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Cable Technology Feature Article

February 11, 2014

Twitch Reaches 1 Million Gaming Broadcasters, Takes Over Company Name

By Tara Seals, TMCnet Contributor


Justin.tv has formally changed its name to Twitch Interactive, reflecting the huge growth of its Twitch online game streaming service.

Twitch was launched in 2011 to give gamers a platform for live-streaming their online video game play. It now has 1 million monthly broadcasters on the service, the company said. And in case you ever doubted the popularity of World of Warcraft, Minecraft and other online juggernauts, Twitch racks up 45 million viewers each month, who spend an average of 106 minutes per session on Twitch watching other people play games each day.

According to DeepField, Twitch ranks No. 4 for generating peak Internet traffic, after Netflix, Google/YouTube (News - Alert) and Apple.

“As Twitch has continued to grow as the leader of the video game streaming space, it has eclipsed our previous initiatives. Given our total focus on serving the gaming community, it makes sense to reposition it as our primary brand,” said Twitch founder Emmett Shear. “Seven years ago, Justin.tv pioneered live video on the web, and while I remain proud of all the work we did under that name, I’m even more excited about our new future as Twitch.”

PlayStation 4 has had a big impact on the site ever since the console debuted in November, thanks to a built-in Twitch-streaming integration. A staggering 200,000 gamers, 20 percent of Twitch’s content generators, have come to the platform through the PS4.

It’s about to get better for Twitch as well: Microsoft (News - Alert) is planning to launch its own Twitch-streaming functionality for the Xbox One.

“Twitch has broken down significant technical barriers by enabling gamers to share their experiences in a live and interactive fashion with millions around the world,” said Jesse Divnich, the vice president of insights at video game market research firm EEDAR.

Justin.tv as a brand will stick around as the name of the company’s non-gaming streaming site, which debuted in 2007 as a sort of live version of YouTube. People can stream out live video feeds of themselves, their dogs, their grandparents or what have you. 




Edited by Blaise McNamee


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