[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #369: Twitch-ing in the library?

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #369: Twitch-ing in the library?
January 22nd, 2014

TwitchTV logoLibrarians are no longer surprised to find people watching 
streaming video on their public Internet computers, with YouTube 
currently being the most prolific provider of those videos. But there's 
a new streaming video service that is rapidly gaining in popularity 
(despite its lack of kitten videos). It's called Twitch, and it's a 
website <http://www.twitch.tv/> where people can go to watch other 
people's video games as they play. That's it - just video games. If you 
haven't already seen this on your public computer monitors, you probably 
will.

  * Twitch reveals it had 900K unique broadcasters and other interesting
    facts about its 2013
    <http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/16/twitch-reveals-it-had-900k-unique-broadcasters-and-other-interesting-facts-about-its-2013/>
    (VentureBeat/Jeffrey Grubb) "[Twitch vice president of marketing
    Matthew] DiPietro pointed out that in January 2013, the site had
    around 25 million unique viewers. By the end of the year, the site
    averaged 12 billion minutes watched per month. That's across 6
    million monthly video broadcasts and 45 million unique monthly
    viewers. Twitch also did some research and found that its average
    viewer is 21. More than half of those viewers spend 20 hours each
    week watching Twitch, and 68 percent are watching less TV."
  * How big is Twitch's Audience? Huge.
    <http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2014/01/16/twitch-streaming-video-audience-growth/>
    (Forbes/David M. Ewalt) "San Francisco-based Twitch's video platform
    allows users to watch live and recorded streams of video game
    tournaments, and to stream video of their own games and programs.
    The site was spun off from 'lifestreaming' web site Justin.tv in
    June 2011, and has raised about $42 million in three investment
    rounds from companies including Draper Associates, Bessemer Venture
    Partners and Thrive Capital."
  * Video games as spectator sport: Why Twitch TV is booming
    <http://readwrite.com/2014/01/18/the-twitch-tv-phenomenon-is-bigger-than-you-think>
    (ReadWrite/Taylor Hatmaker) "Twitch is a platform on which feats of
    gaming skill and viral oddities flourish in equal parts. Want to
    watch someone play the entirety of retro classic Super Mario 64 in a
    breezy five hours? Maybe you'd rather tune in with half a million
    gamers the world over for a live stream of a StarCraft match,
    complete with big budget ESPN-style commentary and analysis."
  * Twitch dominated streaming in 2013, and here are the numbers to
    prove it
    <http://www.dailydot.com/esports/twitch-growth-esports-streaming-mlg-youtube-2013/>
    (The Daily Dot/Patrick Howell O'Neill) "Twitch has, in fact, already
    encountered growing pains in Europe, where a large esports fanbase
    has long made vocal complaints about video lagtime and low
    framerates. The problems have been so serious that competitors, such
    as European-based Own3d, have been able to briefly challenge
    Twitch's dominance in the region. Own3d couldn't pay its streamers
    and collapsed when a potential buyout by the video game streaming
    company Machinima fell through. But the potential for new European
    competition, run by more business-savvy competitors, is still there."

*/Comparison fact:/*

Twitch's 45 million unique monthly viewers watch an average 106 minutes 
of video a day. Hulu has about 30 million unique viewers a month who 
watch an average 50 minutes a day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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