Amazon.com 's Twitch and Alphabet 's YouTube are phasing out multibillion-dollar deals with top livestreaming players after years of submitting seven-figure (millions) and eight-figure (billions) offers.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said in an interview with Bloomberg News at the TwitchCon conference in Las Vegas that the strategy had created this bidding war and “I don’t think this is a sustainable business.” YouTube is pulling out of such deals, though he asked not to be named .
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For more than three years, YouTube and Twitch have been competing for top gamers, trying to boost livestreaming services. The platforms have calculated that paying for livestreams from popular video game personalities or influencers would attract hundreds of thousands or millions of fans, boosting advertising revenue. In 2019, Microsoft Corp. briefly hired renowned gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins to its Mixer. He later returned to Twitch.
According to a Bloomberg report, Twitch will stop requiring exclusivity in its contracts with top “partner” streamers starting in 2022. During TwitchCon, the company announced that streamers will now be able to simultaneously broadcast on any other platform, including YouTube, ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok or Meta Platforms Inc. ’s Instagram .
In the past, Twitch tried to collaborate with other platforms, according to Clancy. Although there are still streamers who have individualized agreements with the company, Clancy noted that this percentage has decreased significantly.
Many streamers saw their live audience dwindle after switching from Twitch to YouTube. Some of them returned to Twitch. Although YouTube is more popular, Twitch is widely considered the leader in game livestreaming.
In 2018, Twitch paid Activision Blizzard Inc. to exclusively broadcast the Overwatch League esports for two years. However, viewership declined when YouTube took over the rights after the Twitch contract expired.
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Kick , a niche streaming service owned by a cryptocurrency gaming company , claims to be offering significant deals for non-exclusive streaming rights. In June, the New York Times reported that Felix “xQc” Lengyel signed a $100 million deal with Kick, which is involved in streaming gaming content.
Although big companies are making noise, Kick reports that it has signed 133 agreements with small and medium-sized businesses.
Source: fortune.com
