Streaming Entertainment

Twitch is a live streaming video platform. Think TBS, ABC, ESPN, but only online at twitch.tv and predominately focused on gaming – from esports competitions to a person playing a video game and interacting with their audience. The reason why live streaming is such a popular form of entertainment is because of the connection and interactivity the audience can have with the entertainer. Imagine you are watching your favorite athlete or musician and you had the ability to interact with them directly in real-time. There is exponentially more influence on the audience when the entertainer can respond to them quickly or play games with them. Viewers also have an easy time joining communities and chatting with people that watch the same streamers that they do. On Twitch, streamers can make money through advertisements, product placement, merchandise, subscriptions, and donations. It is lucrative for both the entertainer and viewer.

Twitch Student is a collegiate only program designed to supplement event programming, bring awareness to opportunities for students, and provide resources for streaming. It adds incentive by enabling partner level subscription status early on which helps generate revenue for the development of the program. They have dedicated staff to support this program and to provide schools with the resources they need to succeed with Twitch. They enable collegiate programs’ Twitch streams to be partnered channel, allowing programs to generate revenue before they even start streaming. Generating our own revenue has helped us minimize any financial requests to the university. This allows us to be self-sustaining and removes the risks of being financially dependent on the university.