Is Twitch Testing a Channel Surfing Feature?

Twitch is introducing a new feature that allows channel surfing.

Twitch, one of the most popular gaming platforms, is brewing a new feature to help its users navigate towards content they prefer to watch.

Just like how channel surfing works on TV, the gaming platform will also have that ability. The feature will allow users to switch easily between different streams.

Twitch's Channel Surfing Feature

Twitch is currently experimenting with this feature. The experiment, called the Channel Switcher, makes it possible for users to quickly navigate through previews of a variety of streams so that they can find something interesting to watch.

Some users might find this feature interesting as it brings back fond memories of channel surfing on their TV since that is how this feature similarly works.

The great thing about this experimental feature is that it does not contain any ads.

Twitch went to Twitter to announce this preview, stating that there would be no more pogging.

The streaming platform stated, "Introducing a new experiment - the Channel Switcher."

Deciding what to watch on Twitch can be overwhelming, especially if users are looking to find something new to watch. Usually, users tend to look through the sidebar to see who they follow, navigating to a specific game or category to see who is currently streaming.

Users also have the option of clicking on a recommendation or another followed account in the sidebar of Twitch. The Verge reports that it seems as though using Channel Switcher will be a lot quicker way to check out a variety of different streamers.

According to Ashton Williams, a spokesperson for Twitch, users will have the ability to watch a sixty-second preview of a stream before being required to decide whether or not to click through and watch the full stream.

However, it appears that only a select few will have the opportunity to test out Channel Switcher for the time being. According to Williams, only a small percentage of users who are logged in currently have access to this feature.

Those selected few users who do have access have been chosen at random. Also, the experiment will be disabled in the middle of July so that the company can evaluate the results of the test.

Williams notes that Twitch plans to work on future iterations and may offer an opt-in version of the feature.

Twitch's New Guest Star Feature

Twitch's goal is to make it simpler for creators to invite guests onto their livestreams in the style of a talk show, with the end goal being that anyone can become a creator.

Apart from the channel surfing feature, the streaming company is also introducing a new feature called Guest Star. With this new feature, stream hosts will be able to bring as many as five guests into a stream and seamlessly switch between them.

Streamers will be able to invite other people, including audience members and other content creators, to join their streams as guests thanks to this feature. It will initially become available to a limited number of users, and then, later on in this year, it will become available to all users.

As reported by TechCrunch, this feature will work on both the desktop and mobile versions of Twitch. Twitch also went on to Twitter to give their audience a sneak peak of the feature.

The creators of content can host and manage their guests directly within Twitch Studio or OBS, the software that a large number of the app's more experienced streamers prefer to use.