Twitch
Twitch is a livestreaming service for gaming, entertainment, sports, music and other content. It publishes articles aimed at brands, such as one on the business outcomes of advertising in gaming.
Documents
How Gaming Is Delivering Real Business Outcomes for Brands
The presentation demonstrates that gaming has become a strategic channel for brands seeking measurable marketing impact.
- Gaming has transitioned into a performance-marketing channel capable of tracking the full funnel from initial brand awareness to final conversion.
- Overwolf serves as a major advertising hub, reaching over 113 million monthly gamers and ranking as the second-largest U.S. gaming property according to Comscore.
- Global brands including Universal Pictures, P&G, Lancôme, AMD, Monster Energy, Nissan, and KFC are actively utilizing gaming platforms to achieve measurable business outcomes.
Reports about Twitch
569 documents by other writers name Twitch in the title or summary.
How Influencer Marketing Is Changing Live-Streaming
Live-streaming has emerged as a critical frontier for brand marketing, driven by a significant surge in viewership since 2020.
- Influencer marketing is a rapidly expanding sector that reached a $16.4 billion valuation in 2022, with projections to hit $21 billion in 2023 and an average ROI of $5.20 for every $1 spent.
- Live-streaming viewership remains significant, with nearly 30 billion hours watched across Twitch, YouTube Live Gaming, and Facebook Gaming in 2022, doubling the 14 billion hours recorded in 2019.
- Twitch dominates the live-streaming landscape, accounting for 23 billion of the 30 billion total hours watched in 2022.
Exploring Q1 2023 Video Games Live Streaming: The Last of Us
The first quarter of 2023 demonstrated a significant correlation between the release of non-gaming media adaptations and increased engagement within the live streaming ecosystem.
- The Last of Us live streaming viewership doubled in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022 following the debut of the HBO television series.
- Hours watched for The Last of Us games increased by 107% immediately following the television series premiere.
- Twitch chat mentions of The Last of Us actors and characters rose by 27% in the two weeks following the show's debut.
A Deep Dive into the Performance of XDefiant Closed Beta
The closed beta for Ubisoft’s arena shooter XDefiant serves as a case study for the efficacy of integrating live-streaming platforms and influencer partnerships into the game development lifecycle.
- Ubisoft’s XDefiant closed beta generated 7.3 million hours watched across major live streaming platforms between April 13 and April 25, 2023.
- Unlike the competitor title The Finals, which saw a 64% viewership drop by its third day, XDefiant experienced a 48% increase in viewership by day three and peaked at nearly 1 million hours watched on day four.
- The top five streamers for the XDefiant beta were Pixuy (463K hours), eliasn97 (325K hours), TeePee (274K hours), Gotaga (241K hours), and scump (222K hours).
Cloud9 Strengthens Partnership Team With New Hires
The Los Angeles-based esports organization Cloud9 has expanded its internal partnerships department with the appointment of two new managers, Meghan Anderson Luo and Brian Tran.
- Cloud9 has expanded its partnerships department by hiring Meghan Anderson Luo as a partnerships manager and Brian Tran as a partnerships account manager.
- Meghan Anderson Luo joins Cloud9 from King and Country, bringing prior experience from Immortals, where she served as a partnerships activations manager and partnership coordinator.
- Brian Tran joins the organization after previously holding a similar role at Gen.G Esports for over a year.
Rising Stars of Kick: Analyzing the Growth of Top Live Streamers
The live streaming platform Kick has emerged as a notable competitor to established services like Twitch and YouTube, driven by a creator-centric model that features a 95-5 revenue split and incentives for consistent viewership.
- Kick launched in late 2022 as a creator-focused alternative to Twitch, offering a 95-5 revenue split and direct-to-streamer tips.
- AdinRoss emerged as the top creator on Kick during the week of April 5-11, 2023, with an average minute audience (AMA) of 52,192, matching his 2022 Twitch performance.
- Destiny experienced significant growth on the platform, more than doubling his 2022 YouTube AMA of 5,232 to reach 11,259 on Kick.
Super Mario Bros Movie Sees Twitch Chat Boost
The release of The Super Mario Bros.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie achieved a record-breaking domestic debut of $106.1 million and became the highest-grossing global launch for an animated film of all time.
- Mentions of Mario franchise characters in Twitch chat spiked 86% following the movie's release, rising from a baseline of 45,000 daily mentions to over 83,000.
- Mentions of the film's voice actors in Twitch chat surged by 344% to 3,700 mentions on the day after the premiere compared to the preceding weeks.
Call of Duty League Will Be Broadcast on Both YouTube and Twitch
Activision Blizzard announced in April 2023 that the Call of Duty League would expand its broadcast distribution to include both YouTube and Twitch.
- As of April 7, 2023, the Call of Duty League (CDL) began broadcasting live on both YouTube and Twitch.
- This move reverses the league's December 2022 announcement that the 2023 season would be exclusive to Twitch.
- The CDL's previous three-year exclusive broadcasting rights deal with YouTube, valued at $160 million, officially expired in January 2023.
Month in Review: Sons of the Forest
The horror survival game Sons of the Forest, released in early access on February 23, 2023, achieved significant traction within the live streaming ecosystem during its first month.
- Sons of the Forest generated over 39 million hours watched across Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming in its first month following its February 23, 2023, early access release.
- The game reached a peak viewership of 909,000 during its first two days and hit the #2 spot on live streaming charts on its second day with 7.45 million hours watched.
- 133,000 unique channels streamed the game during its first month, establishing it as one of the top single-player titles released in Q1 2023.
Expansions and Partnerships
Netflix is aggressively scaling its gaming division, aiming to bolster subscriber retention through a pipeline of 146 titles, including 40 releases scheduled for the current year.
- Netflix is scaling its gaming division with 146 titles in development, including 40 releases planned for this year, to improve subscriber retention.
- Immutable and Polygon have partnered to develop ZK-EVM infrastructure, aiming to consolidate Web3 development and challenge established chains like Solana and Avalanche.
- CCP Games secured $40 million to integrate blockchain into EVE Online, though the project faces significant regulatory hurdles and a long development timeline with no release expected before 2030.
Counter-Strike 2 Beta Peaks at 930K Viewers
The announcement of the Counter-Strike 2 limited beta test on March 22, 2023, triggered a significant surge in live streaming engagement across Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming.
- Valve’s announcement of the Counter-Strike 2 limited test beta on March 22, 2023, drove a spike in viewership across Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming, reaching a peak of 930,000 concurrent viewers.
- The announcement generated 6.4 million hours watched for CS:GO content on the day of the reveal.
- Twitch chat engagement surged significantly, with 57,500 mentions of the new game, representing a 567% increase compared to the previous day.
Ibai & Gerard Pique’s Kings League Peaks at 1.7M Viewers During Regular Season
The Kings League, a soccer-based competition founded by streamer Ibai Llanos and professional athlete Gerard Piqué, has demonstrated significant success in the live-streaming sector.
- The Kings League regular season generated over 30 million hours watched and reached a peak of 1.7 million concurrent viewers during a Week 8 match.
- The league maintained an average of nearly 400,000 viewers per week across its main channel and various co-streamers.
- The debut of professional footballer Ronaldinho for Porcinos FC in Week 8 served as a major viewership catalyst, driving 5.3 million hours watched and the season's peak concurrent audience of 1.7 million.
Twitch Cuts 400 Employees in New Round of Amazon Layoffs
In March 2023, the streaming platform Twitch announced a workforce reduction of approximately 400 employees.
- Twitch is laying off approximately 400 employees as part of a broader workforce reduction at its parent company, Amazon.
- The layoffs are part of a larger initiative by Amazon to cut 9,000 positions across multiple divisions.
- Twitch President Daniel Clancy cited a challenging macroeconomic environment and slower-than-expected user and revenue growth as the primary drivers for the staff reductions.