A new, redesigned version of the Twitch mobile app will arrive this summer, CEO Dan Clancy announced at this year’s TwitchCon Europe event.
The redesigned app was first announced by Clancy in an open letter in March detailing the company’s plans for 2024.
The new app was unveiled at the opening ceremony of TwitchCon Europe, along with other new features such as Creator Clubs and Enhanced Broadcasting.
Mobile is a key area of focus for Twitch: 70 percent of new viewers start watching Twitch on mobile, so the goal is to make it easier for those viewers to find streams for shorter, more frequent visits. What’s more, 50 percent of all users primarily use the mobile app (as well as the desktop), while 40 percent exclusively use the mobile app.
First announced at last year’s TwitchCon Europe, the Discovery Feed is the app’s main landing page and allows viewers to find new streamers to watch based on recommendations through viewer settings and habits.
Eurogamer spoke with VP of Product and Community Products Jeremy Forrester to further discuss the importance of mobile to the streaming platform.
“I think there hasn’t been a lot of investment in our mobile experience in a long time,” Forrester said. “The previous experience works really well for people who have been on Twitch for a long time…but we’re really trying to find a balance between helping streamers get discovered, helping new viewers find content and really engage with the community, while still trying to to make it as easy as possible for people who have been on Twitch for a long time and use the app a lot to get back to the channels they follow and get back to the creators they know and love.”
The Discovery Feed has been placed in the foreground of the application to alleviate the back and forth required to enter and view streams. Streams can now be viewed directly in the feed or easily scrolled, as well as easily find watch lists, clips and more.
But the aim of the feed is not just to scroll – the aim is not to compete with, say, Instagram or TikTok. “The goal of the feed is to get you to the channel page,” Forrester said. “We don’t want you to just download forever, that’s not our purpose. Our goal is to find you something to watch, find you what you’re looking for, get you to the channel page to engage with the creator and hopefully to eventually become part of their community because everyone really wins there.”
While it’s too early to see the impact of Discovery Feed since last year, Twitch has been experimenting and developing the feature and will continue to listen to user feedback to implement things like the ability to mute videos or autoplay. Forrester believes the “signals are good” that the resource is working as intended to reach new users.
Elsewhere at the opening ceremony, Clancy announced the introduction of Creator Clubs to help creators find communities of like-minded streamers. These are modeled after existing guilds (Twitch, for example, recently launched the Pride Guild in the US), with two clubs being the first to launch for DJs and IRL streamers.
Other new features include access to stories in the mobile app for affiliates later this summer to create short posts; optimization of clip creation with automatic portrait display intended for mobile viewing; and a new “drop-in” feature for Stream Together that allows streamers to collaborate easily, with settings options to dictate who can collaborate and built-in support for custom layouts.
Clancy also reiterated the platform’s new DJ program in collaboration with major record labels, which allows DJs to stream popular music on the platform, as well as the new Power-ups feature, which allows viewers to use Bits for enhanced features. Bits has seen 25 percent more users since its launch.
Finally, Enhanced Broadcasting is now available to all streamers in OBS Studio, giving streamers more control over the video quality of their streams and paving the way for better technology for everyone.
Twitch hosts two TwitchCon events each year in Europe and the US to celebrate its community of streamers and viewers. The opening ceremony celebrates the best streamers in Europe, with the new Streamer Achievement Program offering trophies to the most engaged users – those who ‘bleed purple’.
However, recent headlines have been dominated by streamer Dr Disrespect, who admitted to messaging minors before he was banned from Twitch in 2020. The streamer allegedly sent explicit messages to minors, even though their ages were known.