What is Twitch and how can companies use it? When talking about the world’s largest audio and video streaming platform, we all think of YouTube. But if the topic is the most popular live streaming platform for online gaming, then Twitch is the undisputed first choice that comes to mind for many video game players. These days, its top live streams can garner the attention of hundreds of thousands of viewers every day.
With the expansion of the internet environment and smartphone phones, video streaming has become increasingly popular, with electronic games being the most recognized. Moreover, Twitch offers multiple monetization programs, including impression-based advertising revenue and channel sponsorship revenue. Additionally, affiliate programs are also available, so it is attracting attention as a service that is easier to monetize than YouTube.
What is Twitch?
Twitch is a video and audio streaming platform. Dedicated almost exclusively to video games and e-sports. Although there are currently many presenters who focus more on other types of content, gaming remains its most popular and biggest anchor. It also provides chat rooms for simple interaction between audiences. And it allows audiences to subscribe and reward their favorite live stations with a small amount of money.
Founded in 2011 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, creators of Justin.tv, from whom it spun off in June of the same year. It is acquired by Amazon in 2014 for the amount of 970 million dollars. According to its internal analysts, Twitch has more than 38 million monthly visits and more than 20 million players gather on this platform. Each visitor spends on average 1.5 hours on the site daily. Thus making it the most popular platform today.
When did this application become fashionable?
Created in 2011 and acquired by Amazon in 2014, Twitch has gone through a lot to become what it is today. In 2016 it added a new IRL category, in 2017 it announced the integration and enhancement of its Curse gaming voice software, in 2018 the website was blocked by the mainland Chinese government, and the app was removed from the iOS App Store, it was also sued in Moscow in 2019.
However, it was not until 2020 that it reached its peak with the new reality generated by the global confinement situation. This drastically changed the way many people started watching the internet and streaming services. Twitch knew how to take advantage of this opportunity very well and, overnight, broadcasts of video games and other different types of presentations, all live, skyrocketed.
How can companies use Twitch for their benefit?
Twitch currently has more than 20 million active users, more than 38 million monthly visits, and it is estimated that each visitor spends an average of 1.5 hours on the site every day. These numbers speak for themselves and force us to think about the enormous potential for any marketing campaign to include in its development plans this gaming platform, which is experiencing sustained growth and adding new users every day.
The advertising potential that Twitch represents for the different markets is justified in its numbers. Beyond those presented above, we find that for the second half of 2019 before the confinement of the year 2020 already the participation by segments in Twitch was distributed as follows: 65% of users are men and the remaining 35% are women. With 73% shared an average age between 16 and 34 years old. It couldn’t be clearer!
How can you earn money through Twitch?
Joining Twitch is free, but even so, if the idea is to use it to make money, there are many ways to do it. The first thing to do and what you should focus all your attention on is attracting enough followers to the channel. Then, you can have the opportunity to earn money by implementing one of the various ways available:
- Revenues paid by subscribers
- Small uniqueness (bits)
- Donation from fans
- Advertising revenue
- Affiliate marketing revenue
- Income from business cooperation
All content on this website is designed to help you grow within your platform, develop your community and do what you love in exchange for income. The higher level you reach within the platform, the more features you unlock and the greater your chances of generating income. Twitch presenters earn money mainly by sharing the platform’s advertising revenue and viewer rewards via PayPal after gaining popularity and gaining followers.
What other platforms do you compete with?
In the world of streaming and more specifically in the distribution of video games, competition is getting tougher every day. There is a great power struggle to position itself as the largest video distributor on the Internet. When it comes to living game streaming, no other platform is as popular as Twitch. However, it doesn’t have it easy at all, as its competitors are also of greater stature such as YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming.
Although these two giants are not the only ones vying for the title, they do stand out as the main competition Twitch has to face. YouTube Gaming is not simply a new streaming platform, it is the YouTube we already know with a new gaming extension. While Facebook Gaming could be the most attractive option for all those who are already active on Facebook. For now, Twitch remains the most popular gaming platform.
Should I delve into Twitch?
Twitch is a platform created exclusively for the distribution of video games but, as of 2020 its content has been expanding and growing in all directions. Nowadays it is easy to find events of all kinds such as concerts, interviews, talks, etc. Additionally, viewers’ tastes are continuously changing and there is a steady migration from traditional television to streaming channels in search of new interactive experiences, where the viewer can feel part of the action.
If we analyze the numbers of user participation in this platform we will see, once again, the immense potential it presents for almost all types of content creators. In the last year, we have witnessed the transformation carried out on this platform to give space to the broadcasting of new and varied audiovisual creations. This is an excellent opportunity for the different audiovisual media, whether they are new or have a certain trajectory.
