The “Watch Other People Play Video Games” Channel
Have you heard of Twitch? Twitch is a video platform (a channel in the old country) that broadcasts live gamers playing video games. The Amazon-owned channel also controls more than 90% of video game streaming. According to estimates, the channel serves 2 million viewers at any time of the day.
In this fractured world of TV, niche channels are developing content and delivering large audiences on a consistent basis. While some scoff at the concept, the channel is building huge numbers. In June of 2021, 237,000 people watched someone play Grand Theft Auto V on Twitch.
It’s another of the many channels to stardom and riches that have people buzzing. The best advice I read said, “Think of it like you’re taping a talk show and you’re the host,” Redditor Neon_Nazgul. Watching someone play video games is just like a live sports event on TV. You like the sport, you support a team (or player) and the host is important.
It seems that the real value comes from:
- Learning something about the game as you watch others play.
- The community that is built.
Twitch allows people to comment alongside the game. The streamer’s personality, just like on TV shows, seems to drive connections and make the gameplay entertaining. And like-minded gamers can connect in the chat room while watching their favorite game and gamer stream live.
The channel, besides offering reality TV-quality entertainment and camaraderie also offers some key benefits that will allow Twitch to be relevant in the future. It is a great way to sample a video game prior to purchase. “Sometimes there’s a studio audience, and sometimes you’re shooting something the audience will watch later.” While this is absolutely true, that’s also part of what makes streaming without a significant audience so hard in the first place. It’s a solitary practice where you have to pretend someone is listening, with no idea how long it might be before someone shows up, or if they ever will.
You may not even know you are already buying video game broadcasts. YouTube also has large live-stream gamer audiences as well as a channel called Mixer. There’s so much more to gaming. We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming already in progress.
Mark Mathis III is chief creative & strategy officer, partner and cofounder of AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
