization in Kenya due to recent government regulations.
French streamer Jean Pormanove (aka Raphael Graven) died while streaming on Kick. While the cause of death is not known at this time, their stream often involved extreme challenges, humiliation, and physical violence. www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers... via La Parisien
They've had dual format for about a year now. The problem is each needs to run from its own dashboard. This unifies both feeds.
The current system makes no sense - so this will be an incredible update! (I hope it combines chats.) Hey, join my newsletter cause I share a weekly recap of these updates! (And I know you miss a bunch of them because of algos!) tos.gg/s
YouTube is testing a Combined Stream Dashboard for Horizontal and Vertical livestreams.
Some additional context to consider... You started streaming during Twitch's absolute peak in total viewership. Since then, the platform has lost about 33% of its viewers. That means your growth has come at a time when the platform is shrinking. You're doing much better than you think.
Brand new weekly recap went out a couple of hours ago! This week: ☠️ Twitch "Commercial Break in Progress" ☀️ TikTok Live + New Community Guidelines ⚠️ Roblox's Predator Problem 💦 MrBeast $12M Record + Game Keys, Opps, and much more! Join for free! tos.gg/stream-recap...
A quick look at your stats, and I don't see anything unusual. Over the last 90 days, you're up 1 CCV on average (compared to the previous 90 days). Over the last 30, you're down a little bit from the previous 30, but well within a normal range for variety creators.
At this time, I have not found any supporting evidence for this claim. Something like that would have a huge impact on the platform's viewership, but the data doesn't support it right now.
😂
Twitch is finally revisiting its UserVoice. They seemingly abandoned feedback posted in the UserVoice for nearly a year (no reactions, no responses). Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a serious effort to listen to community feedback.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy will be speaking at the NGSC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, later this month. esportsadvocate.net/2025/08/twit...
New Twitch Global Emote: PsyCatNod
I reposted with the added context of *when* it was sent out. I was originally live at the time, and after a brief rant about how stupid this was, I forgot all about it until I was reminded today. Brief highlight from that stream:
Twitch is aiming to attract more of the Roblox community with a new system that prompts Stream Tags, enabling better discovery of specific Roblox games "auto-magically." They're also launching a Creator Club for Roblox. (Twitch sent this email out on August 5, 2025.)
Kick has updated its mobile app icon to feature MrBeast.
Yep, I use Frosty exclusively now. The new Temu-TikTok app Twitch created doesn't appeal to me at all.
Twitch recommends the following setup for Alpha testers:
Twitch is officially starting testing of Dual Format (Vertical) Streaming.
It's the same wording they use with Tier 1 subs every year. "Discounts apply only to the first term of new recurring paid subs, Prime or gift subs converted to paid subs, monthly subs upgraded to multi-month, or recurring Tier 1 subs converted to Tier 2 or Tier 3."
It's a Shared Discount Promo that if a Hype Train reaches Level 5, gifting 5+ subs comes at a 35% Discount.
SUBTEMBER 2025 August 29 to October 1st. All Month 25% off 1-Month + 3-Month Subs 30% off 6-Month Subs Sept 26-Oct 1 Bonus Gift Subs when Gifting 5+ Other Stuff: Treasure Trains (35% Shared Discount) start at Level 2 SUBtember Badge New Hype Train Emotes
This unannounced promotion appears to no longer be active. Perhaps they were testing for SUBtember?
Twitch appears to be offering an unannounced 20% discount to any channel you are currently not subscribed to. It's unclear whether this is a Shared Discount. Creators currently do not have control over this promotion. Also note: SUBtember is next month.
Yeah, the original purpose of this screen was for embedded players or third-party players where they couldn't run ads on. Then about 2 years ago, it started occurring for people who had ad blockers. Now it just seems to be happening to everyone - thus feeling it might be the Turbo push.
Well, Twitch could theoretically win if it inspires people to purchase Turbo. (Paying for ads that don't exist and thus don't pay out to creators, but being able to avoid this screen.) Other than that, yes, it's confusing.
Theoretically, it shouldn't.
The problem is that they would have to pay creators if they ran that as an ad. By running no ads at all, they don't.
Intriguing...
That's my guess. Yeah.
This would be diabolical when you think about it... because it's not an ad, so creators don't get paid for this dead air. Granted, a lot of decision-making at Twitch lately is diabolically anti-creator and all about enriching themselves.
No ad plays, so no money earned.
Do you typically see very few ads?
In Canada, we have very few ads, so when streamers run a 3-minute ad break, I usually see no more than 10-60 seconds of ads. So, this acting as a filler for all that time COULD make sense if they're trying to annoy viewers into subscribing/paying for Turbo...
SPECULATION: Twitch may be testing the "Commercial Break in Progress" screen when they have no ads to run. Historically, this screen appears when you have an ad blocker. But, over the last few days, sometimes I see ads, other times I see this screen. Confusing. Anyone else?
A new Weekly TOSgg Creator Recap is now available! ☠️ Twitch Kills Channel Switcher ⚫ TikTok Live Record + Scaled Rewards 💥 Discord x Fortnite 📊 Streaming Sentiment Results 🦋 Bluesky Hits 38M + Game Keys, Creator Opps and more! tos.gg/stream-recap...
@pleasantlytwstd.bsky.social Happy Birthday!!
It 's happened to me with a couple resubs. I make a meme of it with the streamer.
I think two things are happening. You're able to ANNOUNCE your resub - where you can type a message and share it in chat yes? That's technically your sub anniversary. The actual time you resub with Prime is manual (it doesn't auto-renew).
I think Shared Chat IS a good feature, btw. I'm just unclear where it thrives in value as a streamer at this point. Time will probably deliver best practices and outcomes.
