Twitch merges vertical and horizontal streams at Rotterdam conference

Twitch showed up in Rotterdam at the end of May with something practical. They're letting streamers broadcast in both vertical and horizontal formats at the same time, which honestly makes sense when you think about it. Half your audience is probably watching on their phone while scrolling, and the other half is actually paying attention on desktop.

The dual-stream approach solves a problem creators have been wrestling with for years. Do you optimize for TikTok-style vertical viewers or lean into the traditional horizontal setup? Now you don't have to pick. The platform handles the heavy lifting by adapting the feed based on how each person's watching.

This is classic Twitch playing catch-up to reality. Viewers never stopped wanting vertical content, and creators never stopped wanting to reach everyone. Took them a while, but the feature actually ships with some weight behind it rather than feeling like an afterthought.