Twitch takes competitive gaming mainstream

Global Business

It’s one of the fastest growing ‘sports’- probably outstripping the number of fans the U.S. soccer league and the National Hockey League have combined. Now it’s making that jump from sub-culture to the mainstream thanks to Twitch.

It’s one of the fastest growing ‘sports’- probably outstripping the number of fans the U.S. soccer league and the National Hockey League have combined. Now it’s making that jump from sub-culture to the mainstream thanks to Twitch.

CCTV America’s Mark Niu reports.

Twitch is a platform that allows gamers to broadcast online their game playing abilities, their personalities, and their lives. And ten million viewers watch for two hours every day.

At TwitchCon, CEO Emmett Shear announced that Amazon Prime members who get such things as free shipping and streaming movies and also get the new Twitch Prime membership, which offers free games and Twitch channel subscriptions.

At the Streaming Zone, broadcasters are streaming their shows live from the exhibition floor. The growth has been tremendous. Five years ago there were only a few thousand broadcasters putting out their shows on Twitch. Today, there are more than 2 million broadcasting their shows every month.

Before becoming a top Twitch broadcaster, Kenji Egashira, aka, NumotTheNummy, worked as an elementary school teacher.

Egashira is one of the more than 15,000 broadcasters that have partnered with Twitch to share in viewer subscription fees.

Voice actor Max Gonzalez, who goes by the name Gassy Mexican online, is a top 40 Twitch broadcaster who has nearly 700,000 followers.

Gonzales said he’s not even a good game player and proving that no matter what the venue – showmanship and creativity are just as important in drawing in a massive crowd.


Max Gonzalez on how to make money on Twitch

How do Twitch broadcasters make a living? CCTV America’s Mark Niu spoke to top 40 Twitch broadcaster Max Gonzalez to find out more about the gaming community.