Twitch.Tv hosts millions of gamers each day.
How many times have you searched through television shows, unable to find something good to watch? Well gamers, you are saved! There is a website where you are able to tune in to watch gamers play your favourite games, and even learn from professionals on how to improve your game. One of the rising websites on the internet right now is Twitch.tv (a subsidiary of Justin.tv), where people are able to video blog on the internet live. Co-founders Justin Kan and Emmett Shear wanted to produce a platform where gamers could do the same thing that Justin.tv did for people, only with a focus on video games. In June 2011, Twitch.tv was born, to give gamers an option to be able to stream their gameplay live on the internet.
As streaming technology was very expensive only a few years back, the site struggled at first to gain its viewers. Only a few people were able to stream at various times, and content was limited. However, with the introduction of dedicated software to the Xbox One, Playstation 4, and the Ouya, gamers are able to stream their gameplay from their very own system without requiring a capture card to produce their gameplay. With the drop in prices for capture cards, this has led to many PC gamers investing in cards to capture gameplay from games such as Hearthstone, Starcraft, and League of Legends.
With the eventual close of its closest competitor Own3d.tv early in 2013, the website rose in popularity. With the new consoles, a mass-outbreak of gamers streaming gameplay on Twitch.tv has begun. Many of the top professionals in videogaming have begun to produce streaming content for their fantasies. According to Internal Analytics, there are over 35 million viewers on Twitch every month, with the average viewer watching an hour and a half a day. With gamers streaming from all over the world and providing content, this has led to many gamers being able to tune into the website at various times to see top-notch gameplay or even great entertainers. Many of the most popular gamers were able to turn into another income service with Youtube, where gamers offered incentives to donate to their stream, such as being able to communicate in their stream, play-time with the pro gamer itself, or even giveaway in prizes.
Recently, when the game The Last of Us launched, I was unsure if I was going to buy the game, so I did the next best option: I tuned into the website to see other people play the game. After several hours of watching gamers who bought the game at the release, I got an opportunity to see how it played first-hand. For many gamers, this has led to a excellent opportunity to figure out first-hand if they should buy a certain game or not.
With the rise of Twitch.Tv and E-Sports, the website is on pace to continue to grow into one of the top websites on the internet.
