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Amazon Paid Almost $1 Billion for Twitch in 2014. It’s Still Losing Money.
- Thread starter entremet
- Start date
Who knew a business built on the premise of watching other people play videogames would lose money
I feel that and I don't mean to promote ad dodging, but
If you have an Android device (phone or GoogleTV-based system like a FireTV stick, Onn 4K or similar), you're only watching ads because you want to. Any of these can install or sideload custom versions of Twitch that greatly reduce, hide, or eliminate ads entirely. On PC you can install a variety of apps or browser plug-ins that serve the same purpose.
Non-jailbroken Apple users gotta hold the permanent L, however.
That said, yes ads feel extreme at times. Switching streams, then switching back and being hit with minutes of ads after just seeing a roll of ads 5-10 minutes prior...or getting ad pre-roll as soon as you jump into a stream is an awful experience all around and is something I see happen constantly. I'm sure it has lead to significant abandon/bounce rates for content creators who can't control pre-roll too. If I'm on my Apple devices, I just turn down the volume on the ads and wait for them to pass.
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Twitch did create the stream monster culture. I guess. Pog lol.
They tried to pivot with other content, but the brand is very video gamey, same with Discord.
pre-roll ads killed a lot of my interest. that being said it's still a better live streaming experience than on youtube. i still feel like there has to be a better way to earn ad revenue than what they're doing now. like how much are they charging for ad slots?
It's crazy, only things I'll watch on there now are tournaments or games done fast. I just can't stand how constant the ad are
ads are insufferable on twitch now. you cant even switch streams without being hit by 8-10 ads in a row. there needs to be a cooldown on that shit. not only that, but those random breaks of ads they insert always happen at the most interesting time of the stream.
someone about to break a WR speedrun? HERES 4 MINS OF ADS! Have fun watching it in this tiny ass window with no audio, you poor ass bitch
someone about to break a WR speedrun? HERES 4 MINS OF ADS! Have fun watching it in this tiny ass window with no audio, you poor ass bitch
This is what people used to Twitch say about Youtube's mess of a livestreaming platform. Youtube doesn't have the same offerings, their livestream service is still way behind Twitch.
Also Twitch isn't "for gamers," just chatting has been the core of the site for a long long time.
Appreciate the post. None of it really is stuff that applies to me so it just solidifies the reasons I don't use it, but makes very much sense why it be appealing to others.
Discord is more popular than Twitch now in terms of user traffic. I would say more popular in terms of name recognition as well but it's probably a coin flip.
Ya it's odd they don't advertise it and people seem to not know it exists. If you watch Twitch on any sort of consistent basis then it's well worth it to get rid of ads.
Not nearly as much as you think, though it probably tiers differently depending on viewership. I'm a Twitch partnered streamer and it never feels like I can shut off random ads the way I want? Maybe I'm missing something in the dashboard. There's a certain percentage per hour that requires them running as far as I can see.
Nah, there's a few custom Twitch app you can sideload that for example show BTTV emotes and auto-claim channel points/drops, and they offer a working adblock solution, at least TwitchAdBlock (version 17.3) works from what I tested, you can search github for that.
No, that's fair. Opportunity cost is real. The servers that Twitch uses are servers that Amazon can't sell to other businesses as part of AWS.
I'll watch the occasional FGC tournament and MaxDood if I happen to know he's live but besides that I hate the UI and I still remember when they decided to add ads for twitch prime subscribers and that rubs me the wrong way
Just wondering if this was a typo or if you're from the UK or Ireland.
I'm not really into interacting with a personality in real time or needing to show up at a specific time for streams, but I do like watching VODs of streams on youtube.
Having said that, a well-edited youtube let's play will win the day for me if it exists for a specific game.
Having said that, a well-edited youtube let's play will win the day for me if it exists for a specific game.
I dropped my independent channel subs and pay for Turbo now, still mad that all of Turbo used to be included with Amazon Prime but whatever, browsing without ever getting ads is the best. They raised the price of subs this month too. I'll be shocked if Twitch is still around in 3 years at this rate. They don't really advertise Turbo and you have to hunt it down, I wonder if that's also a profit loser for them.
The constant ads are also killing any chance for growth from smaller / mid streamers as well. You check out a smaller streamer not for them, but because of the game they may be playing with hopes that the streamers personality will shine thru after so. But nope, you click in and you get hit 4 to 8 ads and you're just like fuck it I'm out.
good points of course but I just want to point out how terrible the new mobile app UI is. Absolutely mindbogglingly terrible.
Oh wow, hadn't realized YouTube became profitable. Maybe it isn't too surprising that Twitch can't keep growing though, kinda like how the market for console owners is capped at like ~250M. Only so many people who are interested in it as is.
I normally just use it for drops
Occasionally I'll stream just for a buddy to have something to watch.
Occasionally I'll stream just for a buddy to have something to watch.
Yeah as everyone else has said the adds just got ridiculous, and it became more and more tedious to block them. I've gone through so many different methods of blocking them, and even now you can't seem to avoid the disruption from them, you just don't see the ads with certain addons.
Twitch is awful. I literally got harassed and abuse when I had to stop streaming in the middle of the month as I was hospitalised (the same day I was diagnosed) for stage four cancer because 'I paid my months sub and you're ripping me off' by multiple people who then went around the internet leaving shitty comments anywhere they saw my name.
Fuck Twitch.
Fuck Twitch.
WSJ is coming after Amazon hard. Lol.
They also had that article last week about how Amazon lost $25 billion in four years on Alexa.
They also had that article last week about how Amazon lost $25 billion in four years on Alexa.
I mean, that's pretty subjective. lol
I'm with you on the ads stuff. Honestly, I think Twitch will erode to the point where YouTube kind of becomes the main streaming service for gaming by default.
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It's an entertainment medium. Entertainers take breaks. They reinvent themselves, pursue new mediums, genres.
But Twitch is so incentivized toward "hours" streaming, how can these streamers stay fresh creatively?
It creates lowest common denominator content.
That is not a universal truth. SO many people stream on Twitch.
I just don't care all that much to watch streamers play games. I rather be playing the games myself :P
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I'm just taking about the basic gaming content, the main draw, not that compelling.
I used to watch Twitch for hours too.
I figured Twitch was dead when all the free game promo items dried up earlier this year. No more free Destiny 2 items, or WoW promo items for watching so many hours of streaming... hell, even the smaller games are no longer providing free items or stream watching promos.
I mean, I'm probably the wrong audience for watching gaming. I'd rather just play games 😆
Also, lots of my favorite streams just went to YouTube and I watch there because watching the vods is also easier.
I hope twitch doesn't go away, competition is good and healthy. I don't want YT to be the only choice. But also.... I don't care enough to actually support twitch, so it's whatever to me as a consumer.
Also, lots of my favorite streams just went to YouTube and I watch there because watching the vods is also easier.
I hope twitch doesn't go away, competition is good and healthy. I don't want YT to be the only choice. But also.... I don't care enough to actually support twitch, so it's whatever to me as a consumer.
I don't know. I think it really depends on who you watch or what you're interested in. I mean, fighting game players are feasting especially with people like Maximilian streaming about 30 hours live from EVO.
