Twitch offers a video platform exclusively dedicated to gaming content. The site currently receives more than 45 million visitors per month and is now making its mark on the next generation of consoles thanks to partnerships with both Sony and Microsoft. In September the company announced it had received $20 million (£12.2m) in funding with which it planned to grow the business.
Wired.co.uk got in touch with Matthew DiPietro, VP of Marketing at Twitch to talk streaming, sharing and eSports.
Wired.co.uk: How did the concept for Twitch first come about?
MD: Justin.tv was launched in 2007 by Justin Kan, Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt. Its initial focus was on Justin running around with a camera on his head and documenting his life 24 hours a day. As comical as it was, it ushered in the "life casting" trend. Once the novelty ran its course, viewers expressed interest in live streaming their own content, so Justin.tv expanded its platform and tools to everyone.
While broadcasters streamed everything from sports and concerts to pets and birthday parties, one area that really started to take off was video game broadcasting. This was especially of interest to Emmett since he was an avid StarCraft II player and already engaged in the gaming content on JTV. The company decided that if they hit a big enough threshold of game broadcasters, they would spin it off into its own category. Every benchmark set was blown away by the actual streamers they attracted, so in 2011 Twitch was born. Emmett and the team developed broadcasting tools specific to gamers and created a revenue-sharing partner program. This enabled them to attract a lot of the top professional gamers, leagues, and events.
Tell me about the Microsoft and Sony collaborations -- at what point in the console development did that come about and who approached whom?
We were working with both companies for a little more than a year prior to their latest console launches and are continuing to work with them to assist with rolling out new functionality to their Twitch integrations. Both companies have been great to work with since they understand the growing appeal of live broadcasting and spectating.
How important is streaming to the PS4 and Xbox One -- is it the specific function that people want or is it more about the broader mindset of sharing?
Game broadcasting is a phenomenon that's just getting started.
Once people experience the social element of broadcasting a game and interacting with spectators, it changes the way they play games moving forward. We envision a future where playing a game and broadcasting one are the same thing.
Based on the initial Twitch engagement numbers on the PS4 (such as 125,000 unique broadcasters in less than a month), that reality might not be too far off.
Playroom streaming got banned because of the non-gaming content -- were you not tempted to just add Justin.tv functionality for more general broadcasting?
Since Sony already has an alternate streaming option predominantly focused on non-gaming content it wouldn't make sense for them to add a competitive service like JTV.
Gaming has had a massive impact on video content creation but do you think it cuts both ways? Is game streaming changing how developers make or design their games and consoles?
The impact of Twitch is definitely impacting the development process on several levels. As a platform, there are now developers using their channels to build excitement for their games in the early stages. Dutch independent game studio Vlambeer is a great example of this. Then you have the studios building Twitch broadcasting functionality directly into their games with
Minecraft being the most recent title to do so.
On the console front, PS4 has attracted and -- more importantly -- retained such a large amount of broadcasters in its first month alone, it's safe to say that streaming functionality will be a default feature in all forthcoming consoles.
Also, many game developers are building their game mechanics with spectatorship in mind. They want to make their games fun to watch so that the streaming community will embrace them.
What are your thoughts on the recent changes to YouTube regarding their Content ID policy?
It's our policy to not comment on our partners, many of which are game publishers and individual broadcasters who were involved in the claims situation.
You recently launched Minecraft integrated streaming -- how is that going? Have you noticed any dramatic changes since it was integrated?
The Minecraft integration has been a huge success. We can't disclose numbers since we leave those decisions up to our partners, so that would be a question for Mojang.
Another big part of Twitch is eSports coverage. Are you planning to stick on the distribution and engagement side of things or would you be interested in working on them in other capacities?
Our approach to eSports has remained constant which is we want to be the best platform for every top player, team, league and event. This means we are constantly reviewing and refining our broadcasting tools and in daily correspondence with our broadcasting partners to get their feedback on how we can continue to improve our offerings.
Where are the growth areas in eSports and in streaming more generally?
There is a lot of growth potential for eSports now that broadcasting is in the hands of console gamers. This opens up competitive gaming to a more wide variety of genres. One particular area that falls nicely into the intersection of eSports and streaming are sports games like NBA 2K 14, FIFA 14, Madden 25, NHL 14. Sports games have traditionally been more popular on consoles than PCs, so with the console streaming revolution, the time is ripe for sports games to join the eSports movement.
What's the most innovative use of the Twitch service you've seen?
Salty Bet is definitely a great example of a fun use case.
Another good example is Video Game Championship Wrestling which involves a mash-up of characters battling it out in the ring complete with ongoing storylines. Then there is Darren Gears, an artist who does some incredible drawings and paintings based on video games.
We also have a lot of creative premises, such as MANvsGAME whose goal is to beat every game, FatherSonGaming where a dad and his kid regularly play Call of Duty together, and Lethalfrag with his ongoing attempt to stream daily for two years. Of course the speedrunning movement as a whole is pretty novel with stars like Siglemic, AdamAK and CosmoWright.
The variety of content is just staggering. You never know what the streaming community will do with a game. There's a lot of unexpected emergent behaviour on Twitch.
How do you approach moderation -- I know there have been a few issues there (both internally and regarding the fact the chat community can be aggressive or offensive)
We rely on a combination of technology, community and full-time staff members diligently monitoring the site to enforce our terms of service.
To what extent is cultivating a healthy community Twitch's responsibility?
Cultivating a healthy community is always top of mind at Twitch which is why we have such a strict terms of service. As a result, we are happy with the foundation we have built and have seen our positive mindset manifest itself in several ways. First and foremost, Twitch members are quick to report incidents that appear to breach our TOS. We have also witnessed tremendous acts of kindness with millions being raised for charitable causes because of passionate broadcasters and spectators.
In your Series C funding round you raised $20 million -- what impact has that had so far and can you go into more detail about what you're using it for?
All of the above. We have continued to invest in improving and expanding our infrastructure, ensuring we have a best-in-class staff from engineers to the sales team, and working on both existing and new products with an eye on the mobile and international fronts.
Do you have a five year emoticon plan?
We do have a lot of discussions involving emoticons, but nothing pegged to a date.
How will the Twitch service change in 2014?
Our goal at Twitch has always been to be everywhere that gamers are, so continuing to grow our mobile reach in both platforms and features will be a big focus in 2014. We also have to continue ensuring our infrastructure stays one step ahead of the immense growth we're experiencing now with another big burst after Christmas and then when Xbox One rolls out its broadcasting functionality.
It's also equally important to serve our current user base, so we are constantly refining our streaming tools and looking for ways to ensure the best possible broadcaster and spectator experience.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
