What you'll learn 👉
Introduction
Streaming services are one of the most dominant forms of media there is. There’s a heated and highly competitive, lucrative battle between the world’s biggest streaming platforms, with Amazon, Netflix and Apple, with their multibillion-dollar budgets, all striving to rule the sector. The immense publicity and investment have trickled down and created a series of markets where people can find their niche interests and hyper-specific versions of entertainment they most enjoy.
Types of live gaming platforms
There’s no shortage of platforms if you like to watch live gaming. Analysts are generally of the opinion that YouTube was the first website to highlight the incredible potential of hosting and posting your own videos. The current climate for video gaming is the most successful it has ever been. Not only have many turned professional video gaming into their full-time profession but it has led to a wave of streamers using their platforms to host gaming sessions and gain subscribers.
Casino gaming
Some streamers use their reach to live-stream their gambling exploits. Although this is subject to legislation depending on the country, some of the biggest names on Twitch, YouTube and other social media platforms have used their staggering reach to host poker games or live spins of roulette or slot machine gaming.
Celebrities like Drake use their immense social media following to livestream casino games or to post their sports bets. While this can act as a compelling advert for many betting companies, curious audiences also keep up to date with the activity and live gaming platforms. Although Drake uses Instagram, live gaming platforms are often the most impactful way to do it.
Online gambling has grown exponentially due to smartphones and accessible internet. Live gaming platforms have helped to facilitate this growth, and it’s not just casino gaming that has benefited. A number of sports betting markets have witnessed a significant hive of activity due to how the internet has transformed the industry, making it more convenient than ever to place a bet. Live odds and in-play betting were a virtually non-existent arm of the gambling industry 25 years ago – now, they’re among the leading subsidiary markets, all emboldened by the rise of streamers and online gaming.
Twitch
As one of the pioneers of live gaming platforms, Twitch has had an innovative and triumphant ascent to the top of the industry. Twitch doesn’t limit itself to gamers or social media stars; there’s a diverse range of affiliates who have registered to their platform to reach the largest possible audience. Scottish comedian Limmy, for instance, is a massive name in UK entertainment. The BAFTA award-winning comedian has signed an exclusive deal with Twitch and often streams himself playing games and interacting with fans.
Twitch remains the number one site for gamers, and many DIY gamers who want to stream to the world also take to the website to post live streams of them playing an array of games. If you’re looking for where to play and how to capture a sizeable audience, it remains the best option for many gamers looking to turn their passion into an income stream.
You don’t have to look far to find mountains of this type of content on YouTube, so don’t expect to be raking in followers within a few days. Twitch is the same as any other social media channel or gaming platform – if you want to grow a following, you must put the hours in, provide entertainment and generate a unique angle that people want to tune into, whether it be classic games like Grand Theft Auto or metaverse gaming. Don’t expect to have immediate success.
Steam
Widely praised for its innovative approach to online gaming, Valve has innovated in multiple aspects of the gaming industry over the last decade. Not only do they hold some of the most successful and lucrative esports tournaments (Dota 2 and Counter-Strike) but they pioneered how people can access gaming platforms and redefined the boundaries of what is possible within the industry.
Steam Gaming aimed to become the number one gaming library, where users and subscribers can access the top games on the same site. Steam Broadcasting allows prominent gamers or influencers to showcase their skills and beam them to their followers worldwide.
You can expect a similar set of pros and cons as you would with Twitch. Although Steam doesn’t have the same sort of reputation Twitch does in the streaming industry, it can still be a solid avenue of revenue for those gamers who can appeal to thousands of gaming fans. It takes a lot to get your channel off the ground, and as Steam doesn’t have the same reputation or audience as Twitch, you need to factor this into your expectations.
YouTube gaming
After dominating the video streaming website industry, YouTube was keen to get its hands on some of the revenue that many of these streaming companies were generating. It wasn’t a complete leap into the unknown for the world’s second-biggest website, with many Twitch streamers often clipping up their highlights and broadcasting them across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube anyway. However, their announcement to enter the gaming world – with the money they have at their disposal – would have caused concern at Twitch and Steam.
Final thoughts
Other big gaming platform names include Azubu, Beam and HitBox. While these gaming platforms all have slightly different business models, logos and audiences, you can expect similar experiences if you want to play via any of the platforms we discussed today.
We appreciate the end goal for a lot of people isn’t to turn gaming platforms into a job, but if you’re looking to build an audience, you need to follow the same work ethic and business model that a lot of these successful streamers do on Twitch and Steam. As long as you don’t expect to grow your channel immediately, and don’t become disheartened if it doesn’t immediately take off, you’ll be able to enjoy everything these platforms have to offer.
