Boost Train
Lead Product Designer • 2021-2022
OVERVIEW
Twitch creators have long identified channel growth as a top challenge, and often rely on social media to draw more viewers in. Meanwhile, Twitch viewers have demonstrated motivation to help creators growth their communities so they can keep doing what they love. I was part of an ambitious project to figure out how we might empower the creator's own community to help them grow on Twitch.
SOLUTION
Boost Train is an experience that is triggered when there's a spike in support from viewers in a channel. As more viewers subscribe, gift subscriptions, and tip the creator, the more impressions are unlocked, which boosts the stream to the top fo the recommended page. With Boost Train, viewers are able to promote the stream they're watching and welcome new viewers into their community.
COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
Boost train appears at the top of chat with an fun animation, hyping the community to participate. The analogy of a rocket train being boosted into other planets is sprinkled throughout the entire experience, reflecting Twitch's branding and the lively spirit of the community.
NEW VIEWER EXPERIENCE
Boosted streams are unlike other promoted streams, as it's not determined by Twitch's algorithm but by the community. Its meaningful nature is reflected by the on-brand skin on top of the thumbnail, inviting new viewers to join the thoughtful community.
The Boost badge is strategically placed beside the viewer counter to draw attention to the rising number. As Twitch cannot guarantee the velocity in which the new viewers come in, we intentionally minimized the boost status so that the community can continue to focus on what's the most important: the creator.
CREATOR EXPERIENCE
Our primary users are the creators, and it's important that they not only understand when a Boost Train is happening, but also the impact of the channel being boosted. The stream summary allows creators to easily understand how much of their success was due to Boost Train.
RESULTS
Boost Train first launched as an experiment and we observed a statistically significant lift of X% for product revenue per channel. We also received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the community and were able to bring Boost Train to all monetizing creators on Twitch.
