Twitch.tv now has a hosting feature

A big part of creating a successful media empire is keeping your viewers engaged. That applies whether you’re a TV network or just a Twitch streamer trying to make a living playing video games. A feature announced this week will help Twitch users do just that. Host mode, which is currently scheduled to go live this weekend, will let a channel owner select other users’ streams to broadcast on their channel, leaving the channel owner’s chatroom active. The host can use this feature to keep users engaged when he/she is not broadcasting and simultaneously promote other streams they like. Hosted views count toward the original stream’s viewer count, and you can subscribe to the hosted stream directly from the hosting channel.

Twitch is introducing a new feature to the platform that brings Twitch channels closer to television channels: Individuals will be able to promote other streams on their own channel, even after they’ve stopped broadcasting themselves. Host Mode will allow any channel owner to “host” any other channel, similar to embedding someone else’s video on your own website. If you’re a broadcaster who is done for the day, you can now use your channel to display another person’s stream, instead of simply going dark until the next time you sign on. The chatroom in your channel will stay up, but your video will be replaced by an embedded version of the channel you’re hosting. Host Mode is set to go live later tonight, or tomorrow. The way Twitch sees it, the feature is beneficial to both parties. The hosting party is able to viewers engaged with their channel even when they’re offline, and they can use Host Mode to highlight friends’ channels or point out interesting streams. Plus, any views tallied on the hosting channel count toward the channel that’s being hosted, and viewers can subscribe directly to the original channel from the host’s page. In this way, a channel could become known as a great destination for curated Twitch streams, as well as a destination for a single person’s broadcasts.