If any company has managed to go further than expected in 2014, it has to be Twitch. The streaming channel has seen a huge growth in unique broadcasters and viewers, and also managed to get attention from the unlikeliest of programs, such as TwitchPlaysPokemon, which took place earlier this year. Not to mention that little purchase by Amazon earlier in the year for an estimated $970 million.
The team recently took the time to share some big numbers with us for Twitch’s big year, and it’s definitely shown quite a bit of growth since this time last year. Here are some of the numbers Twitch posted:
-60+ million unique viewers
-1.5+ million unique broadcasters per month
-1 million peak concurrent sitewide viewers
-600l: the largest peak concurrent on a single stream or channel
-9000+ members of the Twitch Partner Program, which enables them to monetize channels with ads, subscriptions and merchandise)
-16 billion minutes watched per month
-106 minutes watched per person per day
-Console broadcasters on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 made up roughly 30 percent of the platform’s broadcasting base
-TwitchPlaysPokemon: 1,165,140 unique players inputted chat commands into the game, but 9+ million unique viewers tuned in
-More TwitchPlaysPokemon stats: 36+ million total views overall, with 120,000+ peak concurrents and a total of 1+ billion minutes watched
In addition, Twitch found a number of partners for live broadcasts this year, ranging from special announcements at the PlayStation Experience to teaming up with Coke for a pro gaming tournament. No doubt these features will continue to expand into 2015, as the scope of professional gaming – and forthcoming game shows like E3 and Penny Arcade Expo-based events – open up.
“So much has happened this year, it’s hard to pick just one thing!” said Emmett Shear, CEO for Twitch, in regards to the company’s big year. “Obviously we have some amazing milestones like being acquired by Amazon, or executing our first acquisition ourselves by buying GoodGame. The single accomplishment that I feel most proud of is building a platform for gamers the world over that could enable a cultural phenomenon like TwitchPlaysPokemon. TwitchPlaysPokemon was a broadcast of Pokemon where the chat room actually controlled the action by sending commands directly to the game. When I saw that our community had created an entire new religion around the broadcast, I knew we’d truly changed gaming forever.”
With the support of Amazon – and more TwitchPlays sessions that are likely in the pipeline (like TwitchPlaysZelda, which was also a big hit this year), the streaming service will no doubt get even bigger in 2015.
Image source: Polygon