Twitch backtracks on changes to branded content rules after streamer backlash

One day after Twitch announced sweeping changes to how streamers are allowed to advertise, the company is backing off.

On Tuesday, Twitch announced updates to its branded content guidelines — the set of rules that dictates how streamers can display sponsorships, endorsements and other paid promotions.Twitch noted the growing criticism at the time but it took until Wednesday afternoon for the company to reverse course.

“Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming,” the company wrote. “These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately.”

The changes would have imposed intense restrictions on the in-channel sponsorships that many Twitch streamers rely on for the lion’s share of their income, disallowing many popular ad formats that streamers commonly embed in livestreams.

To top it off, the massive changes, which would have upended existing sponsorship deals for many top streamers, were set to go into effect in less than a month — on July 1.

The backlash was loud and swift. Big channels and smaller streamers alike quickly slammed Twitch for the abrupt shift in branded content rules, bemoaning how the changes would impact their ability to make money on the platform.

This story is developing…

Twitch backtracks on changes to branded content rules after streamer backlash by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch