Streamers, viewers revolt mid-roll ads, Twitch moves to abort feature

World-popular streaming platform, Twitch, this week, announced an end to their ‘mid-roll ad pop-up experiment’ after immediate backlash, with complaints from big-name Twitch streamers and viewers alike, pouring in. 

The ad placement which was generally left up to the streamer, who typically chose to place it at the very beginning – so as not to disrupt ‘moments of action’ – was automated last week to a mid-play interruption by the platform. A huge outcry followed and taking the concerns to heart, Twitch removed the feature from its service, at least for now. 

The complaints ranged from streamers, valuing the lost content over the extra-revenue, to viewers furious over abruptly being taken out of the moment by ill-placed ads. 

Small streamers stressed over rampant competition, claiming popular games raked in large numbers and the ad-placement could mean the difference between a viewer staying on the channel or switching to more convenient outlets. 

The platform’s official Twitter account announced that it had ‘concluded the test’ and ‘gone through the feedback’ so the viewers would no longer see the mid-roll.

They also said that they would ‘take things into account before executing any future changes,’ not giving a final word on whether they intended to bring the feature back. 

With mass-followings for games like League of Legends, Street Fighter, or Fortnite, the move could result in interruptions through high-tension gaming sessions, potentially derailing the amped up ‘viewer-hype.’