Amazon-owned LiveStreaming Service Twitch announced earlier this year that it will be moving to the vertical video space at its annual TwitchCon event. According to the findings from market intelligence provider Appsensa, these first Alpha tests went live alongside several streamers.
In a recent build, the company found references to vertical video tests and information about what features these new streams offer. This feature, when fully deployed, will make Twitch more competitive with other popular vertical video services such as Tiktok, Instagram reels and YouTube shorts.
Twitch testing is not widely available at this time. Appsensa's research found only a handful of references in the code for the app that mentioned that the test would focus on “some streamers” for the time being. (We were unable to identify which.) The company was also able to identify a vertical theater mode with a dedicated user interface element, and how to switch between Twitch's classic and new vertical video formats.
Image credits: Twitch
When a user encounters the feature for the first time, a user education dialogue will appear saying “Vertical Videos Here” that is still a test and can switch to Classic View at any time.
Appsensa also shows that the current implementation includes the processing of allowing both camera and microphone access required on the mobile platform, and that the app will be used for live streams.
In response to comment, Twitch declined to say more about the test, but only said during his keynote address at Twitchcon Rotterdam earlier this year that he would start testing on a small number of channels over the summer. A spokesperson added that these tests will expand to more users later in the year.
During TwitchCon, the company announced that it would try dual formats and 2K streaming on a small number of channels as well.