With video game streaming becoming a vital pillar of the content market, Twitch has evolved as the hot favorite social platform for the ultra-engaged gaming community.
Twitch is the most popular live streaming platform for gamers that broadcast gaming content while building communities around shared interests. Twitch streamers essentially share their gameplay by sharing their screens with the subscribers and fans, who can watch them play their favorite games live. Interestingly, there’s both a free and paid version to Twitch streaming, so there are monetization opportunities as well.
In this Article:
🎮 What you need to know about Twitch?
The latest Twitch stats offer exciting insights. With a total of 9.5 million active streamers (as of Feb 2021), Twitch is most famous for adventure-based gamers. But you’ll find it equally popular amongst turn-based strategy and even MMO-style gaming fans. Although petite, but Twitch is also known for broadcasting music, talks shows, and sports. The unique selling point of Twitch live streaming is that the stream can last anywhere from a minute to eight hours and even beyond. Since its launch in 2011, Twitch has partnered with gaming giants such as Overwatch League and Blizzard Entertainment to host global gaming, and sports events exclusively streamed on the platform.
As of July 2021, League of Legends was the most popular game on Twitch, with 42.55 billion viewers. This was followed by Fortnite, with 25.16 billion viewers, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with 19.14 billion viewers.
🕹️ How Does Twitch Work?
The most notable feature of Twitch streaming is the split-screen display that allows the viewer to see what the streamer sees on his screen while playing. Additionally, the viewer can hear and see the streamer play through a smaller window embedded on the stream’s edge. While viewing the stream, the viewer can also comment in real-time and even receive responses in real-time. Since Twitch allows saving the streams, the viewers can also watch the previously stream gameplays.
So, how do gamers make money on Twitch?
Twitch allows the viewers to purchase games through links shown on the streams. For every purchase, the streamer receives pre-determined sales commissions. Additionally, the streamer can sell products related to their streams using affiliate links.
That said, Twitch also offers subscriptions to support your favorite streamer, allowing the viewers to watch ad-free streams and access to other features such as chat badges and emotes. For instance, Twitch Prime is a popular subscription option on Twitch, which gives viewers access to additional games and exclusive in-game content. However, it has to be manually renewed each month.
📊 Important Twitch Streaming Metrics
With a deeply engaged and loyal customer base, Twitch enjoys a considerable proportion of the live game streaming market. Here are a few of the most important Twitch metrics that every marketer needs to know:
👉 71 million Hours of Content Consumed Daily
Although Twitch only received around 7% of YouTube’s monthly active users, Twitch users consume a lot more content per session. The average mobile viewing session for Twitch is 2x that of YouTube, around 95 minutes per session. In total, Twitch users consume 71 million hours of content daily.
👉 15 million Daily Active Users
Twitch caters to around 15 million active users daily, with 9.2million monthly active streamers. In 2020 alone, the number of monthly active streamers increased from 3.9 million to 9.2 million, which depicts its massive prospects. That said, approximately 2.2 million gamers broadcast their live gameplays on Twitch every month
👉 Core User Demographic is Skewed Towards Male Users (73%)
65% of Twitch users are male, 73% of which are under the age of 35. Hence, Twitch has a predominantly gen-z audience, which makes it a prime advertising platform choice. Given that Twitch users are highly engaged to the platform and spend a considerable chunk of their time here, there are massive advertising opportunities on the forum.
👉 Twitch Partner Program Grew by 68% since 2017
The number of Twitch Partners has increased from 27,000 in 2017 to over 45,000 in 2021, increasing 68%. Twitch’s Partner Program is the core monetization program for streamers to earn through their live streams on the platform. Partners can either share in advertising reviews or make a part of their streams limit to paying subscribers.
👉 Peak Twitch Viewership Marks at 6.5 million views
Twitch holds an incredible record of viewers tuning in simultaneously, regardless of the different streams and varied content – over 6.5 million views. That’s the highest ever reported for Twitch.
🎯 Final Thoughts
Twitch is the primary home for avid gamers who love sharing their gameplays with people with shared interests. With an intent to outpace its rival YouTube, Twitch has taken the live game streaming world by storm, presenting incredible engagement opportunities for marketers. If you’re a gamer, learn how to Power Up your Gameplay with OneStream Live. And if you’re a marketer, scroll back up and have a re-read.
OneStream Live is a cloud-based live streaming solution to create, schedule, and multistream professional-looking live streams across 45+ social media platforms and the web simultaneously. For content-related queries and feedback, write to us at [email protected]. You’re also welcome to Write for Us!
