Twitch has unveiled a significant upgrade to its co-streaming features, directly addressing long-standing challenges in measuring and controlling rebroadcast content. The move is set to provide event organisers, particularly in the esports sphere, with new data and management tools.
The platform stated that while community-driven rebroadcasting has long been a powerful method for amplifying live events, its growing scale introduced difficulties. Organisers and streamers alike struggled with a lack of “control, measurement, and visibility,” preventing them from realising the “full potential” of these broadcasts.
Twitch positions its enhanced Co-Streaming as the solution, transforming a “fragmented experience into a unified, measurable, and safe-to-use system.” The core function allows a Main Broadcaster—such as a tournament organiser or brand channel—to grant permission to an allowlist of streamers. These approved co-streamers can then simulcast the live event to their own audiences while providing their unique commentary and interaction.
A key development for event organisers is the introduction of aggregated analytics. For the first time, Twitch will combine viewership across all approved co-streams, giving Main Broadcasters what it calls an “accurate view of their event’s full reach on Twitch.” This shared viewership metric, which shows the total unique concurrent viewers, will also be integrated into Twitch’s discovery surfaces, ensuring the event’s popularity is reflected by its entire combined audience.
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This granular data offers a compelling new value proposition for tournament organisers seeking sponsor partnerships. The ability to provide potential sponsors with a verified, platform-level figure for total unique reach, rather than just the main channel’s numbers, significantly enhances the metrics that can be offered. Furthermore, the allowlist system provides “greater control for event organisers,” enabling them to manage which streamers can rebroadcast their content, thereby “ensuring better brand alignment.”
The update also includes a dedicated event analytics dashboard for deeper insights and the introduction of clear Co-Streaming guidelines designed to create a framework that “balances creativity with accountability.” Twitch confirmed the features will roll out in the coming weeks, advising event organisers to contact their Twitch partnerships or support representatives for guidance on eligibility and setup.
The strategic importance of co-streaming has been cemented in recent years, becoming a major driving force in esports broadcasting. This was notably officialised by Riot Games, which integrated co-streaming programmes directly into the broadcast strategies for its premier League of Legends and VALORANT tournaments.
Other industry giants, including Electronic Arts (EA), Epic Games, and the Esports World Cup (EWC) have similarly adopted the practice as a cornerstone of their esports event strategies, leveraging it to expand viewership and deepen community engagement. This industry-wide adoption underscores the feature’s significance and provides a compelling context for Twitch’s latest infrastructural investment.
