Streaming star Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel believes a bigger focus on adverts will ‘kill’ Twitch as it is becoming more like mainstream TV.
No one likes to have their content disrupted by advertisements, but when it comes to the likes of Twitch, YouTube, and Kick, they are pretty necessary. Ads roll so that the money rolls in, and streamers can make money.
Twitch does allow viewers to get around adverts if they subscribe to a channel or pay for Twitch Turbo. Both of these give you an ad-free viewing experience.
If you don’t, though, the adverts can really disrupt a stream. Viewers have reported ad breaks getting longer than ever before, with xQc comparing it to mainstream television.
xQc worries for streamings future over ads
In fact, the Canadian streamer believes the increased output of ads could go some way to ‘killing’ the platform.
“People want the better product, right? Look at these stats, these are awful,” he said, pointing to the stats about Twitch’s viewership hitting a five-year low. “You want to know why? The incentive to spam ads is bringing us closer to mainstream TV like we used to have back in the day.
“People left mainstream TV because of ads and now the ads are getting worse than mainstream TV. It’s that bad! It’s going to kill everything, it’s going to kill Kick, Twitch, everybody!”
Streamers are the ones who set when adverts roll, and just how long they last as well. Many streamers opt to have a minute of ads each hour, while some will try and pack them in across big moments.
Watching a VOD of a stream prevents you from watching adverts, but obviously viewers miss out on the live broadcast them.
As noted, the former Overwatch pro also tied his point into Kick, which doesn’t have mid-roll or pre-roll ads like Twitch, at least currently.
