Popular streaming platform Twitch has launched a “Twitch Chat History” feature that allows streamers to see the most recent 50 messages from a discussion or the most recent hour of a chat, whichever is less.
This is a welcomed update for streamers who can’t interact with every viewer mid-stream. It also gives streamers another data point to improve their channel’s reach and learn more about their fans and their interests.
What is Twitch Chat History?
According to a tweet posted on Twitch’s Support account, the new feature will show the 50 most recent chat messages. Twitch Chat History will summarize the previous 60 minutes chat if fewer than 50 messages are sent in an hour. The past 50 Twitch chat messages on popular streamers’ accounts might not seem sufficient for all the back-and-forth their channel normally receives, but it’s still a value add for streamers who can’t stop what they’re doing and read every message.
📢 We're happy to share that this is now out to 100%! 💜 https://t.co/UT9fIPEu2T
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) February 10, 2023
Smaller streamers, however, typically have few dedicated chatters and may not post enough to reach that 50-message threshold, so seeing the previous hour’s messages will help them catch up with what’s probably been a much more focused chat.
Overall, Twitch Chat History will be an improvement, and likely boost viewer interest and make the overall experience smoother and more intimate.
Twitch previously introduced a feature called Chat Replay, which allowed viewers to revisit the chat, so Twitch Chat History is not the company’s first attempt to revive old messages. When it became available, Chat Replay allowed streamers to see all of the chat activity from the live broadcast when they watched a recorded stream or highlight, which gave them some insight, though the data was difficult to sort through.
Now, streamers can review the record itself, which will no doubt improve their ability to conduct market research and identify programming that their viewers will enjoy.
Other new Twitch features that should be available in 2023
Twitch is hoping the newest innovation will make it easier for its streamers to follow up on older chat activity. And since the in-stream chat boxes have served as the foundation for monetization capabilities for competing streaming services, most notably YouTube Gaming, there is no better time than now to launch the new feature. In a year when the streaming platform expects to introduce several new revenue streams, the entertainment giant likely has hopes that its chat feature will give the platform a competitive advantage.
Twitch is also introducing a messaging solution that enables streamers to send video clips, targeted to their followers or subscribers, while they are offline. This is because many streamers want to be able to communicate with their community even when they aren’t live. Think newsletters for gamers.
Furthermore, Twitch intends to revamp the Ads Incentive Program to make it simpler and more adaptable. Once opted in, streamers will have more freedom to change the number of ads they run (the ad-running experience is also being improved by Twitch). Because it can be challenging to predict when an ad will begin to play, streamers often have trouble preparing their audience for the break.
To provide streamers more visibility and control over when the ads roll, Twitch will also make modifications to Ads Manager, which should improve streamers’ ability to plan out meaningful content. Stay tuned for more deets on this.
What do you think of the new Twitch Chat History feature?
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