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Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

blog.twitch.tv

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Re: Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

#31

Post by Causality1 »

_6pvr wrote: post #2

Twitch continues to pretend hot tub streams aren't intentionally sexually suggestive. What a joke. HN doesn't really do memes, but I made this because it seems relevant: https://imgflip.com/i/5ah3b7

It's the same unholy transformation every company goes through. Creating a company from nothing usually takes heart and soul. Once a company is established you stop needing the true believers. You stop needing the love. Love and maximizing profits are not compatible. I'll bet if you had data on the number of Twitch t-shirts sold over the last five years it would be a steady decline. Almost any company built on appealing to a specific demographic will choose to genericize itself if it can.

It makes a lot of money but I find it terribly sad.

Re: Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

#33

Post by Traster »

autocorr wrote: post #10

> Community and advertiser feedback made clear that we need to offer more ways to control the content that’s recommended as well as where ads appear. So, we’re introducing a new category: Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches. If you have chosen swimwear that is allowed under the “Swim and Beaches” contextual exception to our standard Nudity and Attire policy, you should stream into the Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches category. P…

They don't want to be a porn site. The problem they have is that the porn content drives away advertisers and non-porn related contant. So they have to steer away from porn, but wherever they draw the line there are going to be people testing the line, and there's an audience for it. So the compromise they've clearly come up with is they don't allow porn, but if you happen to be sexy wearing practically nothing, that's fine - as long as it's got some pretext of not being porn, because porn is what will kill their non-porn related business.

Re: Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

#35

Post by bombcar »

autocorr wrote: post #10

> Community and advertiser feedback made clear that we need to offer more ways to control the content that’s recommended as well as where ads appear. So, we’re introducing a new category: Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches. If you have chosen swimwear that is allowed under the “Swim and Beaches” contextual exception to our standard Nudity and Attire policy, you should stream into the Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches category. P…

Isn't it obvious? The advertisers don't want to advertise on a camsite, those are available elsewhere.

Trying to document and define "I'll know it when I see it" is an NP-complete problem, and this won't be the end of it.

Re: Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

#36

Post by jedberg »

I never used Twitch before the pandemic -- watching people play games was never really my thing. But then I discovered the entire second use of Twitch, streaming music. Since March 2020, it's been possible to find someone streaming music at pretty much any time of day.

One day I was watching around 2am Pacific time, and the stream ended. I was looking for another one when I saw someone in the music category with 13,000 viewers (most DJs don't crack 1000). So I went to check it out.

It was a hot tub streamer holding a guitar while she thanked people for their tips and subs. In the 10 minutes I watched, she never once played anything.

I was fascinated by the fact that she had so many people basically just watching her in a hot tub and giving her money. She wasn't doing anything compelling.

To each their own, but I had no idea there were so many people on the internet willing to pay for such a thing.

Re: Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

#37

Post by Afforess »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #16

The context here is that one of the most prolific twitch streamers recently had her advertising cut with no warning. (They still run ads on her stream, but she doesn’t get any of the proceeds, if I understand it.) Lots of these streamers have an Onlyfans link in their Twitter bio, though, and they make it pretty obvious that you should join “to see the good stuff.” https://twitter.com/amouranth/status/139519251195885…

> (They still run ads on her stream, but she doesn’t get any of the proceeds, if I understand it.)

In what universe is this an acceptable outcome for a TOS violation?

Re: Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

#38

Post by gabereiser »

Hasn’t the business model been either top-notch gaming or this, the soft core porn niche? I mean, most women streaming on twitch are using their looks and body for viewership. It’s the oldest play in the book. It’s all over YouTube as well (show a girl in a thong, get a million views). Twitch should just create a NSFW/Verified 18+ section and be done with it. I think the real issue is with advertisers. They don’t want to be associated with porn or even suggestive content. Twitch won’t police their platform so people are going to continue meeting the “bare minimum” definition and argue they are following the rules.

Re: Let’s Talk About Hot Tub Streams

#40

Post by gary_0 »

Aside from the "I know it when I see it"[0] angle, here are my thoughts.

Long, long ago, I dabbled in content hosting, and still sometimes daydream about doing business along those lines. When it comes to the thought of my hypothetical service hosting purely sexual content it's not due to any puritanism that I'd prefer that my platform have rules against it.

Sexual content (ie. porn) brings with it regulatory burdens, potential public scrutiny, a large revenue stream that might end up incentivizing product development detrimental to the service's original purpose, and from a marketing perspective it might cause the public to associate your service with certain kinds of content (see: Tumblr) which limits your growth options.

It seems to me that Twitch so far isn't seeing the drawbacks I just listed when it comes to hot tub streams, hence their response.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it

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