Twitch & Co: Game Streaming Gets More And More Popular

We take a look at the reasons Twitch continues to grow in popularity.

Today's youth have long been enthusiastic about videos and playing games on their smartphones. And video game streams are also already quite popular. Here, the stars of these websites film themselves playing and often provide entertaining commentary. The big stars of the streaming scene include Ninja, shroud, and xQcOW.

The best-known and currently most successful streamer is Ninja. He became known primarily with streams of Fortnite Battle Royale. But there are also streamers who specialize in games like FIFA, Minecraft, or League of Legends.

Casino streamers also have significant followers. One of the reasons these streams are so popular is because viewers get tips on various slots. Great casino games can be found at https://yoyocasino.se/en/.

What makes game streaming so popular

Of course, television and the associated streaming is also a lot of fun, but gaming streaming has a special appeal due to its interactive nature. Here, viewers have the opportunity to discuss with each other in real-time. They can also communicate their wishes and suggestions to the streamer. In this way, it is possible to even actively influence the course of the stream.

Beloved TV stars always move in a kind of parallel universe and are thus unreachable. This is completely different with streamers. Streamers tune their content to their fans and adapt it to their audience in the best possible way.

With so-called Bits, viewers in turn have the opportunity to express their appreciation with a kind of digital currency. These are used via chat. For the streamers, they are a great motivation to create even better and more exciting content. The Bits can be converted into real money and paid out. But the encouragement alone is the most important thing of all for many streamers.

A high entertainment value

But of course, a big attraction is the high entertainment value of gaming streams. The really successful streamers have a lot of talent. They are able to make their audience marvel, laugh or tremble.

Since the competitive pressure has now become very high, each streamer puts a lot of effort into creating new and exciting content. Occasionally, however, they may go too far with their ideas and unintentionally upset the audience. In the worst case, they might even be banned from the platform.

Users are also guaranteed not to get bored because if you're not excited about one stream, you simply move on to another. Unlike what you're used to watching on TV, users have millions of different streams to choose from here. In addition, the streams on Twitch are always perfectly tailored to the young target groups.

Television focuses primarily on older viewers. Twitch Generation Z is completely among themselves.

Twitch, what is that exactly?

Most people know Twitch primarily as a game streaming platform. Originally, it was the Justin.tv live streaming platform. However, the video game category grew so rapidly that twitch.tv was spun off as an independent portal.

In 2014, Amazon then took over Twitch for an impressive sum of 970 million US dollars. This clearly showed the great potential that was believed to lie behind this platform. An office was opened in Germany in May 2017. This office was able to recruit the former Google manager Burkhard Leimbrock as head of Germany. Twitch now has 15 million active users worldwide.

This is what Twitch has focused on

Twitch is most popular for live broadcasting of esports events (e.g. CS:GO) and video games. Since Twitch does not provide streaming software, the content is uploaded using open-source programs like OBS.

Streamers not only share the screen to allow viewers to follow the corresponding game, but they themselves are at the center of the action through a face cam. The chat is displayed to the right of the video stream and is a central component of the community concept.

This chat not only enables the exchange among the viewers but also allows interaction with the streamer. The streamer is thus given the opportunity to answer questions from his users and respond to their comments.

Thus, Twitch offers its users exactly what no other comparable platform can do, namely dynamic live content, direct feedback from the viewers and the opportunity to actively shape content.

Twitch supports its gamers

Another reason why Twitch is so popular is that the platform allows its streamers to monetize their channels, which is possible through a partnership, for example. Streamers who have already made a valuable contribution to the community with their content can apply to become broadcasters.

A minimum requirement to be accepted into Twitch's partner program is that the streamer streams regularly at least three times a week. The partners then receive a share of the revenue from advertisements and subscriptions.

Image via: Unsplash