What is Twitch? Twitch Review

Twitch is a real-time mainstream streaming video platform for video games. It is the largest game video live broadcast website in the United States, and its content covers almost all types of games on the market. Twitch was founded in 2011 and was acquired by Amazon in August 2014. For cross-border e-commerce sellers, Twitch is a good target for traffic diversion.

About Twitch

The original intention of Twitch was to create an e-sports video platform, which is widely known as eSports. On the Twitch platform, video game players can watch other players' game situations in real time. This platform has become the most popular gathering place for game players, because Twitch can not only watch the game situation on it, but also learn game strategies from other players. In addition, there are some game-related live channels on Twitch, such as game music, graphics, and talk shows. Twitch's goal is to become the "ESPN of the gaming industry."

Twitch provides a platform for gamers to live stream their gaming sessions or broadcast gaming events. It also provides a chat room for simple interactions between viewers.

Twitch is not only popular among gamers, but also profitable for them. Gamers can easily broadcast their real-time gaming status on Twitch, and if the broadcaster can attract a large number of viewers on his game channel, he can make money.

Development

In October 2013, Twitch had 45 million unique viewers.

In February 2014, Twitch was ranked as the fourth-largest source of peak internet traffic in the United States.

In 2015, Twitch had over 1.5 million broadcasters and 100 million viewers per month.

As of the third quarter of 2017, Twitch remains the leading video game live streaming service in the United States, ahead of YouTube Gaming.

As of May 2018, Twitch has 2.2 million monthly broadcasters and 15 million daily active users, with an average of about 1 million concurrent users. In addition, it has more than 27,000 partner channels.

Profit Model

1. Users purchase the monthly paid “Turbo” plan: In addition to being free of ads, they can also enjoy exclusive chat area markers, picture magic wands, and personalized emoticons. The fee is $89.99 per year or $8.99 per month.

2. Subscription fee: Anchors certified by Twitch can turn on the Subscriber mode. If other users want to watch related videos, they must pay a monthly subscription fee of US$5 to Twitch. The revenue is shared by the anchor and the platform.

3. Advertising revenue: There are advertisements in the gaps between live game matches, on the website homepage, and in the blank spaces of game videos. Most of the advertising revenue belongs to Twitch, and only part of the advertising involved in the game videos posted by individuals will belong to the anchor himself. In addition, Twitch will also gain certain revenue from product promotion activities in cooperation with game equipment manufacturers and offline activities in cooperation with well-known game developers.

Advantages of off-site traffic generation on Twitch

The areas suitable for promotion on Twitch are game-related products, including: keyboards, mice, game consoles, headphones, game controllers, anti-radiation glasses, game chairs, etc.

1. The website has a large overall user base, but its exposure in the country is very low.

2. Since the website content is game live broadcast, and the average game time of several popular games is more than 20 minutes, website users stay on the website for a long time.

3. Similar to social media, it takes the route of fan marketing, but the user stickiness is higher. The anchor starts broadcasting at a fixed time and the audience watches at a fixed time.

4. There are many celebrities on the site and they are ranked according to popularity, so it is easy to find cooperation targets.

5. Popular games appear at any time, celebrities are frequently updated and replaced, and new anchors often do not charge high prices.

Development History

-In 2007, Twitch's predecessor Justin.tv was founded by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear.

-In June 2011, the parent company decided to separate the gaming segment into an independent Twitch.tv. The public beta version was launched on June 6, and at that time Twitch was already attracting more than 35 million visitors per month.

- In 2012 and 2013, Twitch received $15 million and $20 million in venture capital respectively, and the platform began to make a profit in 2013.

-In mid-2013, Twitch had an average of 43 million viewers per month, with the average daily stay time of users exceeding 1 hour.

-In February 2014, the parent company of Twitch.tv and Justin.Tv was renamed "Twitch Interactive".

-In May 2014, it was reported that Google proposed to acquire Twitch for $1 billion, but the deal was ultimately not reached due to concerns about Google's YouTube platform.

-On August 5, 2014, Justin.tv shut down.

-On August 25, 2014, Twitch.tv was acquired by Amazon for $970 million and became its subsidiary.

-In May 2015, Twitch reset all user account passwords and disabled external links to Twitter and YouTube following reports that Twitch user information had been accessed without authorization.

-In August 2016, Twitch announced the acquisition of Curse, a gaming voice software and auxiliary program.

-On September 30, 2016, Twitch Prime was launched, including ad-free services, subscription benefits, and game purchase discounts, exclusively for Amazon Prime users.

-In December 2016, the IRL - In Real Life category was added, and the live broadcast function was launched on the Twitch app, allowing live streamers to chat and interact with viewers without having to play games.

-In March 2017, Twitch announced the integration and enhancement of its game voice software Curse, and revised it into the "Twitch Desktop App".

-In September 2018, the website was blocked by the Chinese government and the app was removed from the iOS App Store in China.

-In October 2018, Twitch announced the launch of Amazon Blacksmith.

- On November 27, 2018, Twitch terminated its Game Store service, arguing that it did not bring partners the additional revenue they had hoped for, nor did it bring new revenue opportunities to businesses such as Amazon Blacksmith. However, users can still access the games they purchased.