Twitch users will soon be able to give the gift of subscriptions through a new Twitch community gifting feature.
The new feature will allow users to gift any channel with a set amount of subscribers.
Community Gifting allows users to choose between three tiers of subscriptions that offer a range of different perks and benefits. Tier one gifts offer ad-free viewing, undisrupted chat, badges and a range of emotes.
Likewise, the buyer can choose to gift a channel with anywhere from one sub or 100 subs, which range in price from $4.99 to $499 for a tier one subscription.
Once the amount is paid, the channel will receive the subscriptions. These will be distributed among the channel’s community, including frequent viewers, chat users, and followers. An algorithm has been developed to ensure that the subs are issued to the right people.
In a blog post on Twitch community gifting, the company said:
“We use an algorithm to help us select gift recipients starting with eligible viewers in chat, then followers, mods, and other factors that identify members of a community.
“Our algorithm also avoids giving trolls subs and we are constantly improving our algorithm to detect this behavior.”
Unfortunately, there isn’t currently any way for the buyer to select which users will receive their purchased subscriptions. However, Twitch has confirmed that it is looking into adding this feature in the future.
What are Twitch subscriptions?
Twitch subscriptions are essentially memberships to a particular channel. These memberships come with a range of perks and extra goodies that aren’t available to regular followers, such as exclusive content, chat priority and new emotes.
In order to subscribe to a channel, users must pay a monthly fee, usually of $4.99 a month.
This money is split between Twitch and the owner of the channel that is being subscribed too. For every sub a channel received, the owner earns around $2.50, according to reports.