What Is Twitch?

You probably have heard of Twitch.TV, but what is it exactly?  To answer it simply, it is a live streaming video service that is owned by Amazon.   They were originally started as a way for people to stream playing some of the more popular video games online from PC gaming to console gaming.  World of Warcraft, Fortnite, League of Legends, Call of Duty, iRacing, and many more games are featured daily on Twitch.   The concept has expanded over the years to have people doing live chat shows, eSports competition broadcasts, people playing music, and most recently professional sports.  The NWSL (National Womens' Soccer League) signed a three-year deal in 2020 with Twitch to broadcast several of their games.

Do people really watch people play video games?

Absolutely.  I asked the same question myself when I first learned about the concept of Twitch.  Twitch advertises that over 3 million users stream on the site a month and on average 15 million people a day watch.  Like YouTube Live, Twitch has a live chat feature that allows you to integrate with your viewers in near real-time.

Our Partner F-R Racing has a small following but they still have dozens of users pop in and view their iRacing streams on a regular basis.

How is it different from YouTube?

There are a lot of similarities between Twitch and YouTube, but Twitch has traditionally targeted video game streaming and live video shows.  YouTube originally was a video uploading site but has in recent years moved into the live streaming and game streaming world.  They are essentially competitors of each other even though they aren't exactly apples-to-apples services.

What can I do with Twitch?

Using a tool like Flutin Live, Streamyard, or even Zoom, you can record and live stream your podcast on Twitch.  We'll get into this more down the road.

If you want to stream your PlayStation, Xbox, or PC,  you can purchase a device called a capture card and display your games live and interact with your subscribers. 

How do I get started with Twitch?

Head over and sign up for a Twitch account.  Follow some users, interact with people on the live stream and build your following.  When you're ready to start broadcasting, Twitch offers Twitch Studio, which is a fairly easy way of connecting your stream to Twitch.  If you're feeling more adventurous, you can try OBS Studio.  Both tools are free, but OBS Studio has more features, is a little more complicated to use, but it has the flexibility to allow you to simulcast to Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and other services using a third party plugin service.  We'll get into more details with both of these down the road.

Who Should I check out on Twitch?

You should subscribe to us for sure.  We'll be launching F-R Racing's Wednesday Night Dash as our first live show on the platform in March.  Here are some other people you should follow:


This post was proofread by Grammarly