Entertainment trends come and go with the times, and the way people consume media are often influenced by the current social climate. In the past decade or so we’ve seen the rise of streaming services that give entire seasons of shows on-demand, and even offer content exclusive to their brand. They also give viewers a chance to view content at their own pace and as many times as they want. These types of services were extremely popular with people who had busy lives and weren’t able to catch live episodes due to their work schedule, social lives, or they could even be too tired to watch at the scheduled times. However, in this new day and age of the pandemic keeping more, and more people at home- watching reruns of old seasons over and over again can seem redundant and monotonous.
However, new live entertainment is hard to come by as recording sets and other recording areas are not very safe due to the large number of people needed to create shows or movies. Enter live streamers: specifically on the website Twitch.tv. Twitch gives content creators a way to live stream various topics in the comfort and safety of their own home offices and also offers a way for the viewers to directly interact with them in a live chat. Twitch offers various categories for people to create under: specific games like Minecraft, live drawings of art pieces, or even a ‘just chatting’ category where people can interact with their favorite creators. Twitch is home to streamers from various countries and timezones, so creators are easily available to anyone at any time- and for people who are looking for content from the same people, there is a schedule option that offers streamers’ plans for their new and upcoming streams. Content creators can gain a following quickly, and build communities around shared interests and similar humor.
Content creators on Twitch are also given the opportunity to earn money in a controlled environment similar to other creators or influences, like running ads or partnering with brands, and viewers can subscribe and donate to support their favorite creators directly. On top of making content for others to enjoy, streamers can also gain exposure for other projects they’re passionate about- streamer RanbooLive has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for ‘The Trevor Project’- a suicide hotline and crisis for LGBT+ youth, and more recently he did a stream raising money for ‘Charity: water to provide clean water to struggling families around the world. Creators like Ludwig hold ‘subathons’ in which they try to gain as many subscribers as possible and donate the earnings to various charities- Ludwig’s most recent one ran from April into May, and he split the $350,000 to six different charities.
Twitch offers various different forms of content and gives people a way to share their passions with crowds. They can bring a sense of company and comfort to people during their lonelier times, and bring a type of conversational fun that people may have missed during these times. Not only that, but most of them are really funny, and in my opinion are sometimes funnier than some T.V. shows. Whether you prefer live content to recorded content, Twitch offers a unique form of entertainment that is quickly rising in popularity. As much as I enjoy a good binge of seasons upon seasons, having someone to interact with while being entertained is something that I think is incredibly valuable.