Twitch is planning to introduce a new metric called the ‘brand safety score’ to support better ad sponsorship matching.
Although not yet confirmed, Twitch is allegedly planning to showcase if a streamer’s channel is ad-friendly or not within a certain spectrum.
This bit of news was dug up by Daylam Tayari, a cybersecurity expert. The metric will allegedly be called “brand safety score.” Its purpose is exactly what it is called. It will be a metric that will measure if a channel is appropriate for sponsored content or not.
Twitch brand safety score will measure several factors
Currently, the power to partner with brands is given to the streamers through the Bounty Board Program. The system is fairly simple. Brands or games may post their own Bounty on the board. Think of it as sort of a job posting.
The contents of the Bounty include the suggested talking points, key highlights, and requirements of the product or game. If a streamer likes the Bounty, he may either play the game or watch a sponsored video provided by the brand with his viewers.
The streamer has the freedom to say whatever he wants to say about the product, whether it be good or bad. Twitch just warns the streamers that they should know the difference between being authentic and just plain bad mouthing.
Hey tayari, we’re exploring ways to make sure ads are appropriately matched to the right communities on Twitch, looking at a number of different factors. Nothing has launched yet, and no personal information was shared.
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) March 9, 2021
The Twitch ‘brand safety score’ will try to reverse this system by giving the brands an idea if a streamer fits their brand or not. According to Tayari, the metric will factor in variables such as the streamer’s age, Twitch staff rating, streamer ban history.
I may also take into account the relationship the streamer has with Twitch, their automod settings, their partnership status, the ESRB rating of the game being played, and whether the stream is set to mature.
When will it roll out?
The Verge reached out to Twitch if this new feature will roll out soon. The Amazon-owned company said that it is just exploring possibilities for brands to better match with streamers. It said,
“We’re exploring ways to make sure ads are appropriately matched to the right communities on Twitch, looking at a number of different factors. Nothing has launched yet, and no personal information was shared.”
This statement sort of confirms the sleuthing done by Tayari. Twitch itself said that it is considering a number of factors proper for ad partnerships after all.
The chances of this new feature rolling in soon are quite strong. Twitch relies on branded content and partnerships as a huge part of its revenue stream. As such, it will want to give advertisers and sponsors the power to choose which streamer they want to partner with.
Image from Caspar Camille Rubin/ Youtube thumbnail