Twitch is a platform for live broadcasts, mainly focused on the world of video games. In it we can find live games, eSports transmissions and events related to video games.
In 2007, a new platform emerged whose name was Justin.tv that allowed users the possibility of transmitting live videos. The idea was to create a website that would broadcast a kind of live reality show. As proof, Justin, one of his founders, stood in front of the camera and decided to broadcast his daily life 24/7 on the platform.
At that time it was the only channel they had hence its name was Justin.tv. They did not finish achieving all the success they wanted, since they hardly had visitors interested in seeing the life of a programmer 24 hours a day. Then they came up with the idea that other people would broadcast on the platform to get more visits. The idea grew and became so popular that companies as relevant as Microsoft came to use the platform to make live conferences.
The gamer community had a lot of presence on Justin.tv, but its founders did not even notice it, a big mistake. Gamers had been broadcasting on Justin.tv from almost the beginning, at one point being 20% of the traffic for years.
Once they realized this, they created, in parallel with Justin.tv, Twitch in 2011, a specific website for this type of user. The gaming community grew so large and provided such results to the platform that its creators in 2014 decided to shut down Justin.tv to focus exclusively on Twitch. Everything was going so well that rumors about a possible purchase by Google were heard but. Finally, the giant Amazon appeared and in August 2014 it officially announced that they had acquired it.
How Twitch Channels Work
Its structure is very similar to other platforms such as Amazon Prime or Netflix, unlike the fact that each image corresponds to a topic or channel. In this way the content it presents is much greater. The main screens show the content of the channels that the consumer follows. It has a search engine to find new content through topics, keywords or channels with live broadcast at that very moment.
In the list of channels appear, at the top left, those who are doing a live. The streamer has the option of deciding in each broadcast the theme that will be exhibited in that live show; music, sports, cooking, conferences, games, etc.
Twitch always gives preference to channels that are broadcasting live. Although also through the search engine and the videos tab you can access any channel found on the platform. These last channels appear with the offline label, within them you can find different sections such as:
- Homepage
- About: The creator talks about the channel
- Schedule: Information on upcoming broadcasts
- Videos. All stored videos for that channel appear.
- Chat: Direct link to chat.
Brands on Twitch
By having Twitch Ads, you can show video ads in the middle of the broadcast or banners in different places on the platform. In addition to popular advertising and direct collaborations with streamers, brands can present themselves on Twitch by forming their own channel.
It allows you to create strategies and campaigns, but these must be very structured and global because their action is quite complex and economically more expensive.
As a suggestion, if you plan to open a channel on Twitch, the strategy will have to be made up of long-term content.
As a solution to this, streamers considered related to the brand are used to be in charge of spreading advertising on Twitch.
Interest of brands on Twitch
It is more than evident that the content of the creators is super important on Twitch but it is not the only relevant thing. The interaction generated between the creator of the channel and the audience through the chat allows conversations in real time. In this way, the streamer can communicate with his viewers live by answering questions, suggestions, requests, etc. You can even vary the content depending on the preferences of the users.
With all these options, it is possible to obtain that engagement that brands want so much, the interaction with the audience. If we add all the aforementioned to the number of daily visits that Twitch has, we already have it.
18 million daily visitors, more than 4 million content creators who perform direct through the platform every month.
Despite the number of channels with a very high audience, the number of streamers that collaborate with brands is still low. For brands, it represents a great opportunity to publicize their products and services among the generation that uses this platform the most. Normally this type of audience is not interested in being interrupted with advertising, although they accept it because they recognize that the streamer is financed through it. On the contrary, the raffles, games and dynamics that create interaction with the streamer are highly appreciated by this segment of the public. The use of Twitch has increased dramatically in recent months, with important events being broadcast and exceeding 500,000 simultaneous viewers.