Have you ever considered streaming your gameplay? If you’re reading this you probably have. Twitch is a free-to-use video streaming service/website which is accessible to anyone. Twitch has over 2.2 million unique creators who share their gameplay monthly. Over the years, Twitch has gained an average of 44 billion minutes watched! Twitch was initially launched on June 6, 2011. Although Twitch was released over 7 years ago, it continues to maintain its popularity and lacks nothing but failure. Nowadays, Twitch is owned by Amazon.
There are many unique creators on Twitch. Around 75%-85% of twitch creators stream gameplay from various different games. Games such as 'Fortnite', 'Call of Duty', and 'LOL' ('League of Legends'). Streamers can get paid through ‘donations’ made by their viewers. As your channel grows in popularity, you tend to gain more viewers. Donations can be as simple as a dollar or two, however, some people donate over $100,000 to streamers! Streamers can also get paid through ad sponsorships by applying overlays on their screen of certain companies. Donations are a pop-up that appears on the screen with the message that you wrote. This allows all the viewers and the streamer themselves view your donation and read what you have to say. As the streamer gains popularity it becomes harder to view the chat so donations ensure that the streamer gets your message. The viewers could also communicate with each other or with the streamer in the chat section. The streamer can see every comment made on his stream and if the streamer decides that a comment that had been made is inappropriate or doesn’t follow the guidelines they may suspend/ban the viewer from watching their streams. Viewers often chat to inquire about the streamer or communicate with the streamer, the streamer may read the chat and answer their questions or communicate back.
After the streaming platform was bought by Amazon, they introduced ‘Twitch Prime’ which you automatically get if you have an ‘Amazon Prime’ account. ‘Twitch Prime’ allows the viewers to subscribe to one channel a month. Each subscription gives the streamer around $5. There are many multi-millionaire streamers who have gained a large following, large streamers can often have over 10,000 subscriptions which alone can make up to $50,000 dollars a month! There are many well-known streamers such as: Ninja, Myth, Pokimane, and TimTheTatMan.
The platform has gained so much popularity that most ESport tournaments are hosted and streamed on Twitch. This makes it easily accessible to anyone who is interested in competitive gaming. Esport tournaments such as: MLG Anaheim, Pax West, Fortnite Fridays and many more!
Overall, I believe the streaming platform will continue to gain popularity and will remain the increase in monthly users. The platform has and will continue to thrive for many years to come.
Written by Zaid Al Obaidi
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