Streaming is now a co-op mission

Twitch is going full multi-player this week, introducing their new Shared Viewership feature. This new feature reflects an evolution in Twitch's product strategy which is always worth digging into.

A strategic move towards communities

Twitch have evolved their strategic approach to streaming.

Going from a 'solo streamer in front of their camera' to a complete community-first streaming experience has been a long journey. This year alone, Twitch have released multiple features that reflect this evolution:

• Drop-ins (released in Aug 2024), a way for streamers to collaborate by joining one another via a Stream Together session.

• Shared Chat (released in Sept 2024), a way for streamers to merge their chat with another streamer's chat in a combined view for viewers to engage.

These two features pave the way for this December release: Shared Viewership.

So, what is this?

Shared Viewership is a change in the way Twitch represent viewers of individual streams as they collaborate. Until now, streamers that collaborate would still show individual stream viewership; which Twitch doesn't think is a fair representation.

Starting now, co-op streams will display a viewership number that is combined across all contributing streams.

This feature also impacts the following:

• Shared viewership numbers are displayed in the Discovery view, rather than individual stream viewership.

• Streamers can still see their individual viewership, so they know where they stand.

• Analytics are not quite impacted just yet, but Twitch announced streamers will be able to see their Shared Viewership data very soon.

Looking back at 2024, Twitch has been quite the journey. Let's hope the evolving product strategy pays off as, unfortunately, Twitch remains unprofitable.