Working with professional content creators lets Twitch bill the streams as brand safe, an issue historically hindering advertiser interest.
These measures would, in theory, let the platform tap into larger budgets and attract blue-chip sponsors, boosting its direct advertising business. As part of the agreements, Twitch handled the sales outreach and kept the majority of the sponsorship revenue it generated, said one source.
Twitch secured advertisers like Coke Zero and DoorDash for Rolling Stone, but other sponsorships, such as deals with Amazon Music, involved other Amazon-owned companies. (Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014.)
Advertising challenges on Twitch
While plausible on paper, these sponsorship efforts ran counter to the prevailing economic dynamics of the platform, according to sources.
Many Twitch streamers make the bulk of their revenue from their fans through products like subscriptions and donations, but Twitch discouraged the publishers from tapping those lines of business.
“Amazon wanted it to be like YouTube, where there are opportunities to work with major advertisers to create content,” said one person familiar with the matter. “But the bread and butter of how Twitch creators make money is through the audience.”
Popular Twitch streamers also stay live for hours at a time, for days on end, a schedule nearly impossible for publishers to replicate.
Without the consistency and duration of these marathon sessions, publishers struggled to attract audiences large enough to interest premium advertisers, sources said. Rolling Stone, for example, averaged around 50,000 viewers per broadcast.
The interest in live-streaming music and concerts, core to Rolling Stone and Complex, also waned.
Ultimately, the platform’s structure makes it hard for any professional organization to thrive, two sources said.
“It’s tough for publishers because it’s kind of a, ‘How do you do, fellow kids?’ dynamic,” said one person familiar with the matter. “It’s harder to be relatable.”
Source link
