Twitch CEO on the Streaming Business Model

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00:00Twitch is such an interesting thing, an entity.

00:03There are loads of people out there that aren't familiar with it,

00:06and actually I thought the most sensible place to start is like,

00:08can you just explain what Twitch is and how it works?

00:11Quickly for those.

00:12So, simplest way, so Twitch is a live streaming platform

00:16where people go live, okay, and so if you say it's a live

00:19version of YouTube or something like that,

00:21but the thing that really makes Twitch unique

00:23and the kind of need that it meets in people

00:27is as human beings, we are all yearning for community,

00:30and what happens on Twitch is people go live

00:33and they basically share their lives.

00:34They let people into their living room.

00:36They go out in the world and they explore, they game,

00:39and then what they do is very authentically engage

00:42with those people that are watching,

00:44and since people spend a fair amount of time

00:46watching these people, a community forms

00:48between the folks that are watching,

00:51and I think that is really the magic of Twitch

00:53and what distinguishes Twitch from many other platforms

00:56that have live streaming.

00:57The phrase I use is, we're community-centric live streaming

01:00because people find a place where they belong.

01:02So, the simple origin was like people would be

01:05playing video games in simple terms

01:07and they would be filming and streaming themselves

01:09playing this game, sometimes with others,

01:10but it's kind of evolved into a much broader set of content.

01:15IRL or just chatting is things that I'm following

01:19on the platform.

01:20Is there still a heavy proportion of activity

01:23that's gaming-related, or is it now much more diverse?

01:26Well, it's very diverse, and the interesting story

01:28is even before Twitch, Twitch started as JustinTV,

01:31and in JustinTV, it was life casting.

01:34So, in fact, it wasn't about gaming.

01:36Okay.

01:36And then Twitch formed life casting,

01:39is what they called it back then,

01:40where you were just casting your life.

01:42And then Twitch pivoted and focused on gaming,

01:46and that's when it really took off.

01:48And now it's kind of come full circle,

01:50because while gaming is still a big part of Twitch

01:52and will always be a big part of Twitch,

01:54more and more creators are out there

01:56just doing all sorts of things.

01:58You said IRL, which is in real life,

02:00which means you go out on the streets,

02:02you go climbing a mountain.

02:03I've watched you stream from a water slide in a donut.

02:06Yes.

02:07Necessary.

02:07Necessary content.

02:08Is that IRL?

02:09That's IRL streaming.

02:10It's in real life.

02:12DJ Clancy, I think, is who you're streaming as.

02:15I'm interested, though, like,

02:17it does such a great job on this show reminding us

02:19of the sheer scale and the power of numbers of gaming.

02:21When we think about big movie hits,

02:22it pales into comparison of the amount of money

02:24earned by gaming.

02:25Yeah, like box office versus video games.

02:26And what amazes me is how much

02:29the content creators are winning in terms of content.

02:32They are getting $100 million contracts

02:35to jump from you to kick,

02:37or from kick to you or to YouTube,

02:40more than LeBron James is earning.

02:42Can you go to actually who your competition therefore is

02:45and how you fight for that content in this moment?

02:47Yeah, the way I look at it, I see we're fairly unique

02:49in this space, and I don't focus on the competition

02:51because as a live streaming platform at our scale,

02:55there are smaller ones, but, you know,

02:56really when we think of the social media space,

02:58you have YouTube, you have TikTok, you have Instagram,

03:01but Twitch is really the only one

03:02that solely focuses on this community-centric

03:05live streaming experience.

03:07And the way I describe it sometimes is

03:09we actually are a long-form platform

03:11and that people sit there and watch for one hour, two hours.

03:14So in that sense, we're like Prime Video and Netflix,

03:17but we're social.

03:18So we're sort of right in the middle

03:20of what I'll call the streaming platforms

03:22and the social media platforms.

03:24We're really a long-form social media platform.

03:26You're also, dare I say it,

03:27right in the middle of the culture wars.

03:29And I'm just really interested

03:30as to how you navigate that in leadership

03:33when people are bringing them into their homes

03:36in a more intimate setting

03:37and feel that they can share anything that they feel,

03:39but that then can blow up in many different ways.

03:41Yeah, so first of all, it's very important

03:44that we take it very seriously

03:45in terms of having a set of guidelines

03:46and what's appropriate on Twitch and what's not.

03:49And so we spend a lot of time thinking about that

03:52and letting our creators do what they need to do

03:54to protect themselves.

03:55And you kick them off too.

03:56We kick them off if they're not adhering to them.

03:58That's really important for our platform.

04:00But really what it is,

04:01is that's just one of the things you have to deal with

04:03if you want to get that authenticity.

04:05Because this key difference between Twitch

04:07and many other short-form platforms,

04:10if you're just making a short clip,

04:13you can put on a mask.

04:15When you're live streaming, you can't put on a mask.

04:17And one thing that's been leading a lot of celebrities,

04:21entertainers, athletes, influence,

04:23all sorts of people now to live streaming

04:25is they want that authentic, honest connection

04:28with their fans and turn those fans into community.

04:31Dan, sorry to interrupt, team.

04:32Let's bring up the Gavin Newsom session then

04:34and just play a little bit of it if we can.

04:37There's some sound associated with it, Dan.

04:40But in very simple terms,

04:42Gavin Newsom went on the Twitch platform

04:47and my understanding is that he was engaging

04:49with one of his children's favorite content creators.

04:53That's the governor of California

04:54using Twitch to communicate.

04:57Just explain how you feel about that.

04:59Yeah, the way I think of it, what he's doing is

05:01he's just authentically interacting

05:05with those people that may have an interest in him, right?

05:09And I do that myself.

05:10I stream and have a great time doing it.

05:12And when you do it, you realize there's something

05:15really special about having that impact on people

05:18and having that feedback,

05:20that visceral feeling of, you know,

05:22when I stream, I'll play the piano and sing

05:24and they'll say, oh, I love that song.

05:25And it really kind of makes,

05:27it's very different than just looking at metrics

05:30like you do on other social media.

05:31You've been really clear.

05:33There are guidelines for the content creators.

05:35There are guidelines for the viewers

05:37and how they interact.

05:38But Twitch is one of a number of platforms

05:40that is caught up in a wider discussion

05:42about people that want to talk politics

05:45or even in the context of radicalization.

05:49Just give us your sort of blanket policy

05:51and approach to managing that environment

05:54on the Twitch platform, please.

05:55Because DC is paying attention, not just to Twitch.

05:58I get that, but it is important.

06:01Well, this one, say, like, first of all,

06:02our policy is, you know,

06:05you can freely express your views.

06:07It's how you say it that's important,

06:08that you should not be attacking.

06:11And hate and harassment is not allowed on our platform.

06:14And we're very clear about that.

06:15But we understand that people are going to express their views.

06:17And super quick, who adjudicates that?

06:20We have both automated techniques

06:21and we have a large group of people

06:23that work whenever something's reported

06:26to then analyze it

06:27and see if it adheres to our community guidelines.

06:30And then if there's a violation,

06:31we take an enforcement action.

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