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Twitch is bringing Hosting back in a revised form, with experiments expected later in 2026. At its November 13 TwitchCon opening ceremony, the company described an offline channel page that can feature another live streamer while the two communities share a chat. It also outlined timed rotations called Host Trains.
Source: Dale Cruse / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Panel at TwitchCon in San Diego on September 29, 2019. Archive photograph, not the 2026 announcement or a demonstration of the new Hosting design.
The company's announcement offers two ways to view that conversation: a combined chat with messages identified by their channel, or a view limited to the host community. It says streamers will be able to choose channels from lists such as their followed accounts or Favorites. Twitch has not presented this as an option already available to every account.
An offline destination has a different job from a raid
The proposal is easiest to understand alongside Twitch's existing raids. A raid sends a streamer's viewers to another live channel, as described in the platform's raid guide. It is a handoff between broadcasts. The proposed Hosting experience instead gives someone arriving at an offline channel page another stream to watch there, with a choice of how the conversation is displayed.
For a viewer who opens a bookmarked channel after a broadcast has ended, those are different starting points. Joining a raid requires being present for the handoff. An offline hosting destination could also serve a later visitor. That is the practical change to look for when Twitch begins testing it; the announcement alone does not demonstrate that it will increase a channel's audience or keep viewers watching longer.
Host Trains would add a timed sequence of destinations to that arrangement. Twitch says a timer will determine when viewers move to the next stream in a rotating lineup. A streamer choosing that lineup would therefore be making several recommendations in advance. The details of timing controls, account eligibility and moderation across the proposed shared conversation have not yet been fully set out.
Recaps remain a separate way to catch up
The return of live hosting should also be kept separate from Stream Recaps. Those are collections of clips from a completed broadcast, published to a follower's mobile feed and the streamer's channel page. The October introduction lets streamers review the selection and add, remove or edit clips. Watching a recap means catching up on recorded moments, rather than moving into another creator's live show.
Both approaches sit within the wider Twitch's stated timetable is later this year, with the exact access and controls still to be confirmed.
