What exactly is Twitch doing with that hammer?
Twitch’s partnership contract is about as concise as you would expect. A lot of the contract is your typical legal terminology, but section 2.2 of the affiliate program agreement describes “Live Content Exclusivity”. To put it shortly, if you’re under the contract and you’re streaming content to Twitch, you cannot stream or upload to another platform concurrently for an extra 24 hours after your initial broadcast is over. The clause has been in effect for a few years now, but Twitch has finally started cracking down on people who violate the clause.
Who is truly affected by this? The clause means trouble in particular for streamers that mirror their Twitch streams to Youtube using Restream or similar programs, as these streamers lose a lot of visibility when their streams don’t notify their subscribers on Youtube. Youtube is also a much easier platform to search for content on, as people typically watch their favorite streamers on Twitch instead of actively searching out new creators.
Content creators have come out with opinions against the exclusivity clause. One notable example of this is Vinesauce, who made a 15 minute video from his stream detailing the clause and explaining what effects it would have on Youtube’s mirror of his streams. The clause allows him to upload his full streams 24 hours after they are completed, but a lot of viewership will drop because of a lack of notifications. Twitch has notifications of their own by app and by email, but thousands of people’s email notifications were disabled to save on bandwidth. Youtube, on the other hand, has notifications in-browser, through email, and on their app. These in-browser notifications are how many people see when videos and uploaded and when streams are beginning, and they are infinitely more consistent than Twitch.
If you’re a Twitch partner, read your contract. It is always subject to change, and there are many other clauses that you may not be aware of. It’s better to figure out now that you’re violating a clause and fix it than to have Twitch contact you directly and possibly revoke your partnership.
