With a small but engaged audience, Amazon-owned Twitch has the potential to be a powerful live commerce platform.
- There will be 37.2 million Twitch users in the US this year, up 2.2% YoY, per a February 2024 EMARKETER forecast.
- Twitch commands 61% of the global livestream market, with users watching 21.1 billion hours of content from 20.7 million unique channels in 2024, according to Stream Hatchet’s 2024 Yearly Live Streaming report.
While many users sell products via Twitch livestreams, Amazon has yet to position the platform as a rival to other social video commerce sites like TikTok Shop.
One reason could be that Twitch has a smaller, niche audience compared with other platforms.
- TikTok has three times more viewers than Twitch in the US, while YouTube has over six times the audience, per an EMARKETER forecast.
- The majority (85%) of Twitch content is gaming related versus 16% of YouTube content, according to Stream Hatchet.
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Gamers have historically been a challenging demographic for advertisers as in-game ads can break the immersion that players seek.
Amazon could also be waiting for livestream shopping to gain more traction in the US.
- Over a quarter (26.1%) of US consumers have used livestream shopping before and only 13% have used it regularly, according to a survey from EMARKETER and Bizrate Insights.
- 21.7% of US digital buyers will purchase via livestream this year, according to an October EMARKETER forecast.
- Over a third (36.4%) haven’t done any livestream shopping and aren’t interested in doing so, down from 55% in June 2023, per EMARKETER and Bizrate Insights.
Twitch’s smaller audience could be an opportunity for Amazon or other retailers to connect with consumers off-the-beaten path.
As nearly 70% of Twitch viewers are between the ages of 18 and 34, according to Twitch internal data from 2022, Twitch may be valuable to brands targeting younger consumers.
- “Marketers should consider all of the little corners of the internet where Gen Z spends time,” said our analyst Blake Droesch on Gen Z’s path to purchase. “Because Gen Z is so digitally savvy, there’s more value in these different microcommunities.”
Perhaps that’s why brands like e.l.f. Beauty, are exploring livestream content on the platform.
- During this year’s Super Bowl, the beauty brand hosted the E.L.F. TIME Show across Twitch and other social platforms.
- The livestream featured giveaways and interactive elements to keep fans engaged throughout the game.
The bottom line: For whatever reason, Amazon hasn’t yet embraced Twitch as a potential commerce platform.
“Even though Twitch boasts a highly engaged and potentially receptive audience of Gen Z consumers, there hasn’t been much urgency or momentum around developing livestream shopping on the platform,” said our analyst Sky Canaves. “But it may be worth reconsidering, given how TikTok has brought livestream commerce a bit more into the mainstream.”
- However, Twitch has added other social features, including video stories and a discovery feed to better compete with Instagram and TikTok.
- Brands experimenting with livestream commerce may find Twitch a good place to target niche audiences and communities.
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