Twitch Quietly Ended Its Partnerships with Rolling Stone, Complex and Vice

Livestream platform Twitch quietly ended a series of multiyear partnerships in 2023 that it brokered with publishers including Rolling Stone, Complex and Vice, according to three people familiar with the agreements. Twitch invited the publishers to establish channels on its platform—Complex in 2020, Rolling Stone in 2021 and Vice in 2022—as part of a broader effort to diversify its content mix and revenue stream and capitalize on a pandemic-era surge in usage. However many headwinds challenged the effort from the start, and when the contracts came to an end, Twitch didn't renew. The publishers have since laid off or reassigned the hired staff, leaving their Twitch channels to go dark. “Twitch wanted to capitalize on the pandemic moment and people being at home, but streaming is expensive,” said one former staffer. “I can’t think of any publishers still streaming.” Publishers received between $1 million and $5 million to defray the costs of hiring staff and building out streaming studios, according to two people familiar with the deals. In exchange, they agreed to produce a certain number of hours per month of live shows—typically 10 per week—for either one or two years. One Year in, Rolling Stone’s Twitch Channel Is Averaging 2.6 Million Views per Month Platforms like Facebook have previously used financial incentives to entice publishers to use their products, only to change their strategy later, forcing publishers to abandon the effort after incurring considerable costs. Twitch, in this case, was upfront with the trial basis of the partnership, said two people familiar with the matter. This also reflects one of the many ways that consumer habits established during the pandemic proved to be anomalies rather than the new normal. Twitch saw its usage rise 45% between 2020 and 2021, but those figures declined in 2022 when pandemic restrictions had fully eased, according to data from Business of Apps. The company laid off 400 staffers in March 2023 and another 500 this month. "Premium third-party content partnerships continue to be a strategic part of our advertising business, and will continue to be a focus," said a representative for Twitch. "We currently have active partnerships with brands across media, sports, music and more. We are in active conversations regarding new co-sales partnerships with several brands across media, publishing, DEI initiatives, traditional sports, as well as esports and gaming." Vice, Rolling Stone and Complex declined to comment. Twitch sought premium programming from publishers Twitch hosts millions of channels, but the most popular are run by individual creators. In partnering with publishers, Twitch sought to create channels similar in caliber to television channels, two sources said. Rolling Stone, for example, broadcast for two hours every weekday, mixing in musician interviews, concerts, audience question-and-answer sessions and video game demonstrations. Working with professional content creators let Twitch bill the streams as brand-safe—an issue historically hindering advertiser interest. These measures would, in theory, let the platform tap into larger budgets and attract blue-chip sponsors, boosting its direct advertising business. As part of the agreements, Twitch handled sales outreach and kept the majority of the sponsorship revenue it generated, said one source. Twitch secured advertisers like Coke Zero and DoorDash for Rolling Stone, but other sponsorships, such as deals with Amazon Music, involved other Amazon-owned companies. (Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014.) Advertising challenges on Twitch While plausible on paper, these sponsorship efforts ran counter to the prevailing economic dynamics of the platform, according to sources. Many Twitch streamers make the bulk of their revenue from their fans through products like subscriptions and donations, but Twitch discouraged the publishers from tapping those lines of business. “Amazon wanted it to be like YouTube, where there are opportunities to work with major advertisers to create content,” said one person familiar with the matter. “But the bread and butter of how Twitch creators make money is through the audience.” Popular Twitch streamers also stay live for hours at a time, for days on end—a schedule nearly impossible for publishers to replicate. Without the consistency and duration of these marathon sessions, publishers struggled to attract audiences large enough to interest premium advertisers, sources said. Rolling Stone, for example, averaged around 50,000 viewers per broadcast. The interest in livestreaming music and concerts, core to Rolling Stone and Complex, also waned. Ultimately, the platform's structure makes it hard for any professional organization to thrive, two sources said. “It’s tough for publishers because it’s kind of a, ‘How do you do, fellow kids?’ dynamic,” said one person familiar with the matter. “It’s harder to be relatable.” This story has been updated to include a response from Twitch.

Life After Lockdown

Twitch Quietly Ends Partnerships With Rolling Stone, Complex, Vice

Publishers were paid between $1 million and $5 million to cover costs in exchange for exclusive content

Mark Stenberg

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