Twitch launched in June 2011 as a live streaming platform. Amazon announced on August 25, 2014 that it would acquire it for approximately $970 million in cash. In the month before that announcement, Amazon reported, more than 55 million unique visitors watched over 15 billion minutes of content from more than 1 million broadcasters.
Format
The defining feature is simultaneity: a broadcaster streams live while viewers respond in a chat running alongside the video, so the audience is visible to the broadcaster and to itself in real time. Twitch describes itself as a place where “millions of people come together live every day to chat, interact, and make their own entertainment together.”
Reported scale
Twitch does not publish current viewer or broadcaster counts. The figures above are Amazon’s, from July 2014, and should not be read as describing the platform today. Frequently cited larger numbers are third-party estimates.
Sources
- 01.
Amazon. Amazon.com to Acquire Twitch. Amazon's press release of August 25, 2014. Source for the June 2011 launch, the acquisition of "all of the outstanding shares of Twitch for approximately $970 million in cash," and the July 2014 audience figures: "more than 55 million unique visitors viewed more than 15 billion minutes of content on Twitch produced by more than 1 million broadcasters."
- 02.
Twitch. About Twitch. Twitch's own current description — "where millions of people come together live every day to chat, interact, and make their own entertainment together." Checked for current audience figures; the page publishes none, which is why the userBase field states the 2014 numbers and their date rather than a current estimate.