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Liam O'Dell
Jun 07, 2023
Related video: MrBeast lives in modest $318K house
New York Post/VideoElephant
Not long after being embroiled in controversy himself over a video in which he helped 1,000 people “hear for the first time”, MrBeast - real name Jimmy Donaldson – has waded into the outcry over the latest divisive policy decision from the streaming platform Twitch.
On Tuesday, the company updated its policy around branded and sponsored content, in which it set the incredibly specific limit of no more than three per cent of a screen size featuring a brand’s logo or overlay.
A ban on ‘burned-in’ adverts embedded into streams is another rule which will come into effect on 1 July.
Twitch was already facing a significant backlash over how it splits payments for channel subscriptions, which is currently 50/50, as well as its decision to charge a $25 maintenance fee to terminate an affiliate contract.
Given just how limiting three per cent is as a percentage, and in terms of screen size, many Twitch streamers voiced their frustration with the planned change, mocking how the site would even enforce such a policy and how they would avoid going over the threshold:
\u201cTwitch said baked-in ads that take up more than 3% of the screen are no longer allowed.\n\nTheir "example" image has their "ad" taking up ~50886 pixels on a 1600x900 image.\n\nTHAT MEANS IT TAKES UP 3.53% OF THE SCREEN. \n\nLOL THATS NOT ALLOWED TWITCH. BANNED.\u201d— AntVenom (@AntVenom) 1686071940
\u201cOn July 1st, Twitch's on-stream brand/logo overlays are limited to 3% of screen size. Plan accordingly. \n\nThis is what the maximum size for a 1080p stream can be (placement obviously can change, just visualizing the max size.)\u201d— Zach Bussey (@Zach Bussey) 1686073003
\u201cTo recap the Twitch news:\n\n1. Sponsored streams have been absolutely gutted effectively killing live events\n\n2. Twitch is reverting back to Net-45 payout terms essentially delaying all paychecks by 30 days\n\n3. Affiliates must pay $25 to exit their contract\n\n4. Turbo is now $11.99\u201d— Denims (@Denims) 1686096774
\u201cMfw twitch admins are counting the pixels of my stream to confirm that my On-stream brand logo is actually 3.1% of the screen size...\u201d— Tyler (@Tyler) 1686073653
\u201cTwitch Admins when your sponsor logo takes up 3.5% of your stream\u201d— LEGDAY on #OWL2023 (@LEGDAY on #OWL2023) 1686097742
Eventually, Twitch issued a statement on Twitter, in which the organisation admitted the updated policy was “overly broad” and “created confusion and frustration”.
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It reads: “We do not intend to limit streamers’ ability to enter into direct relationships with sponsors, and we understand that this is an important part of how streamers earn revenue.
“We wanted to clarify our existing ads policy that was intended to prohibit third party ad networks from selling burned in video and display ads on Twitch, which is consistent with other services.
“We missed the mark with the policy language and will rewrite the guidelines to be clearer. Thank you for sharing your concerns, and we appreciate the feedback. We’ll notify the community once we have updated the language.”
YouTuber and streamer Sean “Jacksepticeye” McLoughlin and rival streaming service Kick were among those who criticised the climbdown:
\u201c@Twitch Just talk to creators for once.\u201d— Twitch (@Twitch) 1686083992
\u201c@Twitch \ud83e\udd71\ud83e\udd71\ud83e\udd71\u201d— Twitch (@Twitch) 1686083992
\u201c@Twitch\u201d— Twitch (@Twitch) 1686083992
\u201c@Twitch 3% was quite the opposite of \u201coverly broad\u201d\u201d— Twitch (@Twitch) 1686083992
\u201c@Twitch\u201d— Twitch (@Twitch) 1686083992
\u201c@Twitch The fact the policy was ever even published in the first place is the problem. It wasn\u2019t \u201coverly broad\u201d. In fact it was VERY specific.\u201d— Twitch (@Twitch) 1686083992
\u201c@Twitch No. You made a change that was absolutely pathetically communicated. No emails, tweets or anything you slipped it into notification on the site knowing not everyone would see it right away. \n\nThis was a calculated move.\n\nIt snowballed and now you\u2019re backpedaling because if\u2026\u201d— Twitch (@Twitch) 1686083992
And speaking of Kick – the platform on which Drake streamed himself getting a card declined – this is where MrBeast comes in, as a Twitter account promoting streams on Kick noticed the 158m subscriber strong YouTuber had followed them.
Donaldson replied: “Might do a stream for fun just to protest Twitch lol.”
Even Elon Musk, of all people, was on board with the idea, simply tweeting Donaldson to say “great!”
In a separate tweet – since deleted – MrBeast wrote: “This is the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. I’m not even a Twitch streamer and now I want to stream on a competitor now [sic] just to spite them for you guys lol.
“If YouTube pulled this s*** I’d lose my mind.”
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