If any company had a huge, productive year with 2014, it’s Twitch.
Not only did the broadcasting channel find a new owner with its $970 million purchase by Amazon, but it’s also gained a lot of ground in viewership, broadcasters and more. The service jumped from 45 million monthly viewers to 100 million by the end of 2014, with 1.5 million unique broadcasters per month, by far the leading streaming game video provider.
The company recently posted a large infographic highlighting its feats for the year. Here are just a few of its accomplishments . . .
- New broadcasters came out in droves, especially internationally, with “hundreds” of people joining in. More global partnerships were made as well, with a number of expansions. Viewership growth has also expanded greatly, with triple-digit increase in such markets as Indonesia, India, the Middle East, Turkey, Italy, Ireland and Lithuania.
- More devices now provide Twitch support that ever before, from game consoles like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to stream-ready devices like the Amazon Fire TV and the Chromecast. Mobile devices also play a part in those numbers, particularly the Nvidia Shield.
- Improvements in services enables viewers to see when Twitch users are live, even when they’re browsing through YouTube videos. Viewing parties also became an option, enabling certain broadcasters with a way to increase their audience.
- A new merchandising option enables broadcasters to sell their goods through Twitch, in a partnership with Teespring. This helps enliven the community a bit more, and spreads word of mouth about particular talents showing off their wares on the service.
- Community has grown greatly, with more focus on charity-based broadcasts like Extra Life, Games Done Quick and TSG’s Indie Marathon, each of which have raised a record number of donations, ranging from $122,000 (for TSG) to over six million dollars (for Extra Life).
- Content has increased incredibly over the past year, between eSports competitions, local broadcasts and special “Twitch Plays” sessions, including the likes of Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda. No doubt 2015 will bring more of these.
More details and accomplishments can be found at this link. We certainly congratulate Twitch on its great year, and look forward to yet another one.