As Twitch announces new pause ads, here's why viewers are mad
Twitch makes the majority of its revenue from online ads delivered to viewers on the streaming platform, and it has now announced that advertisements can be displayed even when viewers pause ongoing broadcasts and streams, resulting in much derision from around the community.
Twitch announced in 2025 that it was working on new advertisement formats that would allow viewers to continue watching streams with smaller, muted ad pop-ups. This was met with general praise from viewers, who applauded the platform for thinking outside the box and making less intrusive ads.
Twitch has now announced that it’s testing a new type of ads that will play when streams are paused, and this time, viewers arguing it may go so far as to ruin their viewing experience.
Why are Twitch’s pause ads sparking controversy?
Viewers believe that Twitch rolling out ads that play when a stream is paused could make advertisements extremely intrusive, which is quite the opposite of what the livestreaming platform claims is its intention.
Twitch shared that it’s testing this new form of ads to make advertisements less intrusive, but users immediately voiced concerns. Many are arguing that Twitch wants to force ads on viewers when streams are mostly paused for breaks or due to technical difficulties. Others allege that this will quickly become a nuisance, especially for those who may need to pause their streams multiple times, and that these users will be more likely to just leave the stream entirely than deal with multiple pause ads.
Some have also questioned Twitch’s motives, claiming that the platform should better consider its users and the usability implications of its decisions.
Image credit: Amazon Prime
Twitch hasn’t revealed whether streamers will be able to opt out of this ad type, and it’s unclear whether content creators will be able to disable them during the testing phase. Not all viewers will experience these ads, as they are being tested with limited variables. Once that testing phase ends, a broader array of users will likely start seeing ads when streams are paused.
Twitch is expected to reveal at the time of the full launch of pause ads whether streamers can manually disable these ads. The platform mentioned it wants to offer additional revenue sources to streamers, and this is one more option in that direction. The question is whether it may prove more divisive with users than is worthwhile, for whatever additional revenue it does manage to bring in.
Twitch has also announced that it’s working on a skippable ad format, but that pause screen ads will likely not be able to be skipped.
Some viewers have shared screenshots of similar ads already used by Amazon, Twitch’s parent company. They speculate the livestreaming platform may run similar ads to those seen on Amazon Prime Video that require viewers to click back and resume the videos manually to end the ads. It remains to be seen whether Twitch implements the same system as that which is currently live on Amazon Prime Video, or if it intends to roll out a different type of pause ad entirely.
Feature image credit: Twitch
Khizar Mundia has been playing video games for as long as he can recall. Things have come a long way since the many days he spent playing the original NES, though. He now covers a variety of competitive games and esports, as well as the world of streaming, ranging from Twitch to Kick. If it’s of interest to gamers, it’s of interest to Khizar.
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