How TwitchTV Is Changing the Game

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2011/09/09/starcraft-ii-pro-gamer-steven-destiny-bonnell-explains-how-twitchtv-is-changing-the-game/

by mjdipietro • 15 years ago

43 3 15 years ago

forbes.com

JonLim• 15 years ago

Kind of a weak article, but the TL;DR of it is:

Professional gamers can now earn a decent living from streaming their play, even if they don't win tournaments and what not. You just need to play the game and gain a viewership.

invaders• 15 years ago

You need to be a celebrity of sorts still. If you are good but boring, your viewers will flock to likes of Destiny who is also an entertainer.

makeramen• 15 years ago

One very unique thing I've noticed about Justin/TwitchTV is that many of the viewers are willing to, and actually want to watch commercials to support the casters.

I remember a big part of the whole Warp Prism controversy on Reddit having to deal with it blocking commercials. That alone is a really big positive sign in my opinion that this is really going somewhere.

In no other channels have I seen people so dedicated to watching something that they want to watch the commercials. I think it has to do with the fact that viewers know it directly supports that caster alone (and a little to JTV of course). The money isn't all collected by the TV channel or network and then given out in contracts to writers/actors as they see fit. It's literally, you get paid on how many viewers you get. The correlation is direct.

I think that alone is a really new and awesome concept in media advertising that nobody else (that I know of) is capitalizing on in quite the same way.

How TwitchTV Is Changing the Game

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