Twitch gives streamers "found to be sexy by others" their own category

This story about sexuality in streaming, boiled down, in 2:13 minutes.

What's the fuss?

Twitch is home to many different types of content creators, from gaming to girls hanging out in hot tubs. The latter has proven very controversial as of late, so much so that Twitch has dedicated a portion of the platform to the so called "hot tub meta".

The situation

Twitch is a platform that allows anyone to livestream almost anything. From playing video games to cooking, anyone with the talent can broadcast themselves live in front of potentially thousands. Lately, that talent pool has included swimsuit-wearing streamers just chatting with their fans in hot tubs.

This trend has caused quite the stir with audiences, streamers, and advertisers alike, many deeming the practice as being sexually inappropriate for the platform. In response, Twitch announced that they would not be banning these streamers since "being found to be sexy by other is not against [their] rules". Instead, the platform has created a new category for these streamers, "Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches", to better distinguish them from other types of content on the site.

Boiling it down

Although viewership is extremely important to Twitch's sustainability, it would be naive to not have advertisers on at least an equal pedestal. This announcement comes at the heels of advertisers complaining about having their ads attributed to these hot tub streams, since they are grouped within the "Just Chatting" category where fully-clothed people chat with fans. In response, Twitch pulled ads entirely from these particular streams without notice, significantly cutting revenue earned by these streamers.

These "hot tub streamers" have been criticized for using their looks to attain better viewership, but it arguably works. Amouranth, one of the most popular hot tub streamers on Twitch, reportedly made over $1,000 per day on advertisements alone before being demonetized. At the end of the day, sexuality is highly subjective, thus Twitch's move will unlikely solve the issue entirely.

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