1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and Way back in 5 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: two thousand and fourteen, I did an episode titled text 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: Stuff Twitches about the video streaming service catering primarily to 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: gamers called Twitch dot tv. But it's time for an 8 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: update as since that time a lot has happened, and 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: this year we've seen some big names on Twitch leave, 10 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: a couple of them return, one of them got banned 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: for some reason. So today I thought we'd really dive 12 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: into the topic and learn more about Twitch, go into 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: a deeper dive than our previous episode, and learn how 14 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: a select percentage of users have become millionaires and what's 15 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: going on with all this moving around or, as I 16 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: like to call it, the old twitch a rue. So 17 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: before there was Twitch, there was Justin dot tv, founded 18 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: by Justin Kahn. Now, way back in two thousand five, 19 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: which would be the same year that YouTube would launch, 20 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: Kahn was working on an interesting experiment in his copious 21 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: spare time, as he was also pursuing degrees in physics 22 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: and psychology at Yale, so clearly he's a bit of 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: a busy body. He had already launched a business called 24 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: Keiko Software, which was an online calendar program, but that 25 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: business wasn't really a money maker, and so Con did 26 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: the sensible thing. He auctioned it off on eBay for 27 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: reels that brought in a quarter of a million dollars. 28 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: His next attempt grew out of a project at y Combinator. 29 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: This company is a startup accelerator, which essentially means it's 30 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: sir to provide seed money to start up ventures in 31 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: an effort to get them up and running enough so 32 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: that they can then seek out more substantial investors. And 33 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: it's played a big part in getting some pretty influential 34 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: companies started, like door Dash, Airbnb, instat cart, and Yes 35 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,839 Speaker 1: Twitch in the form of justin TV now, Justin TV 36 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: was a totally different beast from Keiko Software. Con and 37 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: a small team of developers wanted to create a tool 38 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: that would allow them to stream live video over the 39 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:34,959 Speaker 1: Internet and create something like a reality television stream Big 40 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: Brother style. Originally with a camera that was strapped to 41 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: a baseball cap that Con would wear, so you would 42 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: get sort of a first person perspective, slightly taller than 43 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: than Con himself. Perhaps it was a bit self centered, 44 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: but the idea of life streaming was just starting to 45 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: take off, you know, the idea of actually video streaming 46 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,399 Speaker 1: your life, and it was doing that because the technology 47 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: you would need to do such a thing was coming 48 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: into maturation. Webcams were becoming more affordable, and in the 49 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: United States we were seeing some movement at least in 50 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: large markets of broadband connectivity rolling out. And it took 51 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: a couple of years to to build out the service, 52 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,679 Speaker 1: but Justin DV would launch in two thousand seven. That 53 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: launch wasn't exactly a home run right away. People were 54 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: intrigued by the idea of it, but the reality show 55 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: broadcasting thing just wasn't winning over very many people. Con 56 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: and his team were receiving a lot of messages saying 57 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: that users would like to be able to use the 58 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: service and stream their own content online, not just watch 59 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: what they were being provided. So at the time Justin 60 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: TV was you know, mostly about Justin and his friends. 61 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: People were less interested in that, and it took a while, 62 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: but eventually the company changed its focus from being a 63 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: source of video streamed content to being a platform for 64 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: video streaming content, allowing users to create accounts and channels 65 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: and to stream their own stuff to whomever wanted to watch. 66 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: One thing a lot of folks wanted to broadcast would 67 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: be video game play sessions. Now this is not that 68 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: surprising for people who aren't into video games. I get 69 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: that this sounds strange, the idea of watching someone else 70 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: play a game. I mean, after all, aren't games meant 71 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: to be played? Why would you watch it? To that, 72 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: I would say, not all of you play football or 73 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: baseball or soccer, but a lot of you watch it, 74 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: and it's the same sort of thing. It's this idea 75 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: of you find enjoyment in watching people who are really 76 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: good at performing that particular sport and enjoying the the 77 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: feeling you get when you see them do well or 78 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: see a team you support beat out another team. So 79 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: this is really not that surprising to me. And I'm 80 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: also you gotta keep in mind I say this a 81 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: lot because Lauren's not on the show anymore. To say 82 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: it for me, I'm old, So I remember the classic 83 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: days of the video game arcade, where you would wander 84 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: among cabinets for games like you know, Elevator Action or 85 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: Spy Hunter. And while you would spend time playing games, 86 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: you would also spend a lot of time watching other 87 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: people playing, either because you were waiting for your own 88 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: turn at that particular game, or the person was just 89 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: really dang good at playing that game and you were 90 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: just watching because you were impressed. I remember one afternoon 91 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: at a Goldmine arcade where I stood for nearly twenty 92 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: minutes watching a kid play through all of Dragons Lair, 93 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: which was a LaserDisc based game that featured full hand 94 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: drawn animation in it. So while games were really made 95 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: for playing, lots of folks just really enjoyed watching them. 96 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: But streaming video games presented other challenges. Twitch was set 97 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,039 Speaker 1: up to stream from a camera source like a webcam, 98 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: streaming from another video source like a video game, let 99 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: alone allowing for arrangements like a webcam picture overlaid on 100 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: part of that video source just wasn't supported Natively, Folks 101 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: were jerry rigging systems to kind of make it happen. 102 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: The team Adjuin TV considered it emergent behavior, and so 103 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: Con and his team hired on specialists who could help 104 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: video game streamers set up their systems to allow for 105 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. To stream content from a video 106 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: game onto the service, users needed to rely on third 107 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: party software in those early days, and for the most 108 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: part today they still do. Several different developers had options available, 109 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: and one early one that remains popular to this day 110 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: is open Broadcasting Software or oh b s. These programs 111 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: typically operate as a full mixing and broadcasting service and 112 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: allows users to set up stuff like the audio levels 113 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: for their video stream incorporate the microphone and thus you 114 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: can set the audio levels for your mike in comparison 115 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 1: to the video game. Obviously want your mike to be 116 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: slightly louder than the video games so people can hear 117 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: you over the sounds of the game. UH support for 118 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: things like webcams and transitions and video effects and more. 119 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: And for years this was really the only way streamers 120 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: could work with streaming services, and it wasn't always a 121 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: user friendly or intuitive experience. Getting started could be a 122 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: little bit intimidating as there were lots of settings to manage, 123 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: but the determined gamers who wanted to stream found ways 124 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: to make it work. As the various types of broadcasting 125 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: software evolved and improved and added features. Over time, between 126 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: two thousand seven, when justin TV launched and two thousand eleven, 127 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: when it would spin off Twitch dot tv, video game 128 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: streaming really began to come into its own. There was 129 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: a particular focus on sports, that is, on games that 130 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: had an elite level of competitors who could play against 131 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: each other informal organized tournaments, often with significant cash prizes 132 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: for the winners. Players could make their own Twitch channels, 133 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: and people could watch as these players would practice their 134 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: strats and their skills, honing their techniques while training for 135 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: the next tournament. And maybe that sounds weird to those 136 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: of you who don't game, but it really is a 137 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: show of how play at that level is truly incredible. 138 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,319 Speaker 1: I mean, these these players can see faster than I can. 139 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 1: They will see details and and act on them faster 140 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,320 Speaker 1: than I can even register what is happening. It's phenomenal 141 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: to me. Emmett Sheer, who served as the chief Technology 142 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,559 Speaker 1: officer of Justin TV, saw that this trend was going 143 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: and he worked really hard to add more support for 144 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: video game streaming. Sheer himself had been a competitive StarCraft 145 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,839 Speaker 1: two player and he really recognized what was going on. 146 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: So as the team to a more features to help 147 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: gamers back on justin TV, it became clear that what 148 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: was really needed was a separate streaming platform. Gaming was 149 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: starting to dominate the streams over at justin TV. It 150 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: was actually hard to find the other stuff there, So 151 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: the team decided that the right thing to do would 152 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: be to spin off a separate streaming service specifically intended 153 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: to support video games streaming from the get go, and 154 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven, that's how Twitch dot tv was born. 155 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: It was done to allow some of the stuff on 156 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: justin TV a little more breathing room, because it was 157 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: just getting avalanched by all this video game content. In 158 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: July two eleven, one month after the service had launched, 159 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: Twitch was ready to announce the launch of its Partner program. 160 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: The partner program represented a professional level of streamer, someone 161 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: who could actually make money off of streaming their video gameplay, 162 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,640 Speaker 1: whereas most people couldn't really do that dire rectally through 163 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: Twitch at that time. If you were a streamer and 164 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: you wanted to make money, you had few options available 165 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,079 Speaker 1: to you in those days, as the Partner program had 166 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: some really high requirements in those early days. Keeping in 167 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: mind this is when the service was less than a 168 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 1: year old, so to qualify, a Twitch streamer had to 169 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: have either five hundred minimum concurrent viewers on average, three 170 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: hundred thousand channel views and at least one thousand followers, 171 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,559 Speaker 1: or you can meet one of three other tougher requirements. 172 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: You could have an average of at least one thousand 173 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: viewers at any given time, you could have a minimum 174 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: of eight hundred thousand channel views or at least four 175 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: thousand followers. Now, over time, what was required to be 176 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: considered for you to make the status a partner would 177 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,960 Speaker 1: change and at times became less obvious to the average person. 178 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: Twitch partners could earn a share of revenue that was 179 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: generated on their streams, So to which is revenue model 180 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: was largely on advertising. It was video ads that would 181 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:10,439 Speaker 1: run his pre role in channels or sometimes an overlay 182 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: AD or sometimes even a mid role AD, and that 183 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: was typically how Twitch was making its money. As a 184 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: revenue generation kind of strategy, Twitch dot tv would handle 185 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: all the ad sales arrangements and partners would get a 186 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: percentage of all the revenue generated on their channel on 187 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,199 Speaker 1: a monthly basis, so once a month you would get 188 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: paid out. The more folks who are watching ads on 189 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: your stream, the more money you would make that month. 190 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: Partners would also get access to new Twitch tools and 191 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,559 Speaker 1: features before the rest of Twitch users would. So if 192 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: you were streaming on Twitch you were not a partner, 193 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: then you might see partner streamers using tools that were 194 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,599 Speaker 1: not available to you, and it sometimes can seem a 195 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: little unfair. At the same time, the people who are 196 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: making partner they were kind of acting almost as power 197 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: beta testers for these different Twitch tools and finding ways 198 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: of making them really useful, and then those tools might 199 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: later be rolled out to a larger group of users. 200 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 1: Not at some point, though I couldn't find exactly when. 201 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: I couldn't find a definitive source that that really laid 202 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: this out. Twitch partners also got the ability to offer 203 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: subscriptions to followers. Now on Twitch you can follow an 204 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,839 Speaker 1: account for free. You can sort of, you know, hit 205 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: a little follow thing, and that makes it easier for 206 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: you to see when your favorite streamers are active. Whenever 207 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: you log into Twitch, you would see it, maybe on 208 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: the landing page, so it made it much simpler. Subscriptions 209 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: are a way for users to actually support the streamers 210 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,559 Speaker 1: they like to watch financially. So when they do that, 211 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 1: subscribers get access to a few bells and whistles, which 212 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: mostly play out in the chat room for those subscribe channels, 213 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: So as subscriber might have a particular badge next to 214 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: their user handle to designate that they are at a 215 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 1: certain level of subscription for that particular streamer, or they 216 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,079 Speaker 1: might have access to a collection of special emote commands 217 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 1: that the average person doesn't have. The original subscription fee 218 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,439 Speaker 1: in the United States was four dollars ninety nine cents 219 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:32,079 Speaker 1: per month. Twitch took about half of that technically just 220 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 1: less than half, like two dollars forty nine cents, and 221 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: the streamer would get the other two dollars and fifty 222 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: cents of each of those subscriptions per month, and eventually 223 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: Twitch would increase the options to also uh to other 224 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,439 Speaker 1: levels of subscription, so you still had the four dollars 225 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 1: nine cents per month as the base level, but users 226 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: could opt to subscribe at nine dollars nine cents a 227 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: month or twenty four dollars and ninety nine cents per month. 228 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: At those higher levels, users would get access to additional 229 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,959 Speaker 1: emotes and bells and whistles, so it's not like it 230 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 1: was an enormous change in their experience, but they would 231 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 1: have the knowledge that they were giving more support to 232 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: those particular streamers. In addition, partners would get access to 233 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: more emote slots as they racked up more subscribers, so 234 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: it incentivized partners to try and get that number up, 235 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 1: not just for the money, but to create more reasons 236 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: to convince people to join and become subscribers. It was 237 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: a sort of a feedback loop. But again this was 238 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: all originally restricted to official Twitch partners, which represented a 239 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: tiny percentage of the overall streamers on the platform. So 240 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: if you wanted to make money off your streaming but 241 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: you did not meet twitches requirements, your only other options 242 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: were to find ways to benefit indirectly from your streaming, 243 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: such as by offering merchandise or setting up an affiliate 244 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: program through an online in store. So you would provide 245 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: a special link to your viewers and you'd say, if 246 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,800 Speaker 1: you want to buy this chair that I have, you know, 247 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: the same kind of chair, then follow this link and 248 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: you can buy it there, and then the streamer gets 249 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: a certain amount of money from every purchase that's made 250 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:23,440 Speaker 1: through that specific link. It's a little kick back to 251 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: the streamer, and all of this is on the up 252 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: and top. I mean, this is always where it's supposed 253 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: to be. You're supposed to communicate that to the viewers, 254 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: saying if you use this, then you help support the channel. 255 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: I get a little bit every time you guys get it, 256 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: and then you get the thing that you wanted in 257 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: the first place and no extra cost to you. You 258 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: can also try and get sponsorships from various companies. There 259 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: are a couple of other ways that you could monetize 260 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: your your streaming even if you weren't a partner, but 261 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: it always requires a lot of hustle. The Twitch management 262 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: team held a couple of different rounds of investment funding, 263 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: one in two thousand twelve and an other in two 264 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: thousand thirteen, and together those two rounds brought in about 265 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: thirty five million dollars of investment. And this is one 266 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: of those instances where if you could travel through time, 267 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: you might join those investors. That there's what we call foreshadowing. 268 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: Interesting side note. While Twitch dot tv would go on 269 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: to become monumentally successful and profitable, Justin TV didn't fare 270 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: quite as well. In February two fourteen, the parent company 271 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: that was Justin TV that oversaw both the Justin TV 272 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: service and Twitch TV rebranded as Twitch. So the spinoff 273 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: has now become the master. And in August that year, 274 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: Justin TV shut down entirely. It had become clear the 275 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: video game streaming was the winner here and the more 276 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: generic life streaming service was just not taking off at 277 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: a level where it merited the amount of attention that 278 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: was required to run it. So they cut their losses, 279 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: they shut it down, and they really focused on Twitch. 280 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 1: Also back in February two fourteen was the birth of 281 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: a great social experiment called Twitch plays Pokemon. So Pokemon, 282 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: in case you're not familiar, is a game series where 283 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:18,440 Speaker 1: you play as a Pokemon trainer and Pokemon is short 284 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: for pocket monsters, So you go around collecting and training 285 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: monsters to do battle on your behalf against other monsters. Anyway, 286 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: not not important. This Twitch channel create an experiment which 287 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: viewers could influence what happened in a specific Pokemon game 288 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: called Pokemon Read. A bot was playing the game, and 289 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: the viewers could type in commands and the video streams 290 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,639 Speaker 1: chat to make the bot do stuff, and because the 291 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: game is turn based, the bot would wait for the 292 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: next input and then act on it. As you might imagine, 293 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: this quickly resulted in true chaos. As people discovered the channel, 294 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: users would flood the chat with commands in an attempt 295 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: to to be the one to guide the Pokemon playing 296 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: bought to do a specific action, or sometimes just to 297 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: cause trouble. So within a month the experiment had grown 298 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,440 Speaker 1: large enough that the channel's administrators changed things up a 299 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 1: little bit. They switched from a yell commands at the 300 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: bot mode to vote for anarchy or democracy. Anarchy was 301 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,120 Speaker 1: the old style of play in which a bot would 302 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: take all the commands in the order that they were 303 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,439 Speaker 1: received and then execute on them in turn, and that 304 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,920 Speaker 1: resulted in a lot of chaos, and sometimes it meant 305 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: you would spend hours watching the bot navigate the same 306 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: menu due to all the different inputs it had received. 307 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: Democracy took a different approach. The bot would pause between 308 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: actions and players could vote on what happened next, and 309 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: they would have about twenty seconds to cast their vote. 310 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: Then the bot would look at all the votes and 311 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: whichever one one it would perform that action. Now I 312 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,880 Speaker 1: could do a whole episode about the Twitch plays Pokemon experiment. 313 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,959 Speaker 1: The interesting stuff really doesn't have that much to do 314 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: with the game or its mechanics. Instead had a lot 315 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,920 Speaker 1: to do with how people find ways to game systems 316 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: and an effort to achieve specific goals. If you look 317 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: at the experiment as a whole, you start to see 318 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: stuff that might remind you of novels like Lord of 319 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: the Flies or Animal Farm. But maybe that's best say 320 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: for a different type of podcast, since the technical stuff 321 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: was really just an enabler. Anyway, Twitch plays Pokemon really 322 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 1: got the streaming service a lot of attention, and who 323 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,720 Speaker 1: boy did that pay off. Twitches performance was gaining attention, 324 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: and it would soon lead to a couple of big 325 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 1: fish in the tech world to explore acquisition opportunities. I'll 326 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: explain more after we take this quick break. So rumors 327 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 1: were running wild at Google in the form of YouTube 328 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: was sniffing around Twitch for a possible acquisition. YouTube was 329 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: already the de facto go to for online prerecorded video. 330 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,879 Speaker 1: The site was aiming to create the same space for 331 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: live streaming video, and while the company was rolling out 332 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: some live streaming capabilities, the user base was already over 333 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: at Twitch. Meanwhile, Twitch was actually eliminating one major feature 334 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: that upsets some of its users. In early August, the 335 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: company began to delete archived broadcast recordings that were more 336 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: than two weeks old. Partners got a little bit more 337 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 1: breathing room. They could hold onto their broadcast recordings for 338 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: two months. Oh and I didn't really cover this, but 339 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: in the company introduced a paid subscription tier for users 340 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: called Turbo. This wasn't a subscription to a specific streamer, 341 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: but to Twitch itself, So for nine dollars a month, 342 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,720 Speaker 1: users could log into their paid subscription version of Twitch, 343 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,640 Speaker 1: where they would be able to skip all pre roll 344 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,640 Speaker 1: and overlay ads. They also got access to more chat features, 345 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:10,120 Speaker 1: which is really that's the only features that viewers get 346 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:14,400 Speaker 1: access to on Twitch if you're not actually streaming stuff anyway. 347 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: Turbo subscribers could also have their broadcast recording stick around 348 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: for two months. Hit Box TV, a competitor to Twitch 349 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: that launched in attempted to use twitches announcement about clearing 350 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: out the archives is kind of a leverage of weapon, 351 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:34,160 Speaker 1: saying that Twitch was out of touch with its user base, 352 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,239 Speaker 1: but Twitch already had the momentum and was really just 353 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,680 Speaker 1: getting started. Ultimately, YouTube would not be the company to 354 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: scoop up Twitch. Instead, Amazon came in with a nearly 355 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:49,120 Speaker 1: billion dollar offer of its own, and they bought the company. 356 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: Twitch would become an Amazon owned business. Kevin Lynn, who 357 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: was a co founder of Twitch and the chief operating officer, 358 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: later described the experience as frightening at east at first. 359 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: As someone who has been working in the same job 360 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,120 Speaker 1: since two thousand seven but has gone through five different 361 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,879 Speaker 1: changes in corporate ownership, I rock that by the end 362 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 1: of two thousand fourteen, Twitch had made an acquisition of 363 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: its own. The company purchased Good Game Agency, not to 364 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: be confused with Good Game Studios. That's the company out 365 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: of Hamburg, Germany. Good Game Agency grew out of Philadelphia 366 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:32,240 Speaker 1: when CEO and founder Alex Garfield got interested in East 367 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: sports and competitive gaming and gradually became more involved in 368 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 1: the scene, ultimately stepping in to help a professional team 369 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: called Evil Geniuses after the team had been essentially swindled 370 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 1: by a crooked manager. The agency would become a big 371 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 1: player in East Sports, ultimately acting as the owners of 372 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:54,480 Speaker 1: not just Evil Geniuses but another team called Alliance, as 373 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: well as holding its own tournaments. Garfield wrote a long 374 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: and fantastic blog is describing his decision to align with Twitch. 375 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: That really drove home his love for competitive gaming and 376 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,879 Speaker 1: the belief that this would be a great relationship, a 377 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: belief that ultimately probably didn't hold true. Two years later, 378 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: Garfield would leave Twitch and Good Gain. In August two 379 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen, he announced that the company and the 380 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: E sports teams had changed his life, but it was 381 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,879 Speaker 1: time for him to move on. Not long after, Twitch 382 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: would shut down Good Game Agency. Good Game employees were 383 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: now direct Twitch employees. Twitch later would hand over the 384 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: management for both Evil Geniuses and the Alliance professional teams 385 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: to the players on those teams and divested the company 386 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: of team ownership. Today, Garfield is the head of a 387 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,639 Speaker 1: company called pop Dog and e sports streaming service that 388 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,200 Speaker 1: seems to me to be a bit of a rebuttal 389 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,040 Speaker 1: of the way streaming is handled on services like Twitch 390 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: and YouTube, and he's also remained vocal critic of how 391 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:05,120 Speaker 1: the new owners of Evil Geniuses have handled that brand. 392 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,880 Speaker 1: But let's move back to Twitch. In two thousand fifteen, 393 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:12,959 Speaker 1: Twitch did something really useful for streamers, and I'm really 394 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: being totally serious about this. The company created a royalty 395 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 1: free music library that streamers could use the tracks in 396 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: that library were cleared for streaming. So if you want 397 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: to play music on your stream, let let's say you've 398 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,640 Speaker 1: got a startup screen. You haven't actually started playing yet. 399 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 1: You wanted to run your stream for a little bit, 400 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: get some viewers, and then jump in. You can have 401 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,160 Speaker 1: some music playing in the background. Or maybe you wanted 402 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 1: music underlying whatever it was you were actually doing on 403 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,159 Speaker 1: the stream. You could do it with this library and 404 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,080 Speaker 1: not worry about getting a copyright strike against you. And 405 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 1: this is a big deal. Music licensing is hard y'all. 406 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: As a peek behind the curtain, I work for I 407 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, which is in the business of broadcasting content 408 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,880 Speaker 1: like music. I mean, they have hundreds of radio stations. 409 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: But even in podcasting, and podcasting is different than broadcast 410 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: because in a podcast, you can go back to a 411 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: specific episode whenever you like. It's like having a copy 412 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: of that content. So the licensing requirements for podcasting are 413 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: a bit wonky. It's not like live radio where you 414 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: hear it and then it's gone. Having access to a 415 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: tool like Royalty Free Music is pun intended a game changer. 416 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: The service began to experiment a bit with streaming stuff 417 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: outside the world of video games, In February two fifteen, 418 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: Twitch began streaming poker games. I'm sure folks who have 419 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 1: been familiar with the path of ESPN we're worried about that, 420 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: But the rest of us were worried the following month 421 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: when reports broke that hackers had managed to breach twitches 422 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: security and get access to user information. The initial investigations 423 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,919 Speaker 1: seemed to indicate that user names and encrypted passwords were lead, 424 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: but that the financial information that users had with the 425 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: site had remained safe. As a result, all users were 426 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: required to change their passwords, while the leaked passwords were 427 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: still protected by encryption. Encryption can be broken if you 428 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: have enough time and enough processing power. Users were also 429 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: made aware that the hack had leaked some personal information, 430 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,120 Speaker 1: such as the users names and birth dates and addresses 431 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 1: not great. In the summer of one year, after YouTube 432 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,359 Speaker 1: had been eyeing Twitch for a possible acquisition, we saw 433 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: the launch of YouTube Gaming, later just known as YouTube Live. 434 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: This was launched as a direct competitor to Twitch. Streamers 435 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: had options when it came to services, but Twitch had 436 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: a huge head start of several years and had gathered 437 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: a lot of the live streaming audience. YouTube Gaming despite 438 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: having the incredible power of YouTube behind It didn't have 439 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 1: as strong an association with live streaming as Twitch had, 440 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: so for some creators it just made more sense to 441 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: move over to YouTube from Twitch because there wasn't really 442 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: any risk there. They didn't have a huge following or anything. 443 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,199 Speaker 1: But for others, sticking with the established service made the 444 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,760 Speaker 1: most sense, particularly partners who had a lucrative arrangement with Twitch. 445 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 1: YouTube does offer some things that Twitch doesn't, such as 446 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: archiving past streams indefinitely. While Twitch was clearing house after 447 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:33,160 Speaker 1: fourteen days or two months, for partners, those recorded streams 448 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: stay with YouTube forever. Like Twitch, YouTube offers the ability 449 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 1: for viewers to support streamers by joining the channel. Here's 450 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: here's a complicated thing. See YouTube already uses the word 451 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: subscribe to mean follow, so you can follow a specific 452 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: creator by subscribing for free, and that makes the terminology confusing, 453 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: because at Twitch, you follow a creator for free, you 454 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:04,200 Speaker 1: pay to subscribe to a streamer. On YouTube, you subscribe 455 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,919 Speaker 1: to a streamer for free, but you pay to join 456 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:13,640 Speaker 1: a channel's membership. So it's the same stuff on either service. 457 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:20,240 Speaker 1: It's just the terminology is overlapping and different. One thing 458 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: that Twitch had going for its favor was its relationship 459 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: with Amazon. Amazon Prime members can subscribe to one channel 460 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: on Twitch as part of their Prime membership. There's no 461 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: extra cost to the Prime membership holder, but it helps 462 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: support the Twitch creator. In October two thousand fifteen, Twitch 463 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 1: began to expand its scope and opened up a new 464 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: category of live streams called Creative. These dreams were meant 465 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 1: to showcase creative hobbies and endeavors, and Twitch launched the 466 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 1: channels with a marathon of Bob Ross painting videos So 467 00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: many Happy Little Trees. A year later, the Side did 468 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 1: something similar would introduced a food category of streaming services, 469 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 1: broadcasting a marathon of cooking shows hosted by Julia Child. 470 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: By the end of we started to see the sort 471 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: of jockeying for talent has been a big part of 472 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 1: recent news. A service called Major League Gaming made an 473 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: offer to a professional Twitch streamer who goes by the 474 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: handle aid Shot, and the deal would mean maid Shot 475 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: would agree to stream exclusively on the Major League Gaming service, 476 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: leaving Twitch behind, but streamers Liken aid Shot would learn 477 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: a pretty tough lesson, which is that you could get 478 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: a big initial payout, but unless your audience makes the 479 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,120 Speaker 1: move with you, You're not guaranteed much longevity in your 480 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: success on the new platform. This is a lesson that 481 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: a lot of people would learn the hard way over 482 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,720 Speaker 1: the following years, and on the flip side, it was 483 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: also a lesson for the various streaming services. Sometimes dropping 484 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,959 Speaker 1: an enormous amount of money on an exclusivity deal doesn't 485 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: result in a big boost in users in the long term. 486 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,480 Speaker 1: Nate Shot, as it turns out, would return to Twitch 487 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:13,160 Speaker 1: in two thousand sixteen. Meanwhile, another big player was getting 488 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: ready to enter the space. Microsoft, as the powerhouse behind 489 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: the Windows operating system and the Xbox series of video 490 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: game consoles, wanted a piece of the action. The company 491 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:27,080 Speaker 1: began to look around for a potential acquisition to build 492 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: out its capabilities, and their sites fell on a service 493 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: called Beam. Beam had started in Seattle, and it introduced 494 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 1: a new factor into streaming, that of interactivity. While Twitches 495 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: interactivity was mostly limited to chat between viewers and streamers, 496 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: apart from some notable exceptions like the viewer controlled bot 497 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 1: in Twitch plays Pokemon, Beam included tools that would let 498 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:58,360 Speaker 1: viewers actually affect the streamers gameplay experience. According to a 499 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: press release from August Quote. With Beam, you don't just 500 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: watch your favorite streamer play, you play along with them. 501 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: You can give them new challenges and make real time 502 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: choices that affect their gameplay, from tools selection, two quests 503 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: to movement, all through simple visual controls end quote. Initially, 504 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: the focus was really on incorporating Beam into the Xbox experience, 505 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,160 Speaker 1: which didn't have as much of an overlap with Twitch. 506 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: While it was entirely possible to stream console games to Twitch, 507 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: the majority of streams tended to be from PC based games, 508 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 1: so there was a time when these services didn't have 509 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:47,239 Speaker 1: an enormous amount of overlap. But in Microsoft rebranded the 510 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 1: Beam service, Beam became Mixer. According to Microsoft, the reason 511 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: for this name change was one of necessity. There are 512 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 1: regions in the world where the name Beam was already 513 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: in use for a different service, and so Microsoft needed 514 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 1: a name that it could use in different regions, preferably 515 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 1: a name that could still be used all around the world, 516 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: rather than, you know, have a name that's different for 517 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: every single territory. The service also included some new features 518 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:19,800 Speaker 1: and prepared itself to make some big moves against Twitch. 519 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: And so we're getting to a point where some of 520 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 1: the drama that's happened more recently has begun to unfold. 521 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,160 Speaker 1: I'll explain more when we come back, but first let's 522 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: take another quick break in Twitch expanded, who could monetize 523 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:46,480 Speaker 1: live streaming by launching the Twitch Affiliate program. Not to 524 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 1: be confused by the store affiliate monetization strategy that I 525 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, where you would get, you know, a special 526 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,720 Speaker 1: link people could follow, and then you would get you know, 527 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:58,800 Speaker 1: a little kickback every time people use that link. Instead, 528 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: the Twitch Affiliate program was a sort of step between 529 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 1: Twitch partner and casual Twitch user. Twitch would choose channels 530 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: to invite into the program. You couldn't apply for it, 531 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: They would choose you, and to qualify, your channel needed 532 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: to have at least five hundred total minutes broadcast in 533 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: the last thirty days, at least seven unique broadcast days 534 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,560 Speaker 1: in the last thirty days, an average of three concurrent 535 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: viewers or more over the last thirty days, and at 536 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,560 Speaker 1: least fifty followers. Not first, the primary way affiliate members 537 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: could make money off of streaming was through a system 538 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: called bits, which are essentially a form of in app 539 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:44,040 Speaker 1: currency that you use to tip streamers. You buy this 540 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,200 Speaker 1: virtual currency with real money. Then you use the virtual 541 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,200 Speaker 1: bits to cheer on your favorite streamers, you can tip them. 542 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 1: It keeps track of the biggest tippers during a stream. 543 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 1: And yes, I do think this is largely in an 544 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,080 Speaker 1: effort to obvious skate how much money is going to 545 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 1: each person and to Twitch allah Disney Bucks. But that's 546 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: neither here nor there. By January nineteen, Twitch was boasting 547 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:13,200 Speaker 1: more than three million streamers monthly, with live stream tournaments 548 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: bringing in as many as one hundred million viewers, eclipsing 549 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: most quote unquote real sporting events. It was hitting a 550 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:24,000 Speaker 1: monthly average of nearly one billion hours of total watch 551 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 1: time on the site. It had a solid place in 552 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:28,799 Speaker 1: the top ten sites that served as a source for 553 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,879 Speaker 1: video content online, Amazon Prime being another in the top ten, 554 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,439 Speaker 1: so Amazon was actually holding two places in the top 555 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,040 Speaker 1: ten simultaneously. And along the way, Twitch had to deal 556 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 1: with some of the stuff that comes along with the 557 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,759 Speaker 1: territory of providing a live streaming platform, mostly in the 558 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: form of dealing with people who were violating terms of service. 559 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 1: Some people were being too vulgar or explicit, although you've 560 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 1: got to go pretty far to to to really trip 561 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 1: twitches warning flags. Some were engaging in jackass like displays 562 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:06,359 Speaker 1: of self harm, which was right up against Twitch's terms 563 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: of service. A few were caught out being frauds or cheats. 564 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:14,000 Speaker 1: There was a gambling scandal back in the day. There's 565 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:18,640 Speaker 1: been some scandals of of people who have cheated on games, 566 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: like they were using a view bot as opposed to 567 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,400 Speaker 1: actually playing a game. UH. There's one case where a 568 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: person was faking having a real life disability in order 569 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: to drum up sympathy and support, and UH, in the 570 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: middle of a game, got angry and accidentally revealed that 571 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,720 Speaker 1: that disability was in fact fake. There are numerous stories 572 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,440 Speaker 1: along these lines, and every time one would pop up, 573 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: Twitch would have to crack down a little harder on 574 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,760 Speaker 1: the rules. And some of the bands that have been 575 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,240 Speaker 1: placed over people over the years have since been reversed. 576 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,560 Speaker 1: Some of them were just temporary to begin with, but 577 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:59,279 Speaker 1: a few do remain permanent. Making matters more complicated is 578 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:03,720 Speaker 1: that the rules are somewhat vaguely defined. For example, Twitch 579 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: has a rule against streamers dressing suggestively or provocatively. You know, 580 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,720 Speaker 1: you're not supposed to be showing too much skin on camera, 581 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:16,840 Speaker 1: but there's no real standard that defines what this practically means, 582 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:21,560 Speaker 1: and sometimes you'll see one channel get banned for that 583 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,440 Speaker 1: sort of activity, while other channels that seem to be 584 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,839 Speaker 1: just as guilty keep on going. And this has been 585 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 1: a continuing source of frustration for people who are in 586 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:35,080 Speaker 1: the streaming space, and at the same time, Twitch, like 587 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:38,960 Speaker 1: many companies online or off, is having to reckon with 588 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 1: the massive problem of sexual harassment and misconduct. This is 589 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: something that across the board has been a long time coming, 590 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:51,319 Speaker 1: as sexual harassment and all industries has been a huge problem. 591 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,240 Speaker 1: I don't know if it's more prevalent in the world 592 00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:58,279 Speaker 1: of gaming, but it can certainly be more overt. And 593 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: the fact that gaming has traditionally catered primarily to straight 594 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:07,320 Speaker 1: males and many games have perpetuated a fairly skewed point 595 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: of view when it comes to sexism that does not 596 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: help things. In the summer of a number of streamers 597 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: became the focus of allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. 598 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,440 Speaker 1: Twitch responded with a message that said it was looking 599 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: into the accounts of those who had been involved in 600 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: those allegations and was taking each and every one of 601 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:32,279 Speaker 1: those very seriously. In addition, some people allege that the 602 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,279 Speaker 1: company itself had taken a rather hands off approach to 603 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:40,400 Speaker 1: particularly popular streamers, most notably those who are under contract 604 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:44,279 Speaker 1: with Twitch, the implication being that if streamers are good 605 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,840 Speaker 1: for business, then they can be exempt from the rules. 606 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: That is not a good look, and the story gets 607 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 1: super ugly, and it's still unfolding as I record this episode. 608 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:58,440 Speaker 1: But one thing I can say is that some former 609 00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:02,040 Speaker 1: vice presidents of Twitch have confirmed some of those stories, 610 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,880 Speaker 1: indicating that this is a deep problem with the company culture, 611 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:09,120 Speaker 1: and honestly, it makes me think a bit about Uber 612 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:13,280 Speaker 1: and how that company was really in a bad place 613 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 1: for a long time. As for other cases that don't 614 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 1: involve sexual harassment or misconduct, it's extremely difficult to stand 615 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,880 Speaker 1: out on a platform like Twitch, just as it is 616 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: hard to stand out in places like YouTube or heck, 617 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,720 Speaker 1: in podcasts, the flood of content means you're competing against 618 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,800 Speaker 1: a lot of other folks for viewing time from your fans, 619 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,799 Speaker 1: and so people try lots of different things in order 620 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: to get those viewers, or they have certain personalities that 621 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,400 Speaker 1: attract viewers, and then the streamers will dial that personality 622 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,040 Speaker 1: up to eleven, kind of like a professional wrestler would, 623 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:54,280 Speaker 1: And this means some streamers push the envelope a little 624 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 1: harder than others. It becomes part of their persona and 625 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 1: the attraction of their channels, But it also risks the 626 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:04,040 Speaker 1: great Twitch ban hammer, either on a temporary or a 627 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:07,560 Speaker 1: permanent basis. If you were to look at an exhaustive 628 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:12,399 Speaker 1: list of the various bands of high profile streamers, you're 629 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:16,040 Speaker 1: likely gonna get upset, not necessarily for the decision to 630 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 1: ban some folks. Often those decisions are extremely well warranted, 631 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:23,520 Speaker 1: but you might get upset because there are a lot 632 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:28,600 Speaker 1: of times where Twitch hasn't banned someone for behaving really awfully, 633 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:32,880 Speaker 1: so that there's a real inconsistency with banning, and that 634 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,279 Speaker 1: is a big problem. And making that worse is that 635 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,040 Speaker 1: there are times when Twitch will ban someone and then 636 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,200 Speaker 1: the reason for the ban is never disclosed. Now, it's 637 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,600 Speaker 1: possible that at least in some of those cases, Twitch 638 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,719 Speaker 1: has reached out to streamers and explain the reason for 639 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: the band, and then the streamers subsequently decide not to 640 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:56,000 Speaker 1: share that with their public. But you hear this often 641 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 1: enough to get the feeling that at least sometimes accounts 642 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 1: get and for a blanket quote unquote violation of policies 643 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:07,440 Speaker 1: kind of statement. Perhaps the most famous recent example of 644 00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:12,440 Speaker 1: this is with the popular streamer Doctor Disrespect, a guy beam. 645 00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: Disrespect had been banned before, most notably when he and 646 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,800 Speaker 1: his cameraman ducked into a restroom at E three during 647 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:26,080 Speaker 1: a live stream, but that ban was made temporary. Disrespect 648 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: had signed an exclusive multi year contract with Twitch early 649 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:34,440 Speaker 1: in but in June of this year, his account was 650 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:39,360 Speaker 1: suddenly removed. There was a live stream in June where 651 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,880 Speaker 1: Disrespect was live on camera. He got a message on 652 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:45,240 Speaker 1: his phone, he looked at it, and then he rapidly 653 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:48,920 Speaker 1: had a massive change of attitude and he ended the 654 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:52,879 Speaker 1: stream shortly afterward. And that fueled a lot of speculation 655 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: as to what was possibly going on, like did he 656 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,880 Speaker 1: did he get shut down live on camera? He violated 657 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:04,319 Speaker 1: his exclusivity agreement? Was he involved in a case of 658 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: sexual harassment or misconduct? Or was it something else? Disrespect 659 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:12,680 Speaker 1: wasn't really talking and neither was Twitch. And as I 660 00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:16,080 Speaker 1: record this, the reason for Disrespects ban remains a mystery 661 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,360 Speaker 1: outside of Twitch, and the Doctor himself claims he doesn't 662 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 1: know why he was removed from the platform. He has 663 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:26,000 Speaker 1: since moved over to streaming on YouTube. To this day, 664 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:29,200 Speaker 1: streamers on Twitch aren't supposed to play in games with 665 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,720 Speaker 1: disrespect on their team. Now they can't play against him 666 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,000 Speaker 1: if they're in a game and they're matched up against him, 667 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,360 Speaker 1: but they're also not supposed to have his audio on 668 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:42,600 Speaker 1: their streams. That's been something that has jumped up recently 669 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,839 Speaker 1: too and has been a bit of a controversy. Now. 670 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:48,640 Speaker 1: Twitch holding a dominant position in the market also meant 671 00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 1: it was the prime target for everyone else, and we 672 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:56,000 Speaker 1: started to see that really unfold in twenty nineteen. In 673 00:41:56,040 --> 00:42:00,319 Speaker 1: August twenty nineteen, professional streamer Tyler Blevins, whose best known 674 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:04,959 Speaker 1: by his online handle Ninja, signed an exclusive streaming deal 675 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 1: with Microsoft's Mixer service. It's kind of hard to explain 676 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,760 Speaker 1: to someone unfamiliar with the sports how big a deal 677 00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:17,840 Speaker 1: this was. Ninja is a superstar. He's played many games, 678 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 1: but he's perhaps best known for his Fortnite play. He's 679 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,200 Speaker 1: participated in numerous tournaments along the way, he's been a 680 00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:27,439 Speaker 1: commentator on tournaments. Fortnite has been one of the most 681 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:32,040 Speaker 1: popular games on the Twitch streaming service. Since Fortnite introduced 682 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,920 Speaker 1: the Battle Royal mode, took a spot from a former 683 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:38,239 Speaker 1: Battle Royal darling called pub g and Ninja is a 684 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,760 Speaker 1: big enough deal that he has a professional management team 685 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,439 Speaker 1: to help him negotiate stuff like merchandising deals and sponsorships 686 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,719 Speaker 1: and exclusivity agreements, and so he and his team were 687 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:52,480 Speaker 1: able to secure a pretty sweet deal with Microsoft. In return, 688 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:58,200 Speaker 1: Ninja would stream exclusively on Mixer. Twitch meanwhile struggled to 689 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:00,759 Speaker 1: figure out what to do with Ninja's door channel. It 690 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:06,160 Speaker 1: had millions of followers. The company made the decision to 691 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,360 Speaker 1: direct the channel to promote other active channels in the 692 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 1: Fortnite space, but that decision allowed someone else to game 693 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,759 Speaker 1: the system. Someone created a streaming channel that was streaming 694 00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 1: explicit sexual video content. This person inflated the number of 695 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: viewers on that channel, and they tagged the channel as 696 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:32,120 Speaker 1: a Fortnight stream, and all the stuff was automated. So 697 00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:35,640 Speaker 1: Twitch looks and sees that there's this Fortnite stream that 698 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,560 Speaker 1: has an enormous number of viewers, And because Ninja's dormant 699 00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:44,560 Speaker 1: channel was automatically promoting Fortnite streams that were ranking really well, 700 00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:49,760 Speaker 1: the Ninja channel began to display the feed from this 701 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,760 Speaker 1: this channel that was just showing explicit sexual content. Ninja 702 00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:57,800 Speaker 1: was understandably upset. He had spent so much time building 703 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:01,640 Speaker 1: that brand. He wasn't allowed to go back and manage 704 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:05,080 Speaker 1: his channel because of his exclusivity agreement, and he felt 705 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,719 Speaker 1: that it was his name and reputation being drawn through 706 00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:12,760 Speaker 1: the mud. Twitch management hastily banned the offending channel and apologized, 707 00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:15,040 Speaker 1: and people began to wonder if maybe there need to 708 00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:19,320 Speaker 1: be a better system to moderate channels on Twitch. Ninja's 709 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:22,640 Speaker 1: departure wasn't the only one. A couple of months after 710 00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: he left, another gamer known as Shroud followed suit and 711 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:31,040 Speaker 1: also signed an exclusive deal with Mixer. Shroud had more 712 00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:33,600 Speaker 1: than seven million followers on Twitch when he did so. 713 00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:37,440 Speaker 1: Clearly Microsoft was banking on having top streamers pull enough 714 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:40,760 Speaker 1: audience from Twitch in order to give Mixer a boost. 715 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:44,200 Speaker 1: And also, Shroud happens to have the same management company 716 00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:47,239 Speaker 1: as Ninja. It's a company called Loaded, which I'm sure 717 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:50,920 Speaker 1: is just a coincidence. Other prominent streamers soon joined the ranks. 718 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:55,680 Speaker 1: King Gothalian and Ewalk were also too that made the 719 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,879 Speaker 1: move from Twitch to to Mixer, but it ended up 720 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:02,600 Speaker 1: not being a very long arrangement. While Ninja and Shroud 721 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:07,560 Speaker 1: signed exclusivity agreements for presumably a ton of cash, a 722 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:11,040 Speaker 1: princely sum at the very least, Microsoft decided to pull 723 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,920 Speaker 1: the plug on Mixer in the summer of the company 724 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:18,120 Speaker 1: announced in June that Mixer would shut down on July 725 00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:25,160 Speaker 1: that existing partners would be moved over to Facebook Gaming. Now, 726 00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:27,080 Speaker 1: this did not go over so well with a lot 727 00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:30,280 Speaker 1: of folks on Mixer, and it led to some jibes 728 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:34,760 Speaker 1: from streamers on other platforms. For people like Shroud and Ninja, 729 00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: there were questions of what move would make the most 730 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:41,440 Speaker 1: financial sense. But for lots of other people who spent 731 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:45,440 Speaker 1: time and effort building a following on Mixer, it was 732 00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:49,040 Speaker 1: a much more serious matter. They had spent years creating 733 00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:51,000 Speaker 1: a following, and there was no guarantee they were going 734 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,680 Speaker 1: to be able to bring that audience with them, either 735 00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:58,200 Speaker 1: to Facebook Gaming or some other platform. For the big superstars, 736 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:00,560 Speaker 1: this was sort of a bump in the road, But 737 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,680 Speaker 1: for a lot of streamers who depended upon Mixer as 738 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:07,200 Speaker 1: where they built their career, it was much more than that. 739 00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:10,520 Speaker 1: The fact that Microsoft didn't reach out to streamers first, 740 00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:14,120 Speaker 1: but rather published this decision on Twitter in a series 741 00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:17,799 Speaker 1: of public tweets was salt in the wound, because that's 742 00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:19,600 Speaker 1: how people were learning about it, was the fact that 743 00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:22,239 Speaker 1: it was being published on Twitter. But this is an 744 00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:25,960 Speaker 1: episode about Twitch, not Mixer. So I'll go back to Twitch. 745 00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:28,040 Speaker 1: But one day I'll have to do a full story 746 00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,000 Speaker 1: of the development of Beam all the way to the 747 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:33,239 Speaker 1: shuttering of Mixer, because that tale has more than its 748 00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:37,440 Speaker 1: share of dark scandals and bad decisions. Rumors started popping 749 00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:41,759 Speaker 1: up that perhaps Disrespect, Shroud, and Ninja would form their 750 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:46,520 Speaker 1: own streaming service, separate from all the established companies. Now 751 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,520 Speaker 1: ultimately that proved to be pure speculation, or at the 752 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:51,920 Speaker 1: very least, if it ever had been a plan. It 753 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: didn't pan out that way. Ninja briefly switched over to 754 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:59,800 Speaker 1: YouTube Live before he signed another multi year exclusive agreement 755 00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:03,640 Speaker 1: with Twitch, and so he has returned back home. Shroud 756 00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,640 Speaker 1: has done the same, also signing a multi year agreement 757 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:11,759 Speaker 1: with exclusive streaming to Twitch. Dr Disrespect remains banned from 758 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:15,759 Speaker 1: the platform, so he is not doing that. As I 759 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:17,760 Speaker 1: wrap up these notes, I can give you a glimpse 760 00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:20,760 Speaker 1: into some of the stats on Twitch. There are slightly 761 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,799 Speaker 1: more than three million viewers who are live on the 762 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:28,800 Speaker 1: service as I write this, watching more than nine thousand channels. 763 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,920 Speaker 1: The number of hours of content watched on twitch tv 764 00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:39,000 Speaker 1: in August twenty twenty was one point six billion hours 765 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:44,240 Speaker 1: of content. Holy cow, that is equivalent to one thousand, 766 00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:48,440 Speaker 1: five hundred twenty seven years. That's the amount of time 767 00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:54,160 Speaker 1: spent by people watching streams on Twitch in August. The 768 00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:56,680 Speaker 1: all time peak and viewers at one time over the 769 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:00,759 Speaker 1: last week was just over six million people. Now, it's 770 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,920 Speaker 1: no big surprise, but the average number of viewers and 771 00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:06,799 Speaker 1: hours of viewing has been on the rise since the 772 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:10,399 Speaker 1: outbreak of COVID nineteen. For those of you out there 773 00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 1: who want to set up a Twitch stream, it does 774 00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:15,520 Speaker 1: require a few things. If you want to do it 775 00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:19,000 Speaker 1: really well, you need a pretty beefy computer, not just 776 00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:21,800 Speaker 1: to play games, but to push out the streamed content 777 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:25,640 Speaker 1: to the Internet. Some streamers prefer to actually use a 778 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:29,640 Speaker 1: two PC set up, one PC dedicated to gaming and 779 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:33,239 Speaker 1: the second one just dedicated to handling the encoding and 780 00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:37,920 Speaker 1: streaming of content part. You probably want a decent webcam 781 00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:41,160 Speaker 1: or better, you want a good microphone. You want to 782 00:48:41,200 --> 00:48:44,879 Speaker 1: become familiar with whatever broadcasting software you want to use, 783 00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:47,400 Speaker 1: like oh b S, so that you can, you know, 784 00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:50,600 Speaker 1: have like a nice looking overlay and some transitions and 785 00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:53,160 Speaker 1: stuff that complements your channel. You gotta have good lighting. 786 00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:56,640 Speaker 1: You want your background to look nice. It's not the 787 00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:58,919 Speaker 1: hardest stuff in the world to learn, but it does 788 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:02,040 Speaker 1: represent a very or two entry. On top of all that, 789 00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:05,040 Speaker 1: even if you're a super good gamer and you set 790 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:08,160 Speaker 1: up your system well, you've got good screen presence, you 791 00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:10,640 Speaker 1: still got to gather an audience. And like I said, 792 00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:15,239 Speaker 1: getting noticed is hard. It's not impossible, but it is challenging, 793 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,040 Speaker 1: even for someone who might be well known in some 794 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:22,879 Speaker 1: other form of media. Me And it's also a good 795 00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:27,040 Speaker 1: idea to take a really critical view of whatever platform 796 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:29,560 Speaker 1: you're thinking of using, whether it's Twitch or something else, 797 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:32,480 Speaker 1: because you don't want to hit your wagon to a 798 00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,719 Speaker 1: service that behaves in a way that you find objectionable. 799 00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,440 Speaker 1: You don't want to work for a boss that does 800 00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:42,239 Speaker 1: stuff that you find upsetting. You want to try and 801 00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:45,680 Speaker 1: find a platform that fits your philosophy. If you're not 802 00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:49,400 Speaker 1: bothered by stuff that one platform is doing, and you 803 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:52,160 Speaker 1: don't think it's necessarily wrong or anything, there's nothing wrong 804 00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:55,800 Speaker 1: with joining that service, but do take a critical look 805 00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:59,360 Speaker 1: before you start making decisions. I'm sure that I'll do 806 00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,200 Speaker 1: a lot more up pisodes related to Twitch. While back, 807 00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:06,960 Speaker 1: I even used to stream podcasting as I would record episodes. 808 00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:11,719 Speaker 1: Maybe I'll do that again in future episodes. Since I'm 809 00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:14,520 Speaker 1: doing this from home, I could set up a Twitch 810 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:17,160 Speaker 1: stream and actually stream my recording sessions. You guys could 811 00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:20,120 Speaker 1: hear how many times I have to take pauses or 812 00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:23,160 Speaker 1: how many times I make mistakes. It's a lot. You 813 00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:25,120 Speaker 1: don't get to hear it in the final episodes because 814 00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,719 Speaker 1: Tari is so awesome, but it's a lot. I would 815 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,000 Speaker 1: need to install some software in order to make that happen. 816 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,960 Speaker 1: I haven't done that for this episode. So of this 817 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,600 Speaker 1: episode about streaming did not stream live, but maybe next time. 818 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,279 Speaker 1: I'll keep you guys posted in the meantime. If you 819 00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:42,799 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for future topics I should cover in 820 00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,279 Speaker 1: tech Stuff, reach out to me. You can do so 821 00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:47,920 Speaker 1: on Twitter. The handle for the show is tech Stuff 822 00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:51,800 Speaker 1: hs W, and I'll talk to you again really soon. 823 00:50:56,840 --> 00:50:59,839 Speaker 1: Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 824 00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:03,360 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 825 00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:06,600 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 826 00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:11,200 Speaker 1: H