Game streaming platform Twitch moves to win over real life sports with new category

The Amazon-owned company Twitch, renowned for online gaming and esports streaming, is branching out into the real world and pushing for sports dominance with its new sports category.

Online streaming platform Twitch has announced that it is launching its very own sports category – a move that is set to further entrench its Amazon owner’s growing sports dominance. 

The standalone category will be littered with streams from big-name football clubs that include Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Real Madrid, and also host a series of existing content from NBA, NHL, RFL, UFC and the National Women’s Soccer League.

In June, Amazon streamed a series of Premier League matches for free on Twitch for the first time, marking another big push for the e-commerce giant that has, over the past year, began to show a reinvigorated interest in the category.

Last year, Amazon-owned Twitch struck a deal to become the official streaming partner of USA Basketball, whilst Amazon itself has secured the German rights to a package of UEFA Champions League matches.

Twitch has become a natural home of many independent sports stars over the years. 

Whether it be famous athletes streaming themselves playing their favourite video games or providing their viewers with behind-the-scenes footage of life in their world, as much as the new category signals a push into a new arena, it would seem that the platform was naturally progressing in this direction anyway.

The streaming service, which saw its rival Microsoft’s Mixer close on Wednesday, has gone from strength to strength since Amazon purchased the platform for $970 million in cash in 2014. 

In the three years between 2017 and 2020, Twitch has almost doubled its number of broadcasters from two million to 3.84 million, four times as much as 2013.

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