Streaming: Twitch Launches Sports Category, Arsenal And Real Madrid to Feature
| Tags: Streaming
| Author David Hollingsworth
Twitch and Amazon are looking to go big on sports, as Twitch launches a new Twitchsports channel.
The new channel will highlight top broadcasts and programming from partners across sports globally. Early big names taking part are football clubs Arsenal, Real Madrid, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. In the US NBA, NHL, RFL, UFC, and NWSL will provide content on the platform.
With Twitch already the go-to place alongside YouTube for gaming content, Amazon is looking to expand its reach with sports on the platform. We’ve already seen some major events broadcast on the platform in the past year. Formula 1 made its debut on the platform recently, and the Premier League matches broadcast by Amazon Prime in the UK are also now all streamed on Twitch. Though only to those in the UK for now.
Alongside those, Twitch also streams Thursday Night Football on Twitch and recently acquired the German UEFA Champions League after the success of its efforts in England. Amazon holds the rights to stream 16 matches a year in Germany, for the group and knockout stages for three-season from 2021-22, due to COVID-19 the start date of that is not fully known. Amazon also acquired the rights to stream the 24 Woman’s National Soccer League games on its platform. Crucially, that deal includes the global rights to all 108 regular matches for those outside of the US. Which highlights the major advantage of Amazon buying sports rights.
Sports stars on stream
Can’t believe I went from a Full time @Twitch streamer to 3rd youngest ever F1 podium finisher in a matter of days….
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) July 6, 2020
Twitch has also been home to major sports stars streaming on the platform. Back in 2018 Tottenham star, Dele Alli streamed Fortnite on Twitch alongside Spurs and England teammate Harry Kane. The most notable star on Twitch is probably British F1 Star Lando Norris. A regular of the platform, Lando not only streams F1 and Sim Racing content but plays PUBG and Warzone. Lando was particularly active during the break-in F1, though recently he’s streamed a lot of F1 behind the scenes action, including his recent podium finish.
Outside of sports, Twitch has recently signed rapper Logic to an exclusive deal with the platform. He’ll be a regular on the platform now that he’s retired from rap, and will even be debuting his final album on Twitch first when he makes his first stream on the platform on July 23rd.