The Twitch audience has grown enormously since the start of the pandemic, rising to over 37 million monthly viewers earlier this year. Understanding what matters to those viewers and how their engagement on the platform changes over time is crucial to keep an eye on. Twitch provides ample branding and advertising opportunities but most brands have yet to figure out exactly how to include Twitch in the media mix. To be fair, it can be somewhat of an enigma of a platform if you’re not a frequent user (or viewer), so we’ve outlined the recent events and headlines to take note of.
Microsoft’s Mixer shut down, Ninja and Shroud returned to Twitch
On July 23rd, Mixer officially shuttered its livestreaming platform. After throwing millions of dollars into building out robust streaming features as well as signing multi-million deals to bring talented streamers onto the Mixer platform, the platform never found a strong foothold amidst the competitive streaming platform. What’s next? Well, the community that did exist migrated to other platforms.
Although Mixer hedged its bets by selling to Facebook for Facebook Gaming, a new entrant to the streaming world, content creators and viewers alike returned in droves to Twitch. Ninja and Shroud are two Mixer streamers who found their way back to Twitch shortly after Mixer announced its sale to Facebook. While Ninja has yet to announce an exclusive partnership, Shroud’s first stream back on Twitch garnered more than 500K concurrent viewers. Later, the 26-year-old content creator signed an exclusive partnership with Twitch.
Why this matters
The power of loyalty lies in the platform, not the creator. Despite bringing on big names in the streaming world, Mixer ultimately failed to gain traction, while Twitch further established its dominance in the midst of the pandemic. The Twitch community is now more vibrant than ever, with viewers unbelievably engaged, spending more time than ever watching their favorite content creators on the platform.
Twitch should no longer be excluded from media plans, though every brand should carefully consider the best way to engage on Twitch, whether it be through sponsored streams, in-stream ads, or other branded opportunities. Fortunately, the Twitch community understands the value advertising brings to their favorite creators, so viewers are not opposed to advertising, but integrating as not to disrupt the community’s endearing nature remains the best course of action.
Suggested Reading: How Brands Can Log Into Gaming’s Multi-Billion Dollar Industry
Amazon rebranded the Twitch Prime membership as Prime Gaming
Originally known as Twitch Prime, Amazon has rebranded the service in recent months to Prime Gaming. Similar to Twitch Prime, Prime Gaming is free to all Amazon Prime members and includes exclusive benefits like free games and in-game content, and a monthly subscription for a Twitch channel.
Why this matters
With this move, Amazon seeks to ensure relevancy with all gamers, not just Twitch users, in the long-run, knowing Twitch and livestreaming are only two parts of the entire gaming ecosystem. Amazon saw that the perks of Twitch Prime were often overlooked by its users, simply because it was directly related to Twitch, instead of Amazon.
Interestingly, this was despite Twitch Prime memberships having more off-platform benefits than on. Now, Prime Gaming fits nicely within Amazon’s book of entertainment business alongside Prime Video and Prime Reading.
Fall Guys is the most streamed game on Twitch
Is Fortnite gone for good? Probably not, but there is a new front runner to compete with. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a deceptively simple multiplayer game where sixty players compete through several different mini-games to be the last one standing. In the first 24 hours of its release, there were over 1.5 million players. Even better, Fall Guys isn’t owned by a major publisher, but rather, it’s an indie game owned by the small shop, Mediatonic. Brands are now fighting to be part of the action with an exclusive in-game perk.
Why this matters
A game’s popularity comes and goes, which is why brands must act quickly. Fall Guys has now developed a bidding contest to give branded skins in the game (Skin is the appearance of the game character). The contest calls for brands to donate to a charity called Special Effect, and the highest bidder receives a branded skin.
Getting in on these trends early drives the brand’s relevancy to players. Since these partnerships are endemic to the game, they can drive tremendous earned media returns as creators stream on Twitch, thus garnering more organic reach with their viewers.