Twitch has also begun alpha testing of vertical livestreaming, a strategic shift that is expected to help the company offer an improved mobile experience to its users and compete with the wannabe short-form video world, which includes TikTok and Instagram Reels. Available later this summer on a small selection of channels, based on the announcement made at the TwitchCon Europe earlier this year, the feature is expected to be available more widely later in the year.
The novel system enables authors to stream out simultaneously in both vertical and horizontal directions which is made possible by what is termed as a dual-format architecture that automatically adjusts stream layout in accordance with the device orientation that is used by the viewer. Mobile viewers who are in portrait orientation will view a portrait style image, and desktop viewers or portrait oriented mobile viewers will only view the usual landscape stream. This smooth transition eliminates the level of friction and offers an optimized experience to phone users.
Available now as the early app builds identified through market intelligence databases, vertical livestreaming features customized user-interface components and a specific vertical theater mode. During the initial encounters of users with a new format, they will be given a notification of the possibilities of a new video orientation, with alternating back to classic viewing in case they want such an option.
As well as vertical videos, Twitch is also widening its beta 1440p (2K) streaming to Partners and Affiliates, so streams are higher-quality and sharper using HEVC codec. There is also an experimental rewind capability installed, so a viewer will be able to scroll back a few seconds in a live stream without switching streams.
The goal of these platform upgrades is to make Twitch more modern with its mentality on the livestream, especially on its mobile-first users. Vertical streams enable creators to provide immersive feeds absent of black bars or mandatory screen rotations, which are major ones since it aligns with the changing content consumption trends. Meanwhile, 2K help and clip-based solutions improve fidelity and put a focus on engagement.
The big picture is obvious: Twitch is preparing to compete with the expectations developed in users based on the vertical-first models. Supporting dual-format streaming, the platform does not put additional friction on creators and viewers. This means that the content does not have to be pushed into formats it is not intended so that producers can serve different audiences using both mobile and desktop without making the reconfigurations manually.
The implications are great as far as streamers are concerned. New vertical overlays, caption systems and alert layouts that fit well in narrowly oriented screens should be expected. Vendors of OBS plugins are already making encoder adaptable to dual feed. Provided that the vertical streaming works out, Twitch can allow entire vertical content workflows with commerce overlays and interactive elements such that are specific to portrait usage.
Consumer sentiment is in mixed picture. As much as creators report new audiences going viral instead of being hidden in landscape content, and discoverability being made easier by audience simply scanning through their vertical livestreams, it is warned that the needed context can often be sacrificed when meeting landscape content in a thin vertical window, such as UI elements or gameplay features being cut off in the reframe. The traditional landscape movements have remained preferred by many viewers in terms of depth and clarity.
However, the engineering teams of Twitch are gearing up to larger rollout stress-testing workflows to occupy avoidance of latency, multi-encode resolution, decent negotiation of device and network compatibility. Launching in scale, vertical streams had the capacity to be delivered using the edge infrastructure of Twitch using real-time adaptive delivery.
These are advancements such as Combo interactions, streamer-hosted gift sub promotions, and clip improvements, as all these fall under an overarching plan of keeping creators active and audiences involved in the streaming site. Vertical livestream further introduces a vertical aspect to that strategy, including accessibility, convenience, and esthetics.
