Live streaming isn’t just what we’ll say when describing Netflix and Hulu this year. In the video game industry, live streaming is quickly becoming a very hot commodity, and Twitch is racing to the forefront. The platform, which has functionality built right into the PS4 (and soon the Xbox One), announced it now has over one million monthly active broadcasters. That means you and 999,999 others stream gameplay each month.
Live-streams of video game tournaments and other game-related programming are the hottest form of entertainment on the web –so hot that gaming-centric video web site Twitch is taking over the platform that gave birth to it less than three years ago. San Francisco-based Twitch’s platform allows users to watch live and recorded streams of video game tournaments, and to stream video of their own games and programs. The site was spun off from “lifestreaming” web site Justin.tv in June 2011, and has raised about $42 million in three investment rounds from companies including Draper Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners and Thrive Capital. In January, the company said it ended 2013 with more than 45 million unique monthly viewers who watched, on average, 106 minutes of video a day.