Prior to Pax West 2017 kicking off, Twitch hosted an event in Seattle to announce the upcoming launch of Twitch Extensions. They are a new set of tools created by Twitch’s Developer Success team that allows third-party developers to help creators customize their channel pages with interactive experiences. These extensions can be directly integrated with live video on Twitch and will grow the unique relationship between creators and their communities, leading to higher engagement and more dedicated fans.† With more than twenty extensions available at launch ranging from general-use extensions like Streamlabs’ Loyalty, Music, Polls & Games, Muxy’s Overlay and Leaderboard and Amazon’s “Gear on Amazon”, to game-specific extensions such as OP.gg for League of Legends, Innkeeper: Interactive Hearth Overlay by Curse, and MasterOverwatch by Master Network.
Twitch is a platform where communities create, share, and interact with the content they love. With Twitch Extensions, we’re taking interactivity to the next level by empowering our developer community to create customized interactive content, directly integrated with the Twitch platform, opening up a whole new world of creator-viewer interaction.
– Ryan Lubinski, Product Manager for Extensions at Twitch
Third-party developers will soon be able to build extensions for Twitch creators to use thanks to their updated Developer Portal. Developers will have access to free asset hosting and fanout messaging on the Extensions platform which should make getting started relatively easy. The Extension Manager will be accessible to all creators. It will allow developers the opportunity to provide their products directly to streamers who might eventually love them while creating a deeper engagement with their live audience.
As thousands of developers already know, the opportunity to build a business helping creators earn a living on Twitch is expanding rapidly. Soon we will be inviting developers to help us innovate on one of the most-watched interfaces on the internet: the Twitch channel page. At our TwitchCon Developer Day on October 19 2017, we will share more about what’s coming next, including how streamers and developers can make money through Twitch Extensions. You won’t want to miss it.
– Kathy Astromoff, VP Developer Success, Twitch.
For those interested in monetization, Twitch also announced Amazon Associates, an affiliate program. This is the first time that Twitch Partners and Affiliates will be able to join the program and will be able to select products to promote from the Amazon catalog and create their “Gear on Amazon” list without having to leave the Twitch dashboard.
When it comes to helping creators monetize through product recommendations, it’s important to make these features easy to discover and intuitive to use. Gear on Amazon achieves that by simplifying both the process for signing up to be an Amazon Associate and by making it so creators can showcase the actual products they are using and wanting to promote.
– Piers Heaton-Armstrong, VP for Affiliate Marketing at Amazon
Twitch Extensions that will be available when the platform launches include:
- Destiny Armory Overlay by Grab Games: Dive into Destiny gear, view details on perks, get class info, and more – all seamlessly incorporated into the stream.
- Gear on Amazon: This panel highlights Partners and Affiliates’ favorite products on Amazon, making it easy for viewers to find and purchase them. It also helps fans support their favorite creators, since members of the Amazon Associates program earn commissions.
- Hearthstone Match Ticker by Battlefy: Live ticker for Hearthstone tournaments on Battlefy.
- Innkeeper: Interactive Hearth Overlay by Curse: Interactive deck overlay and card tooltips.
- Isaac Tracker by Pretzel Tech: Allows viewers to view the level seed and details on items picked up while playing Binding of Isaac.
- Kappa Pet by Porcupine: A virtual pet that lives on the channel page, which responds to viewers, evolves as the stream runs, and goes to sleep when the creator is offline.
- Leaderboard by Muxy: Automatically displays the channel’s top five cheerers.
- Live Emote Reactions by Porcupine: Allows viewers to react by sharing emotes live.
- Loyalty, Music, Polls & Games by Streamlabs: Shows loyalty points, displays polls, lets viewers enter giveaways, and host mini-games.
- MasterOverwatch by Master Network: On-screen statistics overlay for Overwatch broadcasters.
- OP.GG For League of Legends by OP.GG: Provides in-game statistics for creators, including summoner spells, runes, and masteries.
- Overlay by Muxy: One stream overlay with many interactive apps.
- Schedule by Layer One: Keep your community up to date on your scheduled Twitch events in their local timezone.
- Smart Click Maps by ExMachima: Shows a “heatmap” of clicks, allowing viewers to suggest the creator’s next move, card, or weapon by clicking directly on the video.
- StreamLegends by Proletariat Inc: Fight monsters, loot treasure, build your channel’s town and raid together.
- Summoner Info by Legendary Builds: A summary of the creator’s League of Legends player info with runes, masteries, most played champions, and recent ranked games.
- Teams by GameWisp: Promote a Twitch team you belong to with the Teams panel
- TRN Battlegrounds (PUBG) Live Tracker by Tracker Network: Shows live updates of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS stats. Both Overlay and Panel options available.
- TRN Destiny Live Tracker by Tracker Network : Tracks Destiny progress and loadout.
- TRN Rocket League Live Tracker by Tracker Network : Tracks Rocket League skill ratings.
- What’s Playing by Pretzel Tech: Shows what music from Pretzel is currently playing on stream.
Developers will be able to get started on Extensions soon at the Twitch Developer site: dev.twitch.tv. For developers who would be interested in requesting a ticket to TwitchCon Developer Day, please visit twitchcon.com/developers.
† Source: Twitch Press Release
https://player.vimeo.com/video/231899566
TL;DR
- All Twitch creators will soon be able to add polls, leaderboards, virtual pets, interactive game information, and many other overlays and panels created by developers for a more engaging experience for their communities
- All developers will be able to create extensions for use by creators through Twitch’s updated Developer Portal
- Twitch Partners and Affiliates can soon earn commissions from Amazon Associates by signing up and configuring their Gear on Amazon Extension directly from their Twitch dashboard
About Twitch
Twitch is the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Each day, millions of community members gather to watch, talk, and chat about shared interests. Twitch’s video platform is the backbone of both live and on-demand distribution for all types of content, including the entire video game ecosystem, the creative arts, vlogging (IRL), and more. Twitch also runs TwitchCon, an annual convention for celebrating the Twitch community. For more information about Twitch, visit our Press Center, Twitter feed (@Twitch), and Blog.
About Twitch Developers
Twitch Developers is a team within Twitch dedicated to helping developers build thriving businesses and foster partnerships with creators that grow their shared communities. The Twitch Developer Platform provides clear, trustworthy, and easy-to-use solutions that solve a variety of business use cases from chat interactions to viewer rewards. For more information, visit our developer portal at dev.twitch.tv, @TwitchDev on Twitter, or our developer blog at blog.twitch.tv/tagged/developers.