Recommendations On Twitch

When you visit Twitch, we make recommendations to help you discover new communities and content we think you will like. This article goes over our approach for making recommendations and provides information on how you can influence them. 

Front-Page Carousel
At the top of Twitch’s homepage, visitors will find our Front-Page Carousel, which gives a preview of live channels or upcoming events. The carousel features content that has been curated by Twitch staff; it is not populated through an automated system or your interactions with Twitch. Twitch may highlight particular segments of our content creators, upcoming Twitch events, or content sponsored by our advertisers. Twitch’s carousel varies by region to account for geographic differences in creators and their content, such as languages spoken. 

Front-Page Shelves
Immediately below the carousel, you will find a number of different scrollable horizontal lists of content, which Twitch refers to as “shelves.” We will always show you shelves with channels and categories that we think you will like, and we may also show you other shelves that may be curated by Twitch staff. Shelves are selected for you based on your language, device, browser, your engagement with Twitch, and your login state. If you have visited Twitch before, the shelf order and the channels within the shelves are also personalized for you based on your watch history. This means we use information about channels and categories you have watched on Twitch in the past to recommend new content we think you will enjoy. For all Twitch shelves, live channels are more frequently given higher priority than non-live channels. 

Left Navigation Bar
To the left of the carousel and shelves, Twitch users see the “left navigation” bar. There, logged in users will see a list of the channels they have followed, with live channels listed first, and then offline channels in order of the number of new videos available. After you follow channels, you will see recommended channels, again selected based on your region, language, interaction behavior, and watch history. Once you are in a channel, the left navigation bar will also include a third list, after recommended channels, listing similar channels to the one you are currently watching.  

Browse Page
From the Twitch homepage or any channel page, viewers may always click the “Browse” button at the top left of the screen to find additional content. On Twitch’s Browse page, you can look for content either by Category, which is selected by broadcasters, or by Live Channels. You can then sort the categories or channels by Twitch’s recommendations or by the number of viewers from high to low. 

Search Bar
From the Twitch homepage or any channel page, users may also search for content in the search bar in the top middle of the screen. When you begin to type a word, you will see Twitch’s search suggestions, which are suggested search terms based on direct matches for the word being typed and the popularity of the category or channel, with live content always listed first. If you pick a search suggestion, you will go directly to the category or channel suggested. If you elect to go to the search results page, instead of picking a search suggestion, the search results you see will be ordered based on live channels, popularity, and search query matches. 

Mobile Content Feed
In addition to the above, Twitch’s mobile apps may also include a content feed tab with two separate scrollable vertical feeds, one for live content and one for clips. Within this feed, we will show you content from popular live channels, categories, and clips, as well as content based on your region, language, device, and browser. If you have visited Twitch before, the scrollable content within the feed is also personalized for you based on your watch history. In the feed, you may have the option to click on a like or dislike button, represented by a “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” icon respectively. Clicking “Thumbs Up” will result in the feed featuring more content from the channel you liked, and clicking “Thumbs Down” will result in the feed not showing content from the channel you have disliked for a period of time. For more information on the mobile apps’ content feed, please see this Help Article. 

How to Control What You See on Twitch
While our algorithmic recommendations play an important role in driving viewer discovery and creator growth, Twitch gives logged-in users the ability to control their experiences should recommended content not meet their expectations. After logging in, you can remove channels and categories from the Twitch shelves by clicking the three vertical dots next to any channel and then clicking “Not Interested.” This prevents that channel or category from ever being recommended to you again. You can remove this restriction, should you change your mind, in your Account Settings. In addition, if you believe any channel on the Twitch shelves is violating Twitch’s Community Guidelines, or Terms of Service, you can report the channel to Twitch by clicking the three vertical dots next to any channel, clicking “Report”, and then following the prompts. In addition, if a user blocks another user, neither user’s channel will ever be recommended to the other user. For more information on how to remove recommendations you are not interested in, please see this Help Article.

Throughout Twitch’s pages, and within the content feed on Twitch’s mobile apps, you can hide content you do not want to see by clicking on the three vertical dots and choosing  “Not Interested”. Should you change your mind, you can undo content you have hidden in your Account Settings. Clicking the three vertical dots also allows you to utilize the “Report” functionality to report content to Twitch for review. 

Keeping Twitch Safe
Our recommendations systems are designed with focus on your safety, so we remove content that we determine has violated our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. For more information on how we handle reports of violations of our Community Guidelines, please see our Enforcement page.