When Google lost out on a planned acquisition of Twitch to Amazon, it was inevitable that wouldn’t be the tech giant’s last foray into the livestreaming business. Now it seems that the company is planning to take down Twitch with a streaming platform of its own, reportedly titled YouTube Live.
Twitch is steadily moving towards overtaking YouTube as a platform for gamers to earn revenue from their footage and commentary. A number of key YouTube personalities have already incorporated Twitch broadcasting into their business, earning money from live gameplay footage to supplement the cash they earn from Google’s AdSense program with YouTube.
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Twitch has a number of benefits that YouTube does not, including the ability to have subscribed members who pay a monthly fee to their favorite streamers in order to access members-only perks, and the ability to take donations from viewers. One need only take a cursory glance at Twitch’s top-viewed streamers and see that people are willing to donate thousands of dollars to one play session of a game such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Dota 2, making it an enticing prospect for those looking to earn money from their gameplay, and not reliant upon people watching ads on their videos. It’s also the go-to place to watch eSports, with championships for major games being broadcast directly to the platform.
Google has reportedly been keeping a close eye on the rise of livestreaming and eSports, with it believing that YouTube Live could be a great alternative to Twitch and potentially usurp it as the main destination for streamers. Though YouTube has dabbled in livestreaming before, it remains an underutilized facet of the site in comparison to the heaps of pre-recorded footage uploaded every day. However, The Daily Dot has reported that 50 engineers are currently working on the development of YouTube Live, each boasting great knowledge of the streaming industry, in order to make a move on Twitch’s territory.
YouTube Live is likely to be unveiled by Google at E3 in June, and though it remains to be seen whether the company can rival Twitch’s dominance in the livestreaming game, you’ve got to believe they’ll be giving it their best shot.
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