In case you happen to be a n00b, Twitch began as a livestreaming video platform built around the interests of the gaming audience. CCO: The Twitch community has expanded far beyond its initial audience of video gamers. We also offer a managed service to help brands understand authentic ways to communicate with Twitch communities, as well as identifying the most appropriate communities and streamers for brands to engage with. Jane: Content pursued through media partnerships is based on areas of interest surfaced by our community. CCO: Are there opportunities for brand marketers to license and/or leverage Twitch content off the platform? Jane: Yes. PepsiCo and Twitch created an off-season competitive gaming tournament for the popular video game Rocket League where the event’s commentators and personalities consumed Brisk and performed in skits about purchasing the product at 7-Eleven. Viewers not only cheered for shoutcasters (live gaming commentators) to consume bottles, they engaged with Brisk via social media after the broadcasts were over. CCO: Social video is an evolving area where some content marketers may not have a lot of experience. Jane: For us, success is about seeing our creators succeed.
It seemed to happen overnight and with little warning: Video gaming grew out of its awkward phase, emerged from mom’s basement and confidently launched itself onto the social media scene – winning the attention of millions of active and deeply engaged viewers in the process.
With the help of streaming media technology and a virtually unlimited ability for consumers to build social communities around the things they love, massively popular video games like Call of Duty and League of Legends have been transformed from isolated youth activities into powerful and participatory online events. The new entertainment category these events have spawned – esports – is projected to reach $1.65 billion in market revenue by 2020, making it a lucrative playing field for enterprising marketers.
Few social media platforms have done more to help brands capitalize on this booming entertainment trend than Twitch. In case you happen to be a n00b, Twitch began as a livestreaming video platform built around the interests of the gaming audience. But, as this passion-driven community grew, so too did the company’s view of its marketing value. Thanks to some savvy content partnerships with big media brands like the BBC, Disney Digital Network, and even the NFL, Twitch is expanding into other areas of streaming news and entertainment and now averages more viewers than many cable networks.
Jane Weedon, director of business development for Twitch, shares her insights on tapping into the huge audiences for livestreaming video for gamers without alienating the core fan base or losing brand identity.
CCO: The Twitch community has expanded far beyond its initial audience of video gamers. How has your content strategy evolved in response?
Jane: The content we support on Twitch is still tied to our community of enthusiastic gamers; but over time it has surfaced that they have a lot of additional interests aside from gaming, such as anime, vlogging, comedy, and the creative arts. Given the many different passions of our (content) creators, we are putting a big focus on providing better means of discovery to ensure their fans can easily find them, such as adding new tags, recommendations, and categories.
CCO: On the business side, what makes Twitch valuable to its marketing partners? And, as you scale your offerings by continually adding new content partnerships, how can you protect this value from being diluted?
Jane: Twitch has mastered the art of delivering live, interactive, shared entertainment on a global scale with a creator-focused approach. The result is a large and passionate fan community connected by chat behavior and emote-driven language (a meme-based pictographic shorthand) native to Twitch. In addition, our core demographic is the hard-to-reach, cord-cutting 18- to 34-year-olds who consume all of their content on laptops and mobile devices.
The key to our success lies in seeing what streaming interests surface among our community and blending those with the content and our data. This ensures that our partnerships are aligned with our users.
In general, the Twitch community is very savvy; so, transparency and authenticity are essential. We also offer a managed service to help brands understand authentic ways to communicate with Twitch communities, as well as identifying the most appropriate communities and streamers for brands to engage with.
CCO: How does your team determine what content ideas to pursue through media partnerships vs. what community members might contribute organically on their personal channels?
Jane: Content pursued through media partnerships is based on areas of interest surfaced by our community. For example, when…
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