Twitch Caps Streamer Highlight & Upload Storage at 100 Hours

Twitch Announces New Content Storage Limits for Streamers

Twitch revealed on Wednesday a forthcoming restriction on streamers, limiting them to 100 hours of stored highlights and uploads. Content exceeding this allowance will be subject to deletion by the platform.

The company explained that this adjustment is being implemented due to the limited success of highlights in boosting content discovery or viewer engagement. Furthermore, the expense associated with content storage is a significant factor.

Implementation Details

This storage cap will be enforced beginning on April 19th. It encompasses both highlights – edited segments from previous broadcasts – and any other content directly uploaded by streamers.

It’s important to note that existing clips and full past broadcasts, known as VODs, will remain unaffected by this change. VODs are already automatically removed after a predetermined duration.

Industry-Wide Trend

This announcement coincides with a similar move by Facebook, which recently declared that live videos will now only be retained on its platform for 30 days before being deleted. Facebook is also planning to remove archived broadcasts in the near future.

Rationale Behind the Change

Initially, Twitch introduced highlights as a tool for streamers to curate collections of their most compelling moments. However, the platform has determined that features such as Clips, Tags, and the Mobile Discovery Feed are more effective at driving viewership and interaction.

“Despite their limited impact, a number of users have accumulated substantial amounts of highlight and upload footage over time,” Twitch stated in a blog post.

“Maintaining this content incurs considerable costs. By introducing a 100-hour storage limit – impacting fewer than 0.5% of active Twitch channels and representing less than 0.1% of total watch time – we can better allocate resources, continue supporting highlights and uploads, and prioritize investment in more successful viewer engagement tools like Clips and the mobile feed.”

Streamer Reactions

The decision has prompted expressions of dissatisfaction from some streamers on social media. Many have pointed out that Twitch is owned by Amazon, a leading provider of cloud storage services through its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division.

Content Management for Streamers

Streamers who find their channels exceeding the new limit will have their highlights and uploads automatically deleted, beginning with the content that has received the fewest views. Twitch is advising users to download or export their content before the April 19th deadline.