Can YouTube Gaming Compete With Twitch?
Google revealed their hand with the launch of YouTube Gaming, a streaming service designed to compete directly with Amazon's Twitch. According to SuperData Research gaming-related video content is a $3.8 billion industry, with half a billion viewers glued to their screen—content to be player 2. It’s a pie that’s only growing sweeter thanks to the ease of entry for new personalities to start their own channel. But can YouTube Gaming compete with Twitch, a company built on streaming since 2011?
Personally I’ve never been a strong member of the Twitch community. A couple of years ago I streamed an entire playthrough of Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! but never found myself watching streamers, unless it was to be part of the Pokemon hivemind. YouTube has been my home, as mentioned in a previous editorial, but not for any particular reason. Google’s platform boasts “that it already has hundreds of millions of gamers, that people watch billions of hours of gaming on its service every month, which has gone up by 75% since last year, and that half of its top 100 channels by watchtime are about for gaming,” according to Fortune. And that may be solely due to seniority in the online video hub. It doesn’t give Google the advantage.
Chart From SuperData Research
YouTube is not going to steal Twitch content creators—at least not immediately. YouTube Gaming acts like a buffer against channels that haven’t already migrated to Amazon’s platform. Although YouTube may draw some users back thanks to its ease of use when uploading snippets of streams to creator’s channel. But as someone who works with people involved in video content creation, our streamers will likely use both platforms to maximize audience potential, regularly testing if one service is more receptive than the other. Every show's goal is to catch the widest possible audience. If one service wants to dominate it’ll need something exclusive beyond the base platform.
Twitch is banking on the ties sewn between its community, and the company is ensuring a sense of camaraderie through its first annual TwitchCon, set to take place at the end of September. “We are focused on building upon the foundation we’ve laid with the Twitch community, and incorporating the next-generation features the community has asked for. … We have a very ambitious and long-term product roadmap, some of which will be revealed in the coming weeks and months” said Twitch’s SVP of marketing Matthew DiPietro. Whether that means refining Twitch’s Adobe Flash video player to compete with YouTube’s lighter HTML5, or refers to something like partnerships is anyone's guess.
“One major difference is our culture is built upon a strong sense of community. Within the broader Twitch audience there are thousands of smaller groups that have their own language, built upon the narratives of their channels and gaming interests. Many of these have grown over time and not overnight with a level of passion that is amazing to witness. We’ve also invested years of development into live streaming tools and features in support of the community, not to mention having a global focus and a presence at every major gaming conference with many exclusive broadcasting partnerships from E3 to PAX.” -Twitch PR Director Chase in an interview with MCV.
Chart from NewZoo
Twitch does have exclusive access to stream some eSports events, and a battle between YouTube and Twitch may take place in the eSports arena. Research firms Newzoo and Repucom report that eSports revenue will reach $465 million in 2017, and garner an audience to rival American Football. Whichever platform offers the best access to tournaments for League of Legends, Dota 2, and—perhaps—Rocket League (my personal favorite) stands to boost their numbers tremendously.
Brand loyalty is almost nonexistent when it comes to Twitch and YouTube. If one platform has exclusive rights to high-demand content it will undoubtedly boost their standings in the duopoly.
Competition is healthy and I’m excited to experience what YouTube and Twitch will introduce to gain the upper-hand. YouTube has access to Google’s tremendous coffer and has been preparing for the release of YouTube Gaming since Amazon purchased Twitch for $970 million. One rumor posits YouTube gained support for sixty frames per second videos to compete with Twitch. The only safe assertion I can make is that there is no third service rearing it’s head anytime soon. Regardless of the future I’m excited to witness the birth of an enormous industry.
Sources:
http://www.newzoo.com/insights/esports-economy-will-generate-least-465-million-2017/
http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/gaming-video-content
http://fortune.com/2015/08/25/youtubes-twitch-gaming/
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From Mega Man II to Ape Escape, I've been playing games for as long as I can remember. I've spent months killing porings in Ragnarok Online and more recently lived a second life in Eve Online. I usually play as gUMBY, gUMBLEoni, or gUMBLes in-game.
