Twitch launched back in 2011 and popularized the concept of live streaming. The platform is now a reference, and even YouTube is influenced by this new way of providing content. However, the platform tends to get in the spotlight for banning popular streamers.
Twitch has dramatically evolved over the past decade, and the content isn’t only reserved for gamers. You can find content about almost everything, from people doing ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) to others playing at one of the best casinos online in Canada. Let’s have a look at how the streaming platform has grown and what the future holds for streamers and viewers alike.
How Everything Started
In 2007 there was a little site known as Justin.tv, its owner Justin Kan came up with the idea to stream his activities 24/7. People enjoyed the concept, and by 2020, Twitch became the most prolific gaming platform with over nine million active streamers every month.
With so many users, Twitch decided to create a way for streamers to live from their passion and launched TwitchCon to establish publisher partnerships which, coupled with audience gifts, turned many streamers into influencers. The other key feature that earned Twitch the number one spot on the gaming-related content is the Twitch Prime subscription. Viewers with an Amazon Prime account can subscribe to one channel per month for free and remunerate their favourite streamers.
The economic prospect offered by Twitch, between ads, and viewers’ generosity led to many people moving from YouTube to Twitch. The interactivity provided by the concept of live streaming is absent from the YouTube format, and this spontaneity seduced both viewers and content creators.
What’s Happening Now?
Twitch’s influence over other social media and content platforms is clearly visible. TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook now feature the option to make live videos. YouTube adopted a similar system to Twitch’s stream with comments and the possibility of giving money to people streaming on the platform. Despite several of Twitch’s most prominent content creators moving to YouTube Live, influential streamers like Shroud feel the platform isn’t going away anytime soon. According to him, Youtube’s competition will only lead to both platforms implementing more features to keep viewers and streamers invested, and it’s healthy for everyone.
Twitch is also the host of significant events that go beyond a content creator sharing his game sessions. We now see professional-level streams happen to give the money earned to a good cause and esports competitions.
The Future of Twitch
Twitch itself isn’t just letting creators do all the work, and it constantly updates its community guidelines to help moderation in the chat. The partnership with Amazon is mutually beneficial and should continue for a long time. This could give an edge to the platform if they manage to let streamers use audio and video clips legally, thanks to Prime’s content library, which YouTube has yet to provide.
The latest features, like extensions, allow each content creator to make their stream unique with custom animations and audio, enabling DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) content would be the natural continuation. For viewers, extensions represent new ways to interact with the content they watch and are essential to viewing pleasure.
