Twitch can add a ‘brand safety score’ to streamers

Cybersecurity researcher Daylam Tayari found evidence in Twitch’s internal API that the site plans to implement something called a “brand safety score” for its streamers. This score would depend on a number of criteria: the age of the streamer, a rating given by the Twitch team, its ban history, the relationship the streamer has with Twitch, its auto settings, its partnership status, the ESRB rating of the game being played, and whether the flow is set to mature.

If Tayari’s research is really accurate – and here I should note that I contacted Twitch and will update this story if I hear back – that would represent a change in the way advertisers interact with streamers on the platform. Currently, one of the main ways in which marketers work with streamers on Twitch is the website’s bounty board; selected partners and affiliates in the U.S., UK, Germany and France can choose from a list of paid opportunities to play or watch branded videos with their communities for automatic payments. It is a very efficient system, which streamlines and automates the (sometimes arduous) process of working with a brand and being paid for it.

It is not difficult to imagine that if Twitch did implement a brand safety score for streamers, it would be used to expand the rewards program; it seems useful for brands to be able to compare streamers on that specific axis, at least. Then again, for streamers, it means that the site is tracking you on another metric that may or may not be available for you to see. I can’t help thinking about the Uber and Lyft ratings, and how quietly treacherous they can be: if your rating worsens for any reason, you will lose the ability to drive – to make money.