Twitch is letting viewers pay £90 to highlight message in chat

Twitch is currently trialling a feature that allows viewers to pay up to $100 (£90) in order to get their message highlighted in chat.

• READ MORE: “Safety is never done on Twitch”: why the streaming giant is gearing up to protect streamers

Dubbed “elevated messaging”, the feature is currently only available for the next four weeks for a “randomly selected, proportionally small group of creators”. It allows viewers to pay between $5 (£4.50) and $100 to get their message pinned to either the top of the chat or bottom of a stream for up to 150-seconds.

The revenue split of this is 70/30 in the streamer’s favour, but only after fees and tax.

According to Twitch, ​​”multiple people can send an elevated chat message. When multiple elevated chat messages are sent, they enter a queue managed by streamers and moderators.”

“Elevated chats must follow the same rules as other chat messages in a channel. They cannot be empty. If a streamer or moderator determine your elevated chat breaks the rules of the channel, they can delete your elevated chat. It will not be refunded,” the post continued.

We're experimenting with a new way for viewers to pay to support their favorite streamers!

Elevated Chat will be available on select channels today.
Keep your messages visible in chat a for a longer period of time!

Learn more https://t.co/t54NIG5uay

— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) September 29, 2022

The feature is similar to YouTube’s Super Chat, however some fans are worried it will be used for “self-advertising” or abuse.

Last month, it was announced that Twitch streamers who were given “premium deals” offering them more than 50/50 revenue split will see their income reduced, with Twitch blaming the expense of hosting streams.

And earlier this year, the streaming platform revealed plans to create a “shared ban” feature – which would allow streamers to share their ban lists with other channels.

Mary Kish, director of community marketing at Twitch, recently told NME that the company has heard from users that “creators are really looking for not just a welcoming and warm space, but a safe one.”

In other news, a series of studios are currently working on plans to preserve Stadia save data after Google confirmed it would be shutting down its cloud-based service.

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