Twitch recently rolled out a new ad experiment where it placed mid-roll ads in people’s streams. The ads would show up for some viewers during streams and would support the creators that people were watching, but the streamers themselves wouldn’t have any control over the ads. The test went about as well as anyone would expect and has since ended with the mid-roll ads being removed from the streams in response to the negative feedback.
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With the release of the mid-roll adds, Twitch said the content creators would get paid when the ads were shown just as they would be for the pre-roll ads that show up before streams and the ad breaks. Without creators having control over these ads though, the times they could pop up were much more unpredictable than the other types of ads and could come at unfortunate moments during a stream.
Control or not, seeing another ad is something no viewer wants, so the response from viewers was expectedly against the mid-roll ads. Twitch gave an update on the test following all of this feedback to say the test had concluded.
Thank you for all of your feedback. We have completed the mid-roll ads test. Ads are an essential part of keeping Twitch freely available and we understand your concerns. We’ll continue to work on ways to improve the viewer ad experience and give streamers more control.
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) September 17, 2020
Thank you to everyone who made their voices heard – we appreciate all the valuable suggestions and are hard at work thinking about ways to improve. Please continue to provide your feedback through UserVoice –
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) September 17, 2020
While the implication from the tweet was that the ads would be removed, it wasn’t made clear through the tweet alone. In a response to a user who asked what this meant for mid-roll ads, Twitch confirmed the ads would be removed.
Hey Bryonato, we’ve concluded the test, so viewers will no longer see mid-rolls. We’ve gone through a lot of the feedback provided on the original tweet, UserVoice, etc and will take this into account before we execute on any future ad changes.
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) September 17, 2020
Since this was just a test in the first place, there’s always the chance that mid-roll ads could return in some form later in the future, perhaps if they’re updated to give creators more control over them or to be less intrusive. But for now, the mid-roll ads everyone hated so much are gone.
