Twitch

Twitch is a popular online service for watching and streaming digital video broadcasts. When it was founded in 2011, Twitch originally focused almost entirely on video games but has since expanded to include streams dedicated to artwork creation, music, talk shows, and the occasional TV series.

The streaming service boasts over 2 million unique streamers every month and more than 17 thousand of these users earn money through the Twitch Partner program, a service that provides streamers with added features such as paid subscriptions and ad placements. Twitch was purchased by Amazon in 2014 and it remains one of the highest sources of internet traffic in North America.

Twitch is More Than Just Video Games

Twitch may have begun as a video game streaming service but it's since expanded and now offers a variety of different live streams aimed to appeal to a broader audience. The most-popular non-gaming category is IRL (In Real Life) which features streamers simply chatting with their viewers in real-time. Talk Shows is another popular non-gaming option which contains a mix of live panel discussions, podcasts, and even professionally produced variety shows while Cooking contains, as many would correctly guess, cooking and food shows.

Viewers looking for something a bit more artistic should check out the Creative category. This is where artists, programmers, animators, cosplayers, and designers share their creative process with the world and these streams usually attract a very different audience than those watching other categories.