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View Full Version : [Rumor] YouTube to buy Twitch.tv for 1 Billion



erictimmer
05-18-2014, 04:10 PM
I had a feeling that someone would buy Twitch.tv. They have so much traffic that they couldn't be ignored. Let's see what comes of this rumor. I think this is a great match, but I kind of thought Microsoft or Sony would have picked them up.

Link (http://kotaku.com/report-youtube-is-buying-twitch-for-1-billion-1578241076)

andrewzarian
05-18-2014, 05:13 PM
This is huge for many reasons.

1. What does it mean for its partnerships with Sony and Microsoft.
2. What does it mean for JTV?

RadarGaming
05-18-2014, 05:46 PM
I have been streaming on Twitch from day 1. There are a few reasons people stream on Twitch instead of doing YouTube videos.

1. Twitch pays much more than MOST YouTube Networks do.
2. They are very loose on copyright. (You can play music while streaming)
3. They have a great 3rd party that make apps that integrate with the API.
4. There is room to grow on the site.

With all that said, If Twitch was to sell to YouTube people would go to other sites that offer similar things.

PaulSaunders
05-18-2014, 06:10 PM
Wow.. Well I wonder if all the fake numbers will go away now. They have been gaming numbers for years on both JTV and Twitch

andrewzarian
05-18-2014, 06:45 PM
Wow.. Well I wonder if all the fake numbers will go away now. They have been gaming numbers for years on both JTV and Twitch

Where did you get this info from ?

Linuxcooldude
05-19-2014, 05:30 AM
2. What does it mean for JTV?

Unless Youtube buys JTV in the deal also, not much. But I hope I'm wrong. Their cash cow seems to be Twitch as online gaming is quite popular.


2. They are very loose on copyright. (You can play music while streaming)

Expect that to change once/if Youtube takes over. In recent years, Youtube has relaxed its copyright rules somewhat.

cseeman
05-20-2014, 10:41 AM
I can't imagine selling Twitch and keeping JustinTV. I'd think JustinTV would shut down.

cseeman
05-20-2014, 10:47 AM
I just read this on CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/19/tech/web/google-youtube-twitch/

Which says that it may be to eliminate the competition.

Linuxcooldude
05-20-2014, 10:51 AM
I can't imagine selling Twitch and keeping JustinTV. I'd think JustinTV would shut down.

I could see several possible scenarios. Justin.tv could be included as part of the deal, but unlikely. They keep Justin.tv and use it to spring board another popular streaming network based on some other gene. Or kill it...lol.


I just read this on CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/19/tech/web/google-youtube-twitch/

Which says that it may be to eliminate the competition.

While I'm sure that has a lot to do with it, the traffic it generates is hard to deny. They will probably use that to their full advantage, through advertising ect.

cseeman
05-20-2014, 10:56 AM
I believe there's common backend infrastructure. If that's the case if one is sold the other dies, I'd think.

Linuxcooldude
05-20-2014, 11:04 AM
I believe there's common backend infrastructure. If that's the case if one is sold the other dies, I'd think.

Yes, it depends on how they have it setup. But if Google buys it, I think they would add more resources anyway as Justin.tv was having a more difficult time supporting such a large site. So maybe this won't be hard to seperate the two sites.

cseeman
05-21-2014, 08:33 AM
If Twitch is sold and that's all that YouTube wants, I don't see any business model that keeps JustinTV in business. Justin Kan owns JustinTV/Twitch even though Twitch is a "spinoff"

Google, based on their history, tends to consolidate. If you remember back, there were separate Google and YouTube video services. The Google one was abandoned and people were given the opportunity to move their content to YouTube.

Twitch becomes a gaming portion within YouTube I think, not simply a separate entity owned by Google.

JustinTV is simply absorbed into YouTube life (people told to create YouTube channels) or dies. I just don't see it going any other way.

While paid services have many ways to differentiate themselves, I think we're going to continue to see a consolidation of "free" services. They're just not that profitable.

Podnutter
05-21-2014, 08:41 AM
From what I remember before Twitch got create JTV was struggling big time. JTV has no value when you compare it to Twitch

cseeman
05-21-2014, 08:59 AM
From what I remember before Twitch got create JTV was struggling big time. JTV has no value when you compare it to Twitch

Exactly. That's why I think JTV is pretty much gone.

Linuxcooldude
05-21-2014, 09:09 AM
If Twitch is sold and that's all that YouTube wants, I don't see any business model that keeps JustinTV in business. Justin Kan owns JustinTV/Twitch even though Twitch is a "spinoff"

Google, based on their history, tends to consolidate. If you remember back, there were separate Google and YouTube video services. The Google one was abandoned and people were given the opportunity to move their content to YouTube.

Twitch becomes a gaming portion within YouTube I think, not simply a separate entity owned by Google.

JustinTV is simply absorbed into YouTube life (people told to create YouTube channels) or dies. I just don't see it going any other way.

While paid services have many ways to differentiate themselves, I think we're going to continue to see a consolidation of "free" services. They're just not that profitable.

I think we have a few distinctions. Youtube was an already established, more popular video site. So it was natural Google video to integrate into Youtube. Twitch is already a powerhouse in its own right, even though its based on streaming rather then prerecorded video.

If gamers were really interested in the kind of streaming Youtube has to offer they would of flocked there instead. I think it would be a grave mistake for them to try to integrate them into Youtube in its current state. It would have to make drastic changes to youtube or a different Youtube like channel for Twitch to gain acceptance by gamers to go there.

For right now i would see Twitch in its current format as a separate site, but perhaps with Youtube branding. Or it could do it seamlessly where it seems Twitch is is a part of Youtube but it links it to its separate website.

The biggest strength for Twitch is not the website, but its gamers. If you alienate the gamers too much, there is no Twitch, they will find other alternatives, even perhaps going back to Justin.tv.

cseeman
08-05-2014, 11:37 AM
As I predicted, JustinTV is gone.
http://www.justin.tv