Since acquiring Mixer, then still named Beam, in 2016 the live streaming service has grown significantly. It’s still nowhere near the size of Twitch and YouTube gaming, but according to todays press release the service has become 17 times bigger since launch. Today Chad Gibson, general manager at Mixer, has announced new features coming to the service.
Monetization for all
Becoming a Twitch or Mixer partner was really important for new streamers as this meant your monetization options increased. Now, every streamer will be able to earn money via Mixer with embers and subscriptions. Embers are the currency of Mixer. You can either buy them or earn them by watching streams. Donating embers to a streamer will earn the streamer money.
Subscriptions on Mixer are monthly payments you make to your favorite streamer. This way you support them on a regular basis. With this new update, every streamer on Mixer can have subscribers. On Twitch you need to be a partner to be eligible to have subscribers.
Other additional monetization options for all are coming down the line. These have not been announced yet.
Creating a save and welcoming community
Live streaming chats can be notorious for being toxic and unwelcoming. Mixer will improve the experience when reporting streamers or content. In the blog post Gibson writes:
We’ve also talked with many of you directly to understand your personal experiences around online toxicity and cyberbullying. We love that the Mixer community has always prided itself on being a welcoming place, and how Mixer streamers, their moderators and viewers work together to keep toxicity down.
(…)
Today, we want to reaffirm our commitment to digital safety and maintaining a strong Mixer community.
Meanwhile, big Twitch or Mixer channels have moderators keeping the chatrooms clean of toxicity and spam. Mixer is introducing new ways to champions these volunteers. You can support them directly and Mixer is adding new methods to help the moderators with their work. It’s still unclear what these new options will be.
Shutting down Mixer Create
With good news also comes bad news it seems. Microsoft has decided to kill the Mixer Create app. With the Mixer Create app people could stream games from their phones while also using the camera. It seems that due to lack of users the application, available on iOS and Android, will shut down.
With Mixer Create being something from the past, Microsoft is promoting the use of the Streamlabs mobile app.
It will be interesting to see if Microsoft is able to grow Mixer for it to become a more relevant live streaming service next to the behemoths of Amazon and Google. For now it seems Microsoft is still committed to the platform.
