When the 2020 lockdown occurred, live events took a pause, but live streaming saw an opportunity.
Live streaming has strong roots in the gaming space, with Twitch and YouTube Live being popular platforms for broadcasting video game play-throughs. Twitch leads the market, boasting a 96% year-over-year growth in hours streamed during Q3 of 2020. However, YouTube and Facebook are catching up, with YouTube doubling its gaming content watch hours from 2018 to 2020, and Facebook’s daily watch times quadrupling throughout the year.
Live streaming in gaming remains robust and shows no signs of stopping – which means Twitch, the leader of the live streaming pack, is here to stay.
Since COVID, live streaming has surged in popularity, and has become the most popular live streaming platform for video games and other content – and now, brands are seeing the light.
With more than 31 million active users and an average of 95 minutes watched by users daily, streamers and brands are turning to the platform for growing opportunities to nurture current audiences and widen reach and awareness.
The rapid growth of live streaming presents a valuable opportunity for brands to capitalize on and in order to succeed on Twitch and other live streaming platforms, brands should move fast and with a clear purpose.
Interested in learning how advertising on Twitch can help you accomplish your marketing goals? We’ll give you a rundown on how.
What is Twitch?
Twitch has become a significant part of shaping online streaming and gaming culture, providing a platform for content streamers to build communities. On-platform, users can broadcast their content live to an audience, who can watch, chat, and interact with the streamer in real-time.
Twitch is a community-driven platform, so it’s important to approach your video marketing efforts with an understanding of the platform’s culture and the preferences of its users. On-platform, long-form, unscripted content is the name of the game, and allows streamers to nurture their audiences more intimately in real-time.
For brands, partnering with the right creator can widen brand awareness in a way that is authentic to audiences. To support relationships between brands and streamers, Twitch has implemented various ways for streamers to engage with partner and affiliate programs. These allow streamers to monetize their content through various ads, subscriptions, and donations.
Twitch is ripe for advertising, and developing engaging content and having a consistently engaged audience can generate new leads for any creator or brand.
5 ways your brand can use Twitch for video marketing
We’ll provide a breakdown of 5 ways brands are engaging with creators and audiences on Twitch to market their brand.
1. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing looks a lot different on Twitch.
On other social channels, influencer integrations involve reviews, feedback, and approvals by sponsoring brands – but on Twitch, branded influencer content is always live.
This can be a little nerve-wracking, but the upside is the creator can cater the ad to the actively watching audience who is engaging with the sponsorship, answering questions, or showing off the product live.
Twitch influencers can showcase and endorse brands while streaming, allowing brands to reach a desired fan base and potentially generating higher levels of brand awareness and engagement. Previously, brands like UberEats partnered with Ninja to do a week-long campaign for a special discount on orders placed in-app, but ended in 24 hours due to its popularity.
2. Sponsored streams
Sponsorships are important to streamers’ growth and ability to earn income.
Brands can sponsor streamers live streams with logos, slogans, or any other material anytime during a live stream. Sponsored streams can appear as gaming tournaments, live events, or interactive experiences related to the promoted brand or product.
Gaming is still the core community at Twitch, but brands can easily find a creator aligned to their desired vertical on the home page or through search.
3. Branded content
As identified by Twitch, Branded Content can be any of the following:
- Product placements
- Endorsements
- Sponsored gameplay
- Paid product unboxings
- Channel sponsorships
- Branded channel panels
Beyond the platform, it’s important to be active on other channels as well. Streamers can continue to have sponsored content posted onto their Twitch, or onto other social channels. Branded posts can range from static to short-form creative, and often streamers charge on a per-channel basis (dependent on engagement and reach.)
4. Advertising on Twitch
Brands can also reach audiences easily through Twitch Ads. This feature is like the ads you see on YouTube – except on Twitch, these ads appear before or after the stream. There are currently 7-ad types available on Twitch. It’s important to keep these 3 tips in mind when first advertising on-platform:
- Start with shorter ads: In a live-stream setting, keeping ads to 30s-1min is important for audience retention.
- Create eye-catching designs: Make sure your creative is a top-quality design and is compliant with Twitch’s terms of service.
- Listen to your audience: This will influence the type of ad your audience would appreciate. Diminish the feeling of an ‘ad’ and make it feel relevant to them.
For brands, ads are most commonly leveraged and can be targeted to specific demographics and interests. You can leverage these advertising opportunities to reach any Twitch streamer’s user base with your video marketing content.
5. Product Placement
Brands can work with Twitch streamers to feature products or brands within their streams naturally. This can include a creator interacting with a product during a live stream or integrating it into their content in an authentic and non-intrusive way.
The 2021 “The 5 Gum” event, for example, had streamers at the mercy of their fans. In this challenge, streamers would have to live stream special broadcasts on assigned challenges from a code in a gum pack.
Keep up with the latest video trends with Storyblocks’ help
When creating content, remember that authenticity, relevance, and entertainment should be your core pillars. As a video creator, Twitch can support the creator economy in newer ways – especially in video.
Before starting your Twitch career, be sure to head over to Storyblocks to help you create better, more compelling video content in real time. Check out our plan options to get started today.
