Two gamers eat sausage rolls during a game break, and almost 10,000 people watch them. This is Twitch. A booming streaming platform. An average of 30 million people from over 230 countries visit the site every day.
In Switzerland, too, the “television for gamers” is attracting more and more users. With teens and young adults, Twitch is on the verge of overtaking Facebook on the popularity list, as the study did Digimonitor from the interest group electronic media (IGEM) and the WEMF AG for advertising media research shows.
Young television to participate
This is how Twitch works: The streamers publish videos in which they film themselves live. Sometimes they make music or there is sport, sometimes there are political discussions or a fairy tale hour. But most of them stream video games that Twitch is primarily known for. Corinne Egelhofer (28) from the St. Gallen Rhine Valley, for example, has been filming herself under the name “cocoolada” playing fantasy games such as “League of Legends” since 2018.
While streaming, viewers on Twitch can not only watch their game play, but also their reaction. In addition, they can ask “cocoolada” questions in the chat, discuss things with one another or send emotes, small pictures, into the chat.
“The live streaming made me much more self-confident”
That hits a nerve: In Switzerland, the number of young Twitch users has doubled in the last three years, while the number of Facebook users in the same age group has almost halved. In 2014, Amazon bought the platform that had been founded three years earlier for $ 970 million.
Reto Hofstetter, Professor of Digital Marketing at the University of Lucerne, is not surprised by the medium’s success. “On the one hand, Twitch is a thematic niche with its gaming content,” he says. On the other hand, the platform conveys a strong sense of togetherness: “You have direct access to the streamers, and you can also find like-minded people in the chat.”
“I learned a lot about friendship on Twitch,” says Corinne Egelhofer. “You are there for yourself within the community.” The conversations in the chat were sometimes really in-depth. “The live streaming and the positive reactions have also made me much more self-confident, which is also useful in the real world.”
The superstars of a new generation
While you can earn a few hundred francs a month with occasional streaming, the most famous Twitch gamers are millionaires. The American ninja earned around ten million dollars in 2018 alone. Nobody in Switzerland has even come close to achieving that. “That would take a lot of time, skill and luck,” says Egelhofer.
The platform is free, but you can subscribe to individual streamers for around 4.30 francs a month. With the subscription, there is no advertising for the user, but there are emotes.
It is precisely with these emotes that Twitcher Egelhofer, who trained as a teacher, earns her living today. «As a freelance graphic designer, I design emotes or logos for other Twitch users. There is great demand, I am often fully booked. “
A financing model of the future
The Twitch concept has potential, says Hofstetter. “In addition to popularity, confirmation and virality, influencers in front of the screen have the opportunity to monetize their following directly and independently.”
According to Hofstetter, the economic incentives are great. “As an influencer, why should I support the advertising model of a large corporation with my content and forego a large part of my income?” He asks. He is certain: “We will see more direct income models like Twitch in the future.”
Twitch has become Corinne Egelhofer’s life. She celebrated her last birthday online, and met her best friend and boyfriend on the livestream.