Now testing new interactive features for Twitch streams

Published in

Twitch Blog

5 min readMay 24, 2017

This week we’re beta testing some exciting new interactive features on Twitch. When you start to see interesting tools pop up on a handful of channels, don’t panic!

We’ve partnered with some great Twitch contributors in an effort to make it easier than ever for you to interact directly with your favorite streamers. Learn more about the games they’re playing, cast a vote, play mini-games, work as a team to achieve group goals, and more. There’s a lot to try, so start exploring! Or, see the full list of participating channels at the bottom of this article…

For now, this test is limited to a few channels and is only accessible via the website; the more feedback we get, the quicker we can make changes and get these tools rolled out to the entire community. We hope you’ll give these integrations a try and share your feedback with us here.

We’re sure you’ve got some questions, so read below to learn more:

Are these interactive experiences built by Twitch?

While the underlying technology powering this is built by Twitch, each interactive experience is built by a developer we have partnered with for this beta. You can learn more, as well as find support information for the developer to provide feedback or bug reports, by clicking the name link here:

Name link, visible by hovering over the video player if there is an overlay integration.

Attribution bar, visible below all panel-style integrations.

Which integrations can I see live now?

Over the next few days, we’ll be rolling out a small set of testable interactive experiences.

Interactive Hearthstone Overlay — Streamers can engage their viewers with an interactive deck overlay and card tooltips while streaming Hearthstone.
Straw Poll Overlay — Create and share polls.
Leaderboard Panel — A panel to automatically display the channel’s top five cheerers.
Now Playing Panel — A music streaming app built from the ground up for streamers. All music has the necessary licenses to safely use on Twitch.
Overlay — One stream overlay with many interactive apps (leaderboard, now playing, etc).
MasterOverwatch Overlay — Interactive profile and stats overlay for Overwatch streamers.
Kappa Pet Panel — A pet that lives in the channel page. It responds to viewers, evolves as the stream runs, and goes to sleep when the streamer is offline.
Smart Click Map Overlay — Shows a “heatmap” of clicks, allowing viewers to suggest the streamer’s next move, card, or weapon by clicking directly on the video.
Summoner Info Panel — A summary of the streamer’s League of Legends Summoners with current runes and masteries, most played champions, and most recent ranked games.
Destiny Live Tracker Panel — Track the streamer’s gear and stats for the activity they are playing so viewers can easily see loadouts.
Rocket League Tracker Panel — Live track the streamer’s Rocket League skill ratings so viewers can follow progress during the stream.
Loyalty, Music, Polls & Games Overlay — Loyalty points, request songs, vote in polls, enter giveaways, and play mini-games.

Burning Questions:

Q: I’m a viewer and I don’t want to see this. Can I turn it off?

The streamer operating the channel you are watching can turn these interactive experiences on or off at any time. We want to provide our streamers the ability to customize their content for their entire audience. If you have any concerns, let your streamer know and share your thoughts here.

Q: When will I be able to use this on my channel?

This technology is brand new and we need to be sure the product functions as intended and runs smoothly. If you’ve interacted with one of these experiences on someone else’s channel, your feedback is critical to enabling us to expand the rollout of these interactive tools to everyone. Please let us know what you think here.

Q: I’m a streamer. When this is available for everyone to use, will I be forced to use it?

Our interactive experiences can easily be turned on and off by streamers at any time, and you’ll never be forced to use any integration that you don’t want to use. Your basic streaming experience does not have to change if you don’t want it to.

Q: I’m a developer and I would like to start working with this technology. Where can I learn more?

We will have more details about opportunities for developers to engage with us in the near future. You can join our mailing list at dev.twitch.tv for the latest updates, sent directly to your inbox.

Q: What is this icon?

By default, these interactive experiences do not have access to your Twitch username. Some of these experiences have features that require sharing your Twitch username, such as a leaderboard showing your position on it at that moment. Clicking this icon allows you to share your username with the currently active interactive experience. You can revoke this sharing by clicking the icon again at any time.

Q: Can I use these experiences on mobile, mobile browsers, consoles, etc.?

During the test, these interactive experiences are only available on the website, but we’re working hard to bring them to all platforms.

Q: Which channels are participating in the beta?

A full list of channels that are helping test this technology, sorted via feature:

Interactive Hearthstone Overlay

HSdogdog
thijsHS
StrifeCro
superjj102
TrumpSC
kpoptosis

StrawPoll

CohhCarnage
nl_Kripp
EatMyDiction1
Stiff

Kappa Pet

Weak3n
PrismaticHub
Zeenigami
bunnytails
Atreyeu
CaribouLive

Overlay, Leaderboards Panel, and Now Playing Panel

Crasskitty
Timmac
DasValdez
StreamerHouse
DansGaming
Giantwaffle
Sevadus
Bacon_Donut
DeejayKnight
Muxy
PauseUnpause