I am a pretty hardcore game enthusiast. I love all sorts of games, both video and otherwise, and have found myself deeply immersed in the culture that comes with that over the course of my life. One of the ways I have found I can interact with this community is through streaming sites like Twitch and YouTube.

These places hold a special part of my heart, as I have met both friends and role models in the streamers of today’s subathons and “just chatting” streams. More than this though, I have found that the chatters in these spaces are often like me- which is why I find myself to be so enthusiastic about marketing within streaming platforms like Twitch.

The audiences of Twitch streamers are wholly and oftentimes uncompromisingly devoted to the streamer of their choice, often leading to tight knit communities with individual subcultures that are rich and (for the most part) friendly. These people are almost always tuned into a stream, invested in the daily goings-on of their favorite streamer, and most importantly, convinced that what they do (and buy) is usually pretty cool.

The power of associating these streamers with products is not to be underestimated- take the example of G-Fuel, a company that rose to become the name synonymous with “water flavoring poweder”, establishing itself as the leader of it’s industry, all because they leveraged their public image within the Twitch community. G-Fuel is now worth millions whereas before the pandemic not many had heard of them- despite their small presence in the Esports scene prior to COVID, their sales saw a dramatic increase during the streamer explosion in 2020, primarily due to the pandemic, and now they are one of the leading figures in energy powders and drinks in the gaming community.

The kind of marketability that comes with the perception of a streamer truly enjoying and believing in a product is powerful. One of the problems many marketing professionals in the field see with things like streamer or influencer partnerships, however, is the lack of trackable metrics that make the results of a partnership tangible for a company. You obviously need good ROI on any kind of investment in marketing, so the primary focus needs to be on tracking the results of a partnership. This is solved via things like custom product landing pages, discount codes, personalized and/or limited edition products tied to influencers and streamers themselves, and tracking the engagement that an audience has with their streamer during a given stream. These kinds of things make for tangible and easy to track KPI’s.

I personally believe that the value of partnerships with the streaming community cannot be overstated, and have dedicated much time and effort to becoming knowledgeable in the field. I hope to secure a position with a relevant company, streaming platform, or even the streamers themselves, and enable myself to participate in something I truly enjoy.