Twitch (service)

Twitch is a major American live-streaming service used for video content.

While it is most famous for video games and esports competitions, it hosts many other types of media. Users can watch music broadcasts, creative content, and "in real life" streams. The service allows people to view content live as it happens. It also offers video on demand, which lets users watch recorded broadcasts later. Twitch is operated by Twitch Interactive, which is a subsidiary of the company Amazon.

The platform works by connecting broadcasters to a massive audience through a live video feed. Broadcasters can share their gameplay or activities in real-time. Viewers interact with these streams through a chat system. A famous example of this interaction was the "Twitch Plays Pokémon" stream in February 2014. In this event, a system translated chat commands from the audience into game controls.

This turned a single-player game into a massive, participatory experience. The channel reached over 6.5 million total views during this viral event.

Twitch has several distinct features and systems that support its community. One such system is the use of "Bits," which is an in-site currency.

Users purchase Bits through Amazon Payments to use for "Cheering." This acts as a way to donate to a specific channel. Channels also use automated chat moderation tools. These tools use natural language processing and machine learning to identify unwanted content for human review. This helps keep the massive amount of real-time chat organized and safe.

The history of Twitch began with a platform called Justin.tv. Justin Kan and Emmett Shear launched Justin.tv in 2007. The site originally had many different content categories. However, the gaming category grew much faster than the others. Because of this success, the company launched TwitchTV as a spin-off in June 2011.

By June 2013, the company had about 80 employees, growing to 100 by December of that year. The company was headquartered in the Financial District of San Francisco.

Twitch's growth led to significant changes in ownership and internet traffic. In August 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch Interactive for $970 million in an all-cash deal.

This happened after a rumored deal with Google fell through due to potential antitrust concerns. The scale of the service is massive. By 2015, Twitch had more than 100 million viewers per month. In February 2014, it was the fourth-largest source of peak internet traffic in the United States. At that time, it accounted for 1.8% of all total US internet traffic during peak periods.

Today, the service maintains a very high level of activity across the globe. Twitch is the 30th-most-visited website in the world. Much of its traffic comes from the United States, which provides 23.46% of all visits. Other major contributors include Russia at 8.87%, Germany at 7.08%, and France at 6.26%. The platform supports millions of people, with 15 million active users daily. It also features 3 million monthly broadcasters and over 27,000 partner channels.

Twitch connects to many broader digital systems and industries. Through its ownership by Amazon, it has created synergies with Amazon Prime. This includes services like Twitch Prime, which offers ad-free streaming and "Game Loot" for subscribers. The platform also connects to the esports industry, serving as an official streaming platform for events like the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Even as it faces challenges, such as leaving the South Korean market in 2024 due to network fee costs, Twitch remains a central hub for digital entertainment and interactive media.