Behind the game: Exploring the twitch streaming platform | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore

Behind the game: Exploring the twitch streaming platform


Abstract:

Twitch is a streaming platform that lets users broadcast their screen whilst playing games. People can share their game experience and interact with others in real time. ...Show More

Abstract:

Twitch is a streaming platform that lets users broadcast their screen whilst playing games. People can share their game experience and interact with others in real time. Twitch has now become the fourth largest source of peak Internet traffic in the US. This paper explores the unique nature of this platform over a 11 month dataset. We find that Twitch is very different to existing video platforms, with a small number of games consistently achieving phenomenal dominance. We find a complex game ecosystem combining consistently popular games over years, newly released games enjoying bursts of popularity, and even old games appearing on the platform. Despite a strong skew of views across channels, the top ranked channels, although taking a significant share of the viewers, exhibit unexpectedly high churn. The reason behind this churn lies within another unique feature of this ecosystem, namely tournaments, live events that last for a limited amount of time but are capable of attracting a huge share of views when they take place, as well as dominate the views of the related games. Overall, our work reveals a complex and rich ecosystem, very different from existing user generated content platforms.
Date of Conference: 03-04 December 2015
Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 14 January 2016
ISBN Information:
Electronic ISSN: 2156-8146
Conference Location: Zagreb, Croatia

I. Introduction

Video games are a form of entertainment enjoyed by a diverse, worldwide consumer base. Traditionally, gaming has been a pastime enjoyed by those who choose to play. Recently, however, gaming has become a spectator form of entertainment. Major eSports tournaments such as DreamHack are enjoyed by millions of online viewers, yet have seen little attention from mainstream media outlets: enter Twitch. Twitch is a large-scale video streaming platform used (almost) exclusively for live game broadcasting. It allows broadcasters to construct channels through which they can stream their gameplay to the world. Popular types of channels include amateurs broadcasting their gameplay, competitive eSports tournaments with commentaries, coaching game sessions, charity marathon events, and, finally, experimental large-scale cooperative events where games are played collectively. Twitch's popularity is undeniable, recently being reported as the 4th largest website in the U.S. by peak traffic [3].

References

References is not available for this document.