Twitch drops ad-free viewing from Prime membership

Amazon-owned video game streaming platform, Twitch, has announced plans to drop ad-free viewing as one of the perks of a Twitch Prime membership.

In a company blog post, Twitch said it had “re-evaluated some of the existing Twitch Prime benefits” and will stop offering advertising-free video streams after October 15.

Users that have an annual Twitch Prime subscription, or upgrade to one before this date, will continue to have ad-free viewing until their renewal date.

Twitch said that other Prime advantages – like free monthly games, exclusives and in-game loot – will not change. Twitch Prime users also get all other Amazon Prime benefits, like free two-day shipping and access to Prime Video and Prime Music.

Meanwhile, ad-free viewing will still be available with a ‘Twitch Turbo’ subscription, a separate pay-monthly offering that includes services like an expanded emoticon set, custom chat username colours and priority customer support.

“Advertising is an important source of support for the creators who make Twitch possible. This change will strengthen and expand that advertising opportunity for creators so they can get more support from their viewers for doing what they love,” said Twitch in a statement.

“We want Twitch to remain a place where anyone can enjoy one-of-a-kind interactive entertainment, and ads allow us to continue making Twitch the best place for creators to build communities around the things they love and make money doing it.”

Twitch Prime rolled out globally in more than 200 countries and territories last June. Amazon bought Twitch for US$970 million in 2014.