What is Twitch’s stock price, and are they publicly traded? Investors cannot purchase shares of Twitch because it is a private company. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) are streaming stocks that traders can invest in.
Amazon owns Twitch. As a result, if you own Amazon stock, you have a little piece of the Twitch pie. They’re one of the most popular online gaming streaming services out there. And we know how much people love their video games. So you can hop on and stream, chat, and play video games with people worldwide.
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Table of Contents
Twitch Introduction (No Stock Symbol)
Twitch is an American video streaming service that allows users to watch content creators post live and pre-recorded videos. The main focus of Twitch is live streams of gamers playing video games.
But the service has expanded to include music, cosmetics, cooking, various other types of creator content, and even live streams, which allow viewers to watch people undertake mundane daily activities (more on this later). The heart and soul of Twitch still revolve around video games, though. The platform has grown to include live streams of esports competitions and other content uploaded by professional gamers.
On the platform, users can interact with each other and the streamer themselves through the chat room. Some channels have a lot more audience participation. However, some streamers show themselves playing games and don’t interact with their viewers.
Twitch was started in 2011 by Justin Kan, an American tech innovator and investor involved in numerous startups and venture capital investing. Twitch was a continuation of his previous experiment, Justin. TV. This website was dedicated to following Justin around in his life with a webcam attached to his head.
Justin.TV was shut down in August of 2014, the same month Twitch was acquired by a little company called Amazon (NASDAQ: $AMZN) for just under $1 billion. So, what does that mean for Twitch stock?
Can I Buy Twitch Stock?
As of today, you can’t buy Twitch stock. In the same way that Instagram and WhatsApp are subsidiaries of Facebook (NASDAQ: $FB) and Microsoft owns Minecraft and LinkedIn (NASDAQ: $MSFT), Twitch remains a major part of Amazon’s ecosystem. If you want to invest in Twitch, you’ll have to settle for buying Amazon shares.
But who knows? There’s increased pressure worldwide to break up big tech companies into separate companies. Perhaps one day, we’ll see Amazon spin-off Twitch. Until that day comes, there isn’t any way you can invest in Twitch without investing in Amazon.
What’s the Point of Twitch?
Is Twitch just a live-streaming version of YouTube? Yes and no. Twitch is set up so streamers can build their audience and followers to become official Twitch Affiliates or Twitch Partners.
At Twitch, everyone starts as a streamer. You or I could start a channel. We’d need people to watch it to make money. So, the first step for any streamer is to build their community by streaming as often as possible and getting people to watch.
Twitch Affiliate: Once you can reach a minimum of 50 followers, broadcast for eight hours in the past thirty days, and average at least three different viewers per stream for three concurrent streams, you qualify to become a Twitch Affiliate. At this level, viewers and followers can pay you Bits, the currency of Twitch that streamers can cash in for real money. One bit is the equivalent of $0.01, so obviously, the more you stream, the more you can ask your viewers for more Bits. Twitch Affiliates can ask for donations, be paid to promote upcoming games or products, and even be paid for the number of subscribers you get. It is slightly different from being a content creator on YouTube, where most of your income comes from ad revenues.
Twitch Partner: Once you reach partner status, you have made it as a content creator. You must have streamed for 25 or more hours in the last thirty days, in 12 unique days out of the last 30 days, and averaged at least 75 viewers per stream. Twitch Partners get to earn monthly subscriptions, become a verified channel, and have lockable chats that are only open to your subscribers.
Does Twitch Make Money?
So that’s it; the point of Twitch is, of course, to make money. Amazon charges monthly subscription rates for streamers:
- Tier 1 is $4.99
- And Tier 2 is $9.99
- Tier 3 is $24.99
The main differences are that there are no advertisements during streams, and users get sub-emotes with the higher tiers. But other than that, anyone can watch a Twitch stream for free if they want to; subscribers get some of the added benefits, but really, the subscription money goes to support your favorite streamer. There are not usually a lot of Tier 2 or Tier 3 subscribers compared to Tier 1.
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Is Twitch a Public Company?
Twitch isn’t a publicly traded company. As a result, you can’t buy Twitch stocks. But if you want to trade the company that owns them, Amazon is the way to go. Now, you might look at Amazon’s price and think, NOPE! But you can trade it with options. You’re in luck if you don’t know the basics of options. We can teach you how to trade them. As a result, you can trade Amazon without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What Does the Future Hold?
The video game and eSports industries are growing rapidly as professional gaming hits the mainstream. Some reports anticipate that in 2021, nearly 500 million people will tune in or attend an eSports event live worldwide. Amazon has done well to package Twitch memberships with Amazon Prime subscriptions. So they may not want a Twitch stock.
The company has over 200 million global subscribers. Content creation and the gig economy have evolved much faster than expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Younger generations find more freedom in creating content than working a traditional 9 to 5 job. And platforms like Twitch reward them for it.
Google ($GOOGL) TipRanks Stock Forecast Report 3/24
Twitch Stock Competition
People are streaming multiple hours of content daily in 2021—especially the key demographics of millennials and GenZ. Twitch isn’t the only game in town. But when it comes to games, it still reigns supreme. Users can use similar services for gaming or other live-streaming opportunities!
1. YouTube
The king of streaming. There may be nothing that can ever compare to how dominant of a platform YouTube is. In 2020, YouTube made $20 billion in revenue for Alphabet (NASDAQ: $GOOGL). And over 2.3 billion people access the site at least once per month. Content creators on YouTube make most of their revenues off of ads as well as payments for a certain number of views.
YouTube live streaming is available as well, Although the experience isn’t quite as interactive as with Twitch. If YouTube ever figures out how to match what Twitch does, the gaming platform could be in trouble.
2. Discord
A few months ago, we wrote about Discord and the possibility of Microsoft acquiring the platform. Discord isn’t exactly like Twitch because the platform’s main focus is chat channels. However, you can have video streams if you join or host a voice channel.
The experience is nowhere near as robust as on Twitch. But given that Discord was created for the gaming industry, would it come as much of a surprise if it introduced the ability to livestream games in the future? The deal with Microsoft fell through, and rumors are that Discord wants to go public via its IPO.
3. OnlyFans
Wait? Isn’t OnlyFans an adult site? Well, not entirely, but sex workers and adult entertainment content creators are what the site is best known for. The platform can already do live streams as well as sign-up subscribers. Several OnlyFans stars already do a portion of their work playing video games. It may not overtake Twitch, but OnlyFans with adult-themed gaming streams could lure away some of the male-dominant audience on Twitch.
4. Netflix (NASDAQ: $NFLX)
Netflix recently announced its plans to enter the gaming business. And while exact plans have yet to be unveiled, wouldn’t it be the perfect platform to include some live stream for games? With access to over 200 million subscribers in almost 200 countries worldwide, Netflix could be a competitor that nobody saw coming a few years ago.
Final Thoughts: Twitch Stock
As of now, you cannot buy Twitch stock. However, you can enjoy the content people stream on the platform for free. Twitch has enough of a brand name presence and industry moat that there probably isn’t one platform that can overtake it, especially when streaming video games.
But where there’s success, there are always imitators. Companies like YouTube and Netflix certainly have the capital and user base to, at the very least, limit the upside for Twitch. The top Twitch streamer is the professional gamer Ninja, who currently makes an estimated $500,000 to $800,000 monthly on the platform.
Considering the inexpensive Twitch subscription rates, it’s probably safe to say that the platform has an incredibly loyal fanbase. As video games and eSports continue to rise in popularity, so should Twitch as the go-to platform for gaming fans worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon is the company that owns Twitch. They are the largest e-commerce company in the world.
Twitch is a privately held company, and investors cannot purchase shares of their stock because there is no symbol.
Twitch is not a publicly traded company, so investors cannot purchase their stock.
