If you still don’t know what twitch is, in this blog you will discover one of the social media platforms with more reach and that has grown faster in the digital environment. The platform started off as a platform focused on gamers but nowadays brands such as Freshly Cosmetics are taking advantage of Twitch’s reach and using it to communicate their brand to their customers.

What is Twitch?


Twitch is the biggest live streaming platform in the world. Since it started, it has specialized in streaming video games though you can also find other kinds of content such as music, lifestyle and sports and user entertainment. In fact, important sports clubs such as Real Madrid, pSG or Arsenal count with their own channel. The platform describes itself as “Twitch is where millions of people gather to speak, interact and create together content to entertain themselves.”

To understand Twitch’s impact, we only need to analyse the following graphic in which we can see how nowadays it’s leading the live streaming market:

Which is the audience of Twitch?


According to the platforms’ data, Twitch achieves 17,5 millions visits per day and has a medium of 1,5 viewers per day. Furthermore, every month, more than 4 million content creators create live streams. 

In terms of gender, the vast majority of users are men (65%) though in these last two years the difference has reduced: 81% men and 19% women. If we classify users according to their age, we can confirm that Twitch is a centennial (41%)  and millennial (32%) platform. 

The users that most use Twitch are located in the USA (22,5%), followed by Germany (6,8%), Russia (5,8%), South Korea (4,9%) and France (4,1%). Since Septembre 2018 Twitch has been banned in China. 

The days that gather more viewers are saturday (+7%)  and sunday (+9%) with more live live streamings. 

How did Twitch become Amazon?

Twitch was born in 2011 as a spin-off of Justin.tv specialized in video game streaming. The community grew so fast that it caught the attention of the technology giants. As a consequence in 2014 it was bought by Amazon for 820 million euros. Nowadays Twitch is included in Amazon Primes’ program. Despite it started as a video game platform, it has diversified its content and nowadays you can find music, sports and other types of content. 

Since Amazons’ acquisition, Twitch has multiplied its growth thanks to the worldwide  live streaming of Esports. The platform has become so popular that there is even a TwitchCon, a place where you can meet streamers, play games and participate in eSports competition. 

How does Twitch work?

Twitch enables users to create and also view live streams. Streamers transmit an event in real time and interact with their audience through the chat. 

Using categories and tags: when streamers create their content they can classify it so viewers can find it easily through tags. It is important for streamers to use the appropriate tags to reach their audience. 

Followers vs subscribers: followers and subscribers can watch for free streamers content. However, subscribers pay a monthly quote to achieve multiple advantages such as: no ads, exclusive streams for subscribers and private conversations with the streamer. 

How can Twitch users gain benefits?

Donations: Streamers can add a customized link to their Paypal account or create a donation panel so their viewers can donate money to their channel. 


Affiliate program: through monthly quotes of their subscribers (from 4.99 to 24.99$), streamers receive 50% of the benefit. 


Bits: through this virtual currency, users can buy to send to their streamers and the streamer will receive 1cent per each bit. 


Ads: Streamers can play ads to their viewers and gain a part of the benefits according to duration, frequency and depending on CPM. 


Selling Amazon products through amazon affiliate program: if the streamer promotes amazon products through links to the marketplace, the streamer will receive a commission for every purchase at Amazon. 


The future of Twitch

Due to the global pandemic, the use of Twitch has increased significantly. The number of active channels has grown from 3,75 million in February to 7,4 million in June (2020). This means an 200% increase in less than 4 months. 

As a consequence, Twitch has decided to invest in new formats and diversify its content to stimulate users and make sure that the platform keeps growing. Therefore, we can now watch in Twitch live and interactive series, programs and interviews about video games, sports or music with the aim of attracting different kinds of audiences to the platform. For example last July we could watch on Twitch Premier League games of NBA, NHL or MLB, organisations that already have their Twitch account. 

How can brands engage with their audience through Twitch?

According to Dan Beer, Group Director of Deloitte Digital, to engage Twitch’s audience, brands need to consider the sensibility of that younger user base, and the possibility they’ll display open hostility to ads or promotions that are too intrusive. Like younger cohorts of consumers, Twitch users generally respond negatively to brands they perceive as insincere.

“If you’re a brand that spends a lot of time crafting a carefully curated message, toss that approach out the window, Deloitte’s Beer said. “Be nimble and malleable, replacing brand polish with brand authenticity.”

It is important that brands get creative and promote interactive environments to follow the purpose and dynamics of the platform and not be considered unattractive advertising. Brands really need to work on interesting content for their audiences and not product centred streams. They need to think of it as an opportunity to sit at the table with their high value customers. 

Which beauty brands are already using Twitch?

Freshly Cosmetics has recently created their Twitch channel to reach 55 million revenue in 2021 through cosmetic subscription.