Twitch is trying out a new Cheering feature to let fans support their favorite streamers on the platform, not to mention that it allows it to get a piece of the pie too.
Straight off the bat, here's how the whole process works: Users can buy currency called Bits, and with that digital moolah, they can purchase Cheers to post flashy emotes in chat and tip the streamer. The higher the money forked over, the showier they will be.
To send one off, a user just has to type in "cheer" with the amount they want to pay. For instance, "cheer1" will send off a gray bouncing triangle that spins around and costs ¢1.4. It's not much to look at, but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering that it's the entry-level emote.
One of the other choices available include "cheer100," and it more or less seems to be the standard emote, holding users back by $1.40. Take note that purchasing a Cheer doesn't need an exact figure, as users can dish out any amount between 1 and 10,000, which is a tip that costs $140.
Here's the breakdown of what's in store:
• 100 Bits: $1.40
• 500 Bits: $7.00
• 1,500 Bits: $19.95 with a 5 percent discount
• 5,000 Bits: $64.40 with an 8 percent discount
• 10,000 Bits: $126.00 with a 10 percent discount
• 25,000 Bits: $308.00 with a 12 percent discount
"Cheering is a new way to show support for streamers and celebrate the moments you love with the community, all right in chat. A Cheer is a chat message that uses Bits, which are evolving animated emotes that you can buy," Twitch says.
Cheerers, if you will, also stand to gain Cheer Chat Badges that'll make them stand out from the rest of the viewers.
As for how much revenue the streamers will get exactly, Twitch has yet to provide the details.
What strikes this as odd is why would supporters use Cheers instead of donating or subscribing when it presumably gives a bigger portion of the cash directly to the streamer? Well, it's still in beta, so the company might have something up its sleeve to make the new feature worthwhile — that is, other than the glitzy emotes, which doesn't really make much of a case.
At any rate, the program already has a lot of channels participating, including but not limited to lirik, ProfessorBroman, Nightblue3 and Ellohime.
Hit us up in the comments section below and let us know what you think of Twitch's move.
