YouTube powerhouse Timothy “TimTheTatman” recently tore into Twitch’s new ad policy on his Warzone stream. Since departing the Amazon-owned streaming platform last September, Tim has often criticized their policies, which according to him hurt streamers rather than help them. This was especially in reference to small content creators who are just starting out.
A number of large Twitch stars have made the jump to YouTube in the last few months. Ludwig’s switch last year made headlines and the streamer of the year recently spoke out against Twitch’s ad policy:
“Am I going to go on a tangent about Twitch? I just feel I do this every day.”
Said Tim before explaining his own experience with the platform. He even thanked God for his early decision to switch to YouTube.
TimTheTatman is seriously concerned about the new Twitch ad policy hurting streamers
Before starting his Warzone and Valorant stream with Dr Disrespect, Tim and his chat came across details about the recent ad policy Twitch has implemented. Although Twitch claims that the changes are for their own good, Timothy thinks otherwise.
While reading how much ad revenue can be generated for the respective minutes of ads per hour, Tim thinks the rate to be hourly:
“Twitch is giving a set money amount to run ‘X’ amount of ads per hour. One minute of ads per hour is $22 dollars. Two minutes of ads per hour is $24. Three minutes of ads per hour $26.”
Chat pointed out that it is not an hourly rate. When he realized that it was a monthly rate, Tim could not believe the absurdly low takeout streamers would get:
“Tim that’s $22 a month? Are you f***ing kidding me? Wait, wait, wait. I was gonna say 22 an hour is actually not bad. So if you do one minute of ads per hour, it says $22. I thought that was hourly. That’s 22 bucks a month? Twitch dude, I…. Oh my God man. I mean… like… How the f**k is that decision made. I can’t even believe that.”
TimTheTatman could not believe that Twitch would pay so low, saying:
“All I can say is, thank the lord above that I am on YouTube right now, holy f**k. And aren’t they lowering sub-revenue split for the smaller creators or some s**t like that too?”
The streamer really thinks that the smaller content creators will be scuffed by this new change, adding to the already considerable challenge of making it as a streamer in the current climate:
“I legitimately feel bad for smaller creators right now, specifically. Because… just the way that they are angling everything at Twitch, man.”
He went on to say that before his brand used to get big sponsorships, while he was starting out, subscriptions were the reason he could make ends meet. If Twitch decides to take a bigger cut from the subs, it will get much harder for new streamers to make it.
If he was at Twitch now, he would have to run ads, a lot of them. And nobody likes a stream saturated with ads:
“If I was on Twitch right now, I would have to run ads, I can tell you that right now. Have you all noticed on YouTube, I don’t run ads? Because I don’t have to. Because YouTube isn’t forcing me to run ads on you all. Twitch is just so ad heavy…”
Social media reacts to TimTheTatman’s rant
Twitter was buzzing with support for Tim as he took on Twitch’s new ad policy. IRL streamer YourFellowArab supported him by tweeting:
Many viewers added that the new policy meant many streams had too many ads:
Chat too had a say about this:
Twitch has been getting a lot of flak for their recent changes. Many streamers and media personalities have spoken out against the ad policy. Of course, this does not mean other streaming platforms like YouTube or Facebook Gaming are perfect.
If TimTheTatman is right and the policy hinders streamers, then maybe a mass exodus from Twitch might be round the corner.
Q. What is your favorite streaming platform?