Twitch Impact: It was ten years ago in 2007 when Justin Kan and Emmett Shear first launched a brand new site called Justin.TV.
Of all of the different content sections on the site it was gaming that was the first to really take off with around 35 million visits being paid to it each month. In fact, it was so successful that in 2011 it was separated from the main site and given an identity of its own.
Launched as Twitch and named after twitch gameplay, the site went from strength to strength and today is the world’s most popular eSports streaming service by a considerable margin.
Twitch Impact – Techykeeday
As a result, in 2014 the whole of the parent organisation, the original Justin.TV, became Twitch Interactive and Google was rumoured to be interested in buying the company. However, it was Amazon who did eventually pull off the sale on September 25th 2014 for a reported $970 million.
After Amazon
Ever since Amazon acquired Twitch they have used their considerable power and reach to broaden its popularity even further and to expand its content areas into many different fields.
Twitch has also led the way in the way it has used innovative marketing techniques to both attract followers and reward so-called affiliates and partners – the businesses and individuals who stream the content on the channel.
For example, Twitch Turbo is a monthly subscription service that lets members watch ad-free, download exclusive emoticons and save broadcasts for up to 60 days instead of the standard 14. There is also Twitch Prime, which ties in with Amazon Prime offering all of the benefits of Twitch Turbo plus some other special benefits too.
In 2016 Twitch also introduced another feature called “Cheering” which lets users make donations to the site using its own currency called “Bits” which can be bought through Amazon. In return they receive special badges and emoticons to mark their contribution.
Something for Everyone
As part of its major role in streaming eSports, Twitch is also the place to find action being streamed from major tournaments, personal streams from players as well as gaming-related chat talk shows aimed at the channel’s typically 18-34 year old male users.
One game that has really started to get some traction on Twitch is poker. Players use it to both impart their knowledge and to raise their profile in the poker playing community. In some cases this has proved to be so successful that major online gaming sites have gone on to adopt some of these players as their official ambassadors.
To further broaden its appeal, Twitch has recently created music and creative categories as well as an IRL channel which is open to the streaming of just about anything that users want to include.
Looking to the Future
Twitch is here to stay; it is undeniable as the figures speak for themselves. At the last count 15 million active daily users watch for an average of 106 minutes a day and there are more than 2.2 million unique content creators each month. And with the growing global popularity of eSports in general the sky really could be the limit in terms of users, not to mention the profits it could generate.
Summary
Soon after Justin.TV was launched in 2007 its gaming content section soon became the most popular – so much so that it soon split off to become Twitch in its own right.
The site went from strength to strength and was bought by Amazon in 2014 for a reported $970 million. Using innovative marketing techniques it has continued to grow. It is particularly popular for streaming everything from eSports to poker to music. With 15 million visitors each day it continues to go from strength to strength.
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