“Twitch” expands beyond just gaming

Since June 6, 2011, Twitch has fluctuated in popularity, but it has established itself as a major streaming service. It earned its recognition as a streaming service focused on gaming, but recently it seems as if it is re-branding itself.  

The hiring of a new chief marketing officer, former Zynga employee, Doug Scott seems to enforce this new re-branding and direction. Doug Scott previously also served as CMO of BandPage and Vice President of DeNa.  

Doug Scott’s vast background in gaming and streaming seems to reinforce Twitch’s advance into different lanes out of gaming. Recently, streamers have been switching lanes into different forms of entertainment such as vlogs, interactive media, and music.  

Even Twitch itself has tried to spread out its roots, going as far as signing contracts with the NBA and NBL. These contracts have allowed Twitch to stream major league games on to its platform.  

All these changes in Twitch’s services have called for a change in design. Twitch adopted a new logo to represent its changes and a new scary tagline “You’re already one of us.”  

All these new changes and were unveiled at the aptly named TwitchCon in San Diego, California. With such rapid changes, it only made sense for Twitch to hire new heads for fresh ideas to further support this new lane in which Twitch is going.  

Along with Scott joining Twitch as CMO comes Sarah Looss and Dan Clancy. Both amazing people filling crucial roles: Looss as head of North America sales and Clancy as VP of Creator and Community Experience.  

Twitch is clearly evolving–always big, but now it seems to be growing even still. The site seems to boast more than 15 million users on the daily, and with all these new changes and ideas, it seems as if this number will only expand as it reaches more and more people.  

With these expansions both benefits and disadvantages come along. The expansion of Twitch means the loss of core supporters that appreciated the cult following of Twitch and its gaming community. With Twitch trying to support other communities, many users will get lost in the wave of new streamers as Twitch loses focus of only advertising its gaming streamers and tries to support the new members. 

On the other hand, this new influx of viewers will elevate Twitch’s popularity to heights previously unimaginable. New popularity means the growth of its gaming community and core streamers reaching the attention of a new audience.  

It seems Twitch is risking the loss of some of its core audience to try and appease a higher amount of people. While it is a smart business move, it is removing what is special and essential about Twitch.  

A cult following with a culture of its own. A small amount of people that understand and appreciate what they have and turning into a giant company. Soulless, empty, and a misunderstanding of what its audience really is.  

What do you think about these changes?