Twitch has successfully become the YouTube of the live gaming streaming world

Streaming platforms these days seem to be a dying breed outside of Twitch of course. The streaming giant has recorded another year of high viewership numbers and has set itself as the primary live gaming streaming service not only for would-be streamers but also for viewers of these streamers. 

Twitch has seemingly found the secret recipe for being a successful live gaming streaming platform and has proceeded to keep it to themselves if the failure of other live gaming streaming services is anything to go by. The latest casualty of which is Mixer which was promising at first since they were backed by one of the richest companies on the planet -Microsoft. Unfortunately for them however having an endless stream of money does not help if the pulling factor of the platform is weak in terms of attracting viewers to the service which is what Mixer suffered from the most which is what led to its demise and subsequent absorption into Facebook Gaming. The funds available to Mixer is what in many users minds made Mixer seem like the one service that could tackle Twitch of its perch as Twitch is backed by Amazon which means that both could compete in terms of offering creators exclusivity deals which is what Mixer did initially by prying Ninja and Shroud away from Twitch but even they failed to save the service. 

Threats to Twitch Dominance 

YouTube Gaming is the second biggest live gaming streaming service based on the number of hours spent viewing content on the service and it has recorded a 65% year on year growth when compared to Twitch’s 100% growth. One thing that YouTube Gaming has going for it though is that mobile game streamers are more likely to use it than Twitch.

Facebook gaming has seen an enormous increase in viewership numbers which currently stands at +200% year on year growth while such great numbers are great much remains to be seen particularly if the current trajectory Facebook Gaming will be maintained or not. Facebook's reputation might also make many users very hesitant to use the service due to privacy concerns which are already shown by the reduced usage of the service in the western world.

Streaming service growing pains 

One of the main stumbling blocks of establishing a new streaming service in a sea of existing large and small services is the downright unwillingness of users to switch to new platforms. Platform migration is the hardest aspect to pitch to users as many get set in routines unless the service is mind-blowingly better than what is currently being offered. This principle is what has made developing YouTube competitors so hard and not that people do not try.

One new kid on the block is Brime.tv but they are yet to fully launch outside of a slogan “its Brime time” courtesy of Ninja. Much remains to be seen if they will succeed or go the way of Hit Tv and Mixer.

Twitch - Trouble in paradise

Even though Twitch has firmly established itself as the live gaming streaming leader there remains many shortcomings of the service particularly its uneven handling of how it treats its creators. Some creators at times seem to get preferential treatment based on their popularity while smaller creators get thrown the hammer so to speak if they drop skin outside Twitch rules. This is one of the reasons Mixer showed such promise initially as they seemed to be more proactive in dealing with community concerns than Twitch.

One such incident was when Alinity a popular streamer on the platform fed her cat vodka which is poisonous to most animals and Twitch should have acted to reprimand her in some form but they never did which most users found to be unfair. This, however, was not an isolated incident as there were many occasions Twitch should have acted and banned creators based on their guidelines but they instead showed leniency. 

Despite all this, it is clear that Twitch will not be knocked off its perch anytime soon but they have much work to do to create a very healthy community by addressing issues within their communities.