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How Twitch Has Become The Most Popular Content Essay

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Twitch is a live streaming video platform owned by Twitch Interactive, a subordinate of Amazon. Twitch is a spinoff of Justin.tv. A spin off is the creation of an independent company by a parent company. The parent company, Justin.tv, a general interest streaming platform was launched in 2007 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear. This site was divided into different content categories. It’s gaming category quickly became the most popular content on the site. In 2014, Justin.tv’s parent company shut down and rebranded as Twitch Interactive to represent a shift in focus to the gaming category. Twitch has been financially supported by investments of venture capital, capital invested in a new or expanding business. The company became profitable in correlation with the shutdown of its direct competitor Own3d.tv. Twitch has become the most popular e-sports streaming service by a large margin, referred to as a monopoly on the market. On August 25th, 2014 Amazon bought Twitch Interactive for $970 million dollars. Twitch Prime services those with Amazon Memberships. These users can use Twitch ad-free, they receive video games published by Amazon’s game division as well as in-game content for popular games streamed on twitch, and they also get one free channel membership every 30-days.
“Twitch is the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers, video game culture, and the creative arts.” (Twitch, 2016) Everyday, almost 10 million visitors watch and chat about video games

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