Twitch is an online video-game streaming platform and social network owned by Amazon and closely aligned with the growing sSports market.
eSports is a fast growing sector slated to be the next billion-dollar industry within the next couple of years.
Prize pools in tournaments for popular competitive titles such as blockbuster first-person shooter Call of Duty and multiplayer online battle arena game DOTA 2 now exceed over 25 million dollars.
And if you didn't already know, Twitch.tv is recognized as the home of the global eSports scene.
With 140 million monthly users, it’s not surprising there is a growing relationship between this sector and more traditional sports organizations.
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eSports favorites Team Liquid, who have taken home titles from some of the biggest competitions throughout the world, originally made a name for themselves playing real time strategy games like Starcraft, but have now moved into the world of competitive poker.
This is in partnership with established gaming platform PokerStars whose Stadium Series online tournaments set new records on Twitch with a 52 million dollar prize payout in 2020.
Other traditional sporting media are following suit, with ESPN and NBA among the broadcasters and associations investing in their presence on Twitch.
Football clubs are also getting in on the action, with four major European clubs signing a partnership deal with Twitch to host content on the platform.
Below is a quick rundown of who they are and what they’re getting up to on the website.
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Arsenal
Premier League club Arsenal are among Twitch’s new football partners and are excited to experiment with what is possible with this new medium.
One of the major draws for clubs is that Twitch’s co-streaming format can exploit existing loopholes in the way rights and distribution are contractually defined and delineated between service providers.
This means, in effect, that clubs are able under certain circumstances to stream both archived and live premier league matches on the platform, opening them up legally to a wider global audience. This is a key focus the Gunners hope to build on with their channel.
Additionally, they put on events such as AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions with star players like Rob Holding and recently hosted a Dennis Bergkamp retrospective special where participants can vote for the decorated squad forward’s greatest ever Arsenal goal.
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Juventus
The second club to pair up with Twitch is the Italian Serie A mainstay Juventus.
In December of 2020, they hosted a competition show called Pitch for Twitch where participants battled it out through a series of trivia quizzes, knock-out challenges and debates.
The winner, being crowned the ultimate Juventus super-fan, will become a presenter for their Twitch channel. Juventus also regularly hosts a panel twitch-cast on the platform called Tutti Pazzi Per La Juve (All Crazy for Juve) that keeps fans up to date on all the latest news and commentary surrounding the club.
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Paris Saint-Germain
French club Paris Saint-Germain, playing out of Ligue 1, are the third club Twitch have landed a partnership with.
Their channel is an all access deep dive into the activities of the club for the most ardent fans.
The channel is primarily home to three different show formats; one that serves as an expose and exploration of the club’s pre-match training in the lead up to a league games, Match Center, which is their live interactive commentary show during matches, and a press conference special that breaks down the post-game analysis for each match.
Paris Saint-Germain is making a special effort to keep fans involved and connected every step of the way, something that plays well to the participatory format of Twitch.
Real Madrid
Last but certainly not least is Spanish La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid, who have also been using the platform as an opportunity to host watch parties for some of their most iconic matches from their illustrious history.
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In addition to this, Real Madrid’s channel is home to the post-match commentary show La Previa that invites participation and interaction with streamers that join live.
This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago
