Big news emerging from twitch.tv today regarding their new ad-free, monthly payment model: Twitch Turbo
For $8.99 per month you can now support the leading platform in eSports entertainment (as well as your favorite streamers and broadcasters, apparently [I say apparently because it appears that streamers and broadcasters are still receiving equal support regardless of whether or not you purchase this service, BUT the features of Turbo directly clash with broadcaster-specific subscription features ]) in an ad-free environment and not feel guilty about it. For ~$108 a year (less than the price of a GSL AD-free premium+ ticket) you get the following features:
- Ad-free: No pre-rolls, no mid-rolls, no companions, no display ads. All you see is front-page takeovers.
- Badge: Show everyone how Turbo you are with a shiny new chat badge.
- Custom emoticon set: Express your emotions with an exclusive set of faces.
- Expanded chat colors: Sick and tired of getting suspended because you’re chatting in SpringGreen? Change it up.
- *Priority Customer Support: A way to get into the front of the line when you need help. (This no longer appears on the product page.)
Also:
“This list doesn’t even include how much of a baller you’ll become after upgrading.”
And they encourage you to:
“Support your fellow gamers, be awesomer.”
(source: http://www.twitch.tv/products/turbo)
This gives us a lot of insight into the perspective of Twitch’s effort to market and brand the monetization of their longstanding product – but I’m not 100% sold on it’s viability alone – #1 There doesn’t appear to be a direct broadcaster benefit, revenue wise (it can be argued that a better quality user-experience can lead to more users [blah!]) – #2 The features simply don’t exceed what’s currently being offered for free by adblock.
Now I’m not endorsing adblock by any means, but who really cares about standing out in chat (is this even possible?), standing out as a supporter of Twitch (not everyone is the ‘bumper-sticker’ type in eSports), and colors (dude, the colors??)… ads don’t bother me, but ads that intentionally play louder than the content I’m watching do; a rude chat channel is annoying, but I can pop out the stream and ignore it completely; expressing digital emotions through unprecedented emoticons – who cares? Doesn’t twitter seem like one big emoticon these days, anyway?
Priority customer support is great, but the best companies in the world take the stance that all customers should be supported the same, regardless of whether or not they pay a monthly fee – this feature just screams out to me that Twitch is understaffed.
It’s always cool when websites introduce new and unique features, but these aren’t unique – I would personally prefer Twitch focus less on the social aspects of their site and focus more on enhancing and scaling the product that they are best at: live video streaming.
If you bring your costs down first, the consumer can support you more with less.
Would you pay for this if it were $5 a month? Or are the feature just not worth it? Do you disagree and think this is revolutionary? Let me know!
EDIT: Adebisi has weighed in on twitter with a valid question:
Twitch Turbo sounds cool, but aside from pay walled HD why would you ever subscribe to a channel now?
— Mike (@AdebisiSC) February 4, 2013
I’m sure Twitch will have a response soon (they have been fielding a metric ton of questions on twitter about the new service) – but seriously – why burden the consumer with all of these non-standard, multiple costs? It seems like a consistent subscription model needs to be worked out between Twitch and broadcasters to figure out the best way to mutually benefit from subs while keeping consumer confusion and feature redundancy to a minimum.
EDIT #2: A PR representative from Twitch.tv has reached out to me and shared the following from their VP of Marketing, Matthew DiPietro:
“Twitch partners will continue to be paid for every Turbo user impression as if the user saw an ad. We were sure to design this so that there was no downside for partners whatsoever. What’s good for our partners is good for us! ”
It’s becoming more obvious to me that this service’s intentions are to increase Twitch’s bottom line and to better retain long-term viewership on the site – I have no problems with this, but to tout that Turbo benefits the broadcaster while it simultaneously clashes with features of broadcaster-specific subscription features AND doesn’t increase the broadcaster’s bottom line is just marketing hooplah. I’ve asked their PR rep to confirm that broadcasters receive no additional benefits from Turbo beyond what they currently receive from Twitch’s services.
Edit #3: Twitch’s PR representative has confirmed that Turbo is a product focused on the viewer experience, while ensuring broadcasters are still supported and that they are ‘thinking hard’ about pro-level broadcaster features for future features…
tl;dr – if you are a broadcaster, you better contact Twitch and let them know your ideas on how to mutually benefit/profit/grow – Turbo is for the viewers, not you (yet!).
Edit #4: Liquid`Nazgul offers a unique perspective on Turbo
Also, follow @TwitchTV for all of their comments and feel free to field questions of your own.
Since WordPress is spammed, comment by tweeting to me @DOOMeSports – I’d love to see & hear your thoughts/opinions/emoticons 😀