QUADERNS ISSN (online): 2014-2242 / www.cac.cat DEL CAC Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns in the Spanish-speaking world Adrián Padilla Molina Celina Navarro Associate Professor Lecturer Professor Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona adrian.padilla@uab.cat celina.navarro@uab.cat ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7668-1322 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3127-7358 Paper received on May 20 2022 and accepted on July 7 2022 Abstract Resum In the context of the struggle for audience attention, Twitch En un context de pugna per l’atenció de les audiències, Twitch has gained ground by offering live broadcasts of user-generated s’ha consolidat proposant l’emissió en directe de continguts content. This article quantifies this platform by focusing on the generats pels usuaris mateixos. Aquest article dimensiona Spanish-speaking community, specifically by analysing the la plataforma esmentada centrant-se en la comunitat broadcast patterns of streamers, audience distribution and hispanoparlant i posa el focus sobre els patrons d’emissió dels consumption cycles. The results show massive, consolidated streamers, el repartiment d’audiències i els cicles de consum. audiences with cyclical patterns, as well as clear differences Els resultats mostren audiències massives, consolidades i between amateur and professional creators; the latter capture amb patrons cíclics, així com diferències clares entre creadors the majority of the audience and have generated production amateurs i professionals, els quals concentren la gran part de routines comparable those in the TV industry. l’audiència i han generat rutines de producció homologables a la indústria televisiva. Keywords Paraules clau Twitch, Live Streaming, Creators, Streamers, Audiences. Twitch, live streaming, creadors, streamers, audiències. 1. Introduction 2019 marked a turning point, when some of the leading content creators on YouTube in Spanish moved to this platform. They Even though the platform Twitch is not new, its popularity migrated motivated (as they themselves have admitted) by rose significantly after 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown. worsening economic conditions and a sense of arbitrariness The ‘new normal’ imposed by the pandemic, which primarily and defencelessness in the face of increasingly reactive content affected free-time choices, pushed people to seek entertainment policies on the Google platform (Caplan & Gillespie, 2020). alternatives, and just like other audiovisual content services, With this move, touchstones in content creation like Rubén Twitch benefited from this situation (Narassiguin & Garnès, Doblás, known as ‘El Rubius’ on YouTube, where he has more 2020). than 40 million subscribers, and Raúl Álvarez, known as Despite the pronounced increase in users in the past two ‘Auronplay’, with more than 28 million subscribers on YouTube, years, Twitch has never stopped growing since it has been drew a significant part of their audiences away to Twitch. tracked. According to twitchtracker.com, a portal specialised In many senses, this platform is the antithesis of YouTube, in analytically tracking this platform, in 2013 it had a average as it focuses on live content and synchronous consumption. of 70,000 simultaneous viewers and peaks of up to 200,000 To monetise the ephemeral, Twitch has devised a monthly globally. By early 2022, the average number of simultaneous subscription system (which range from €3.99 to €24.99)1 and viewers was 2.5 million, with peaks of 6 million. It has also occasional donations. These subscriptions or donations are experienced a considerable increase in audience and popularity targeted directly at a streamer, and Twitch acts as a broker to in the Spanish speaking-world, which is reflected in the increasing sustain the technical infrastructure and provide the platform. media presence of streamers (Gutiérrez Lozano & Cuartero, It is important to clarify the fact that with very isolated 2022), the name used for people who devote themselves to exceptions, consumers may access the live contents on broadcasting live content via the Internet. In this sense, late Twitch without paying anything. However, they are impacted 67 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 (67-77) Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns A. Padilla and C. Navarro with several adverting insertions, which also provide the compete for eSports audiences alongside platforms like Mixer streamer and Twitch with income. The way content creators (owned by Microsoft), Facebook Gaming (owned by Meta) and earn a profit for the work they do is perceived as fairer; unlike YouTube Gaming (owned by Google). The period spanning 2015 YouTube, the income is not solely associated with advertising, to 2019 was marked by an intense struggle among these large which disassociates the monetisation of the content with the companies to capture still fragmented audiences by making audience size, and therefore the end income is less influenced million-dollar offers and exclusivity contracts with major by fluctuations in the auction prices of advertising inserts. While streamers in an attempt to mobilise attention towards a given YouTube focuses on the number of views as an indicator of platform (Carroni et al., 2021; Förderer & Gutt, 2018). success, on Twitch the streamer has to assemble an audience Today, the opacity of the audience figures of YouTube Gaming around them that is committed and loyal enough that they are and Facebook Gaming make it difficult to ascertain each of these willing to support the creator’s work by paying a subscription or platforms’ market shares. However, we do know that Microsoft making donations. That is something that –despite appearances– abandoned Mixer in 2020 to join forces with Facebook Gaming, happens frequently and seems natural among the most loyal while YouTube Gaming seems more interested in offering viewing public. Finally, Twitch is a stabler and more permissive asynchronous contents and has no prominent live content platform in its content policies, which has enabled YouTubers to creator among its ranks. In contrast, in 2022 Twitch is the regain some degree of authenticity and creative freedom, issues platform preferred by the majority of successful streamers, which have been especially problematic on YouTube due to its and many of them are participating with exclusivity contracts. rigidity and imposition of a neutral content policy. Therefore, despite the absence of solid figures, this scene leads In the eyes of the public at large, Twitch has been considered us to believe that Twitch occupies a hegemonic position in this a platform focused on broadcasting videogames, or at least that industry. was its initial purpose. However, the arrival of the YouTubers and their massive audiences accelerated the diversification of 1.2. Consumption motivations the contents and formats available, breaking the perception of The success of Twitch as an entertainment alternative, especially Twitch as a ‘niche platform’. On Twitch it is currently possible to among younger audiences, may be due to their disaffection with see people playing piano, cooking, reading books, dancing and, traditional TV contents and the consolidation of videogames as a of course, playing videogames. Even though this last category cultural product (Gutiérrez Lozano & Cuartero, 2020). However, is still its main activity, today Twitch has content tags as the act of watching other people play videogames is nothing diverse as music, discussion, sports, politics, pets, art, beauty, new, and references to this form of entertainment can be found software development and food and drink, among many others. since the birth of the medium itself (Tammy Lin et al., 2019). This gradual addition of new categories is making it possible for Broadcasts of videogames and the consumption of this kind creating new audience niches and is attracting new users willing of content is nothing more than a reinvention of tandem play to create contents, a process that is contributing to the creation (Scully-Blaker et al., 2017), a term coined to describe a style of an increasingly diverse and rich ecosystem for viewers. of play in which several people congregate around a player to Thus, in the past two years Twitch has been the epicentre help them through their experience, without the need for these of a series of changes in the industry and has managed to viewers to actually intervene in the game. Twitch is somehow take advantage of the new forms of consumption, which have reviving the idea of the now-defunct arcades, where players and resulted in a significant increase in the number of users of this viewers would gather together to share the game experience platform and its increasing media prominence. The purpose of live. this study is to capture the dimension of the Twitch platform, The consumption motivations on Twitch have also been more specifically the number of Spanish-speaking viewers and addressed from the field of psychology, which has noted the content creators. By doing so, we seek to frame the platform existence of affective gratification and feelings of community Twitch as a consumption option in the current context of a vast or social integration (Sheng & Kairam, 2020), which help to abundance of audiovisual entertainment. generate viewer loyalty (Hilvert-Bruce et al. 2018). Nor should we ignore the fact that Twitch is two-way in that it makes a chat 1.1. Composition of the streaming industry available to viewers through which they can interact with the The current configuration of actors and competitors in the streamer, so they can participate in the broadcast (Gros et al., market niche of user-generated content is no coincidence but 2018; Sjöblom & Hamari, 2016). instead the result of a five-year struggle in which the major tech Twitch’s indissoluble association with the phenomenon of companies have been vying to dominate the multi-million dollar influencers and micro-celebrities is also a factor to bear in mind eSports market. Founded in 2007 with the name of ‘Justin. when trying to explain the platform’s success among young tv’, Twitch was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for 735 million people. The spontaneity, proximity and sense of authenticity euros, the largest acquisition made by Jeff Bezos until that date transmitted by the streamers, as well as the absence of (El País 2014). Amazon’s intention with this purchase was to constraints and filters, give this format a different tone than 68 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 A. Padilla and C. Navarro Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns other media can offer, even though all these elements are often the social connection among users to generate audience interest the outcome of a carefully measured execution and conceal a (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018). high degree of professionalisation (Beil et al., 2021). Despite the importance of video on demand (VoD) as a form of entertainment in recent years, which comes from giving 1.3. Twitch in the context of the audiovisual supply viewers a high degree of control over what audiovisual titles To understand the prominence and resonance of Twitch, we they watch from an extensive catalogue and when they watch have to analyse its role within the global audiovisual and them, leaving old contents available on the platform is optional entertainment industry. In the ‘post-network’ era (Lotz, 2007), on Twitch. Many streamers do not keep their videos after the number of actors offering audiovisual contents has increased broadcasting them live, and for those who do decide to activate considerably, generating a context of fierce competition in the the VoD option, the platform only keeps the content accessible struggle for viewers’ and/or users’ attention. Following the between 14 and 60 days.2 This is reminiscent of the ‘catch-up’ tenets of the attention economy (Freire, 2008; Simon, 1971), dynamics of linear TV, in which programmes broadcast live are traditional media, video on demand service platforms and only accessible for a certain period of time (Raats et al., 2016). other services offering audiovisuals are currently competing for The clear focus on live content distinguishes Twitch from other people’s time, which is considered a scarce good. Furthermore, platforms based on user-generated content and separates it there are more and more interrelations among the different from the offerings of the leading SVoD services. types of audiovisuals, including Twitch, YouTube, subscription The prominence of live broadcasts on the platform entails video on demand (SVoD) services, linear TV and even radio. For implementing a series of practices to guarantee a number of example, some TV programmes in Spain are already offering live viewers, which means paying attention to key factors like content on Twitch, and radio programmes are also broadcasting broadcast time, the competitions’ broadcasts and the length via this platform (with images) to complement their voice of the contents, factors that are highly developed in the TV broadcasts (Gutiérrez Lozano & Cuartero, 2020). Within industry. However, Twitch is a platform with a transnational this context, we should note the differences and similarities reach capable of generating consumption communities beyond between these actors in order to understand their relationship, national boundaries, mostly based on content that is not competition and coexistence in the current audiovisual market. professionally generated. Historically, the emergence of new media has meant the appearance of discourses on the end of the previously hegemonic medium, usually wielding technophilic arguments 2. Objectives (Bolter & Grusin, 1999). In the audiovisual world, where the Twitch platform is situated, the decline and possible ‘death’ Unlike other user-generated content platforms, there is little of TV has been proclaimed for more than a decade due to research focused on Twitch. Studies have been conducted from the increasing popularity of video streaming techniques. Due the field of education which explore the platform’s potential as to their industrialisation and contents that resemble those of a tool to transmit technical-scientific knowledge (Gandolfi et al., TV, video on demand services, especially transnational SVoD 2022), its use as a complement or alternative to formal teaching services, have positioned themselves as the future heirs of (Pozo-Sánchez et al., 2021) and the existence of streamers and linear TV. These services offer users a vast amount of content communities of content creators specialised in disseminating whenever and wherever they want, in contrast to the rigid, scientific knowledge (Steinbeck et al., 2021). Specific elements predetermined structure of linear TV. While SVoD services like of the interface and the possibilities it affords have also been Netflix or HBO Max are compared with traditional TV (Lobato the focal point of research, such as interaction spaces in real & Lotz, 2020; Radošinská, 2017; Straubhaar et al., 2021), time (Nematzadeh et al., 2019), the mechanisms available to platforms like YouTube or Twitch have tried to disassociate streamers to directly arbitrate in the ways users are interacting from these audiovisual actors by highlighting the non- (Flores-Saviaga et al., 2019; Poyane, 2019) and the collective industrialisation of their contents, most of which are generated consumption experiences facilitated by this platform (Jacobs & by (non-professional) users. Booth, 2021). Unlike SVoD services and platforms like YouTube, Twitch is Other studies have observed how the different types of based on live broadcasts. Live content has always been one contents and audience size affect communities of viewers, the of the main cornerstones of the audiovisual industry, as it quality of interactions and their level of commitment to the guarantees a potential connection to a shared social reality that content creator (Wolff & Shen, 2022). Likewise, research has is happening at that very moment, boosting the cultural value of examined how communities of anonymous viewers sometimes that content (Bourdon, 2000; Couldry, 2004). As ‘live’ content evolve to give way to closer interpersonal relationships (Sheng was losing prominence, except for specific events like large & Kairam, 2020). Studies have also been published with the sporting or news events (Delgado et al., 2018), Twitch’s strategy gender perspective, which reveal the issues facing women is based on synchronous consumption, while also harnessing who participate in creating contents around videogames, a 69 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns A. Padilla and C. Navarro niche that has traditionally been occupied by men (Kampel work weeks, vacation periods and holidays, which enabled us et al., 2020; Olsson, 2018). The field of computer science has to observe the effects of these changes on the dynamic of the studied metrics and indicators of live broadcasts to determine audiences and content creators. Finally, all the time references the factors that lead to a streamer’s success and growth (Le are in GTM +1, that is, the time zone of peninsular Spain. et al., 2021). Finally, the studies conducted by Gutiérrez Lozano The data on the language and the activity during the live and Cuartero analyse the increasing presence of streamers in broadcast are not automatically detected by Twitch; instead, the the media in Spain and the popularity of the platform among streamer has to declare them before and during the broadcast. younger audiences (Gutiérrez Lozano & Cuartero, 2020, 2022). Therefore, a live broadcast can be located in different content However, there is little literature that manages to measure and categories depending on the time and activity. It is important to quantify Twitch as a mass phenomenon within the framework remember that Twitch has a transnational reach, so audience of communication studies. Even though the platform’s press data should be attributed not to countries but to language kit provides macroscopic figures on its audience and content communities. When we talk about streamers in Spanish and creators, it is difficult to find detailed information that helps to their respective audiences, we are referring to a transnational accurately describe and understand the dynamics occurring on community that is not limited to any governmental boundary. the platform. The concept of ‘Spanish-speaking’, in turn, encompasses all the Therefore, this study seeks to offer a general approach to varieties of Spanish existing in the world. Twitch focused on the Spanish-speaking community, with a Finally, just as with other platforms and media, the numerical spotlight on three basic factors: audiences, content creators and audience figure corresponds to the number of unique receiving behavioural patterns. To do so, it has three objectives: devices consuming a given content, meaning that it is impossible a) To describe the audience size of the Spanish-speaking to establish how many real viewers exist behind each receiving community on Twitch. device. For this study, a receiving device was considered to b) To quantify the number of content creators in Spanish on correspond to one viewer, as this assumes the minimum number Twitch and their broadcast dynamics. of viewers possible. c) To analyse the existence of cyclical behaviour patterns among the audience and content creators. 4. Results 3. Methodology 4.1 Audience data In absolute terms, the average aggregate audience of contents To gather information for this article, data from the platform in Spanish broadcast on Twitch during the period analysed is Twitch were collected non-stop from 1 December 2021 until 308,899 viewers. This figure fluctuates notably depending 31 January 2022. The period of analysis spanned a total of 62 on the time of day and increases considerably when there are days or 1,488 broadcast hours. To do this, capture software special events. As shown in Graph 1, there is cyclical behaviour written in Python that was capable of communicating with in the audiences, which create a daily pattern. If we take the Twitch’s API was created in-house.3 This software was placed aforementioned average audience as a reference, we find an in a server and mined all the data on all the live broadcasts ‘off-peak’ period from 5 am to 4 pm. During this time bracket, in Spanish in real time. This data mining was done every 30 the audience is lower than the average and reaches a minimum minutes throughout the entire analysis period, yielding a total of between 60,000 and 70,000 viewers, usually at 11 am. On of 2,976 samples. This data-mining frequency was determined the other hand, there is a ‘peak’ period between 4 pm and 5 after finding in previous analyses that greater granularity in the am. During this time range, the audience is above the average samples does not affect the end result. Each sample contains and increases quickly until reaching its peak between 8 pm and a complete list of the content creators who were broadcasting 10 pm, with 500,000 to 700,000 viewers. This alternation live at that precise instant, and for each of them the number between off-peak and peak hours takes place daily and of viewers, their position in the ranking (according to audience without interruption, which indicates the existence of stable, size), the title of the broadcast and the broadcast category were consolidated and predictable consumption patterns. recorded. This data collection process enabled us to create a In the period analysed, we find occasional moments when the database with more than 40 million units of analysis. audiences grow far above the usual rates, so it is pertinent to We shall focus on the Spanish language because at the time the conduct a detailed analysis of them in order to understand some study was conducted, it was the language on the platform with of the dynamics on the platform. The first of these ‘anomalous’ the second largest absolute audience according to the portal peaks took place on 31 December 2021, with a peak audience twitchtracker.com, due to the steep increase in viewers that that reached 843,244 viewers right before midnight (see Graph this community has experienced and the increasing presence 1). This increase corresponded to the live broadcast of the of the most important content creators in the media on Twitch. Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, along with the TV host Ramon The analysis period was chosen because it contained a mix of García, from Madrid’s Puerta del Sol as the bells tolled in the 70 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 A. Padilla and C. Navarro Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns Graph 1. Evolution of the audience in Spanish-speaking channels in Twitch from January 1, 2022 to January 31. 2022 Source: Authors. New Year. At peak audience, this broadcast garnered 801,079 each participant. During the moment of peak audience on simultaneous viewers, capturing 94.99% of the Spanish- Twitch at 9 pm, the figure of 1,143,192 viewers was reached, speaking audience available on the platform at the time. approximately 83% of whom (around 950,000 viewers) were The second event worth attention took place on 7 January following some broadcast related to this event. 2022. On the afternoon of that day (peninsular Spanish time The contest sustained an audience higher than one million zone), the audience grew to reach 1,063,768 viewers at 10:30 viewers throughout the event, beating the audience record pm. This growth dovetailed with a collaborative event among within the period analysed on the night of 24 January 2022 streamers from different countries known as ‘Egoland’, where at 11 pm, with 1,878,485 viewers, dovetailing with the final 99 participants played the survival videogame ‘Rust’ (Brugat, match, where the players vied for the prize live. Approximately 2022). 1,720,103 viewers (91%) were connected to some channel The third milestone was on 17 January, when a figure of related to the event. Of them, 1,208,144 (70%) were watching 1,316,780 viewers was reached (78% of the Spanish-speaking the final in a single broadcast, specifically the one by the audience on the platform) in a single broadcast, dovetailing with streamer known as ‘El Xokas’, a finalist in the event. the live broadcast of the ‘Island’ awards ceremony for content creators on Twitch and YouTube held at the Palau de la Música 4.2. Content creators Catalana and organised by the streamer David Cánovas (alias During the period analysed, a total of 964,698 unique people ‘TheGrefg’). Unlike the other two peak audiences, this time the participated in the platform as content creators in Spanish, with broadcast managed to sustain a large audience throughout the a average of 10,207 unique broadcasts per day. Just as with the entire broadcast period, surpassing one million viewers for four audiences, there are considerable fluctuations throughout the hours. day, with off-peak and peak hours (see Graph 2). The off-peak The fourth and last major milestone in the Spanish-speaking hours, where the volume of streamers is below the average, Twitch community during the period analysed started in the span from 6 am to 7 pm. During this period, a minimum of afternoon of 19 January 2022 with the premiere of a new around 3,000 broadcasts is reached at 11 am. In contrast, the collaborative serial event associated with the videogame hours when the volume is higher than the average span from Minecraft, in which the trials in the Netflix series ‘The Squid 7 pm to 6 am, reaching a maximum of around 18,000 live Game’4 were recreated over the course of six days. Even broadcasts at around 4 am. Just as with the audiences, the though the event was organised by the leading Spanish- live broadcasts follow a cyclical pattern that is repeated on a speaking streamers, it was celebrated under the aegis of the daily basis. ‘Twitch Rivals’, an official series of matches in which Twitch Despite the number of users participating on the platform, participates as the organiser,5 where the winner earns a cash there are differences in the division of labour or level of prize of 100,000 USD. In addition to the live broadcasts by the dedication in terms of the number of hours broadcast. The content creators themselves from their own Twitch channels, the total aggregate live broadcast hours is 16,326,566, and the platform also made an official broadcast with commentators, average broadcast per streamer is 16.92 hours. However, where it was possible to see the different vantage points of 77.64% of the streamers broadcast less than this average, and 71 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns A. Padilla and C. Navarro their contribution to the aggregate volume of broadcast hours the platform’s off-peak hours (from 5 am to 4 pm), where the is 18.72%. To further explore this irregular contribution to top 100 streamers continued to capture a large portion of the broadcast hours, we found that 233,160 users (24.17% of the viewers, with an average of 67.88% of the total. However, total) broadcast an hour or less throughout the entire period, within this segment, the audience division is more equitable in and their contribution to the total hours only accounts for 1%. this time bracket, and the top five streamers each earned an In contrast, 22.36% of the streamers broadcast more than this average of 25.83% of the audience. average, and their contributions accounted for 81.28% of the The average audience for a streamer in the top 100 is 2,335 hours broadcast throughout the entire period analysed. viewers any time of day, while the average for the others is Graph 2, which specifically shows 4 December 2021 at 8 viewers. As described above, the dispersion of the numbers 10 pm, illustrates a steep increase in the number of content in these groupings is quite high, as the top-ranked streamer creators broadcasting on the platform. This anomaly dovetails regularly reaches an average of almost 79,759 viewers, while with a very brief special event on the videogame ‘Fornite’, one the positions ranked close to 100 have an average of 157 of the most popular on the platform, which was broadcast viewers. simultaneously by many users (more than 35,000). However, So far, we have discussed the off-peak hours and peak hours the increase in the number of streamers had no notable effect in the data. These concepts apply to both the size of the on the audience volume on the platform (see Graph 1 on the audience consuming contents on the platform and the number same period), and it was extremely brief and localised, lasting of streamers broadcasting live. As Table 2 summarises, we can less than 30 minutes. see that these cycles do not match. The maximum audience on the platform usually occurs at around 10 pm, while the 4.3. Audience distribution maximum number of streamers broadcasting simultaneously The audience distribution among all the broadcasts available comes at 4 am. However, what does match is the minimum during the period analysed is far from being equitable. Of the audience with the minimum number of simultaneous streamers 964,698 users who participated in the platform as content at 11 am. creators, 35,913 (3.73%) had no viewers. Another 509,658 To show the ‘asynchrony’ in the audience and content creator (52.83%) had an average of 1 viewer. That is, nobody saw numbers, we took a small sample spanning from 18/12/2021 more than half the Twitch broadcasts in Spanish. to 21/12/2021. Graph 3 exemplifies the lack of coordination During peak audience hours (from 4 pm to 5 am), 76.29% between the number of people broadcasting live and the of the viewers were concentrated around the 100 leading audience numbers on the platform. This is a pattern that is streamers. That is, 0.97% of the audiovisuals available captured repeated on a daily basis throughout the entire period analysed, most of the audience. There are substantial differences even which was only broken by the special events described above. within these top 100 streamers, as on average, 40.29% of the Graph 3 shows how the audience volume grows progressively total viewers on the platform were concentrated around the top throughout the afternoon and evening until reaching a maximum 5 streamers (see Table 1). This polarisation is also found during between 8:30 and 10 pm (peninsular Spanish time zone). After Graph 2. Volume of Spanish-speaking streamers in Twitch from from January 1, 2022 to January 31. 2022 Source: Authors. 72 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 A. Padilla and C. Navarro Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns this peak, the audience suddenly drops off, stabilises at around Table 1. Audience average of Spanish-speaking 1 am and then enters off-peak hours. In turn, the number of channels on Twitch by position segments in the ranking simultaneous streamers starts to rise in the afternoon and evening, just as audience numbers are rising. But this growth Average Average Audience Audience is broken (or even declines) during the peak audience hours. Place audience audience at peak at off-peak After that time, the number of people broadcasting live shows at peak at off-peak hours (%) hours (%) hours hours another upswing (in a staggered fashion) until reaching the peak at around 4 am, with a large concurrence of streamers Average 100% 443,181 100% 120,490 from Latin America. Top 100 76.29% 338,112 67.88% 81,791 With this detailed analysis, we also found that the maximum Top 5 40.29% 178,576 25.83% 31,123 audience time dovetails with the simultaneous presence of the 1st ranked 17.99% 79,759 11.69% 14,093 leading Spanish-speaking streamers, namely Auronplay, Ibai Llanos, TheGrefg and El Rubius, among others, all of whom 2 ranked nd 8.99% 39,870 5.23% 6,307 broadcast from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain or Andorra). The 3 ranked rd 5.92% 26,243 3.62% 4,371 end of their broadcasts dovetails with the drop in audience on 4 ranked th 4.21% 18,667 3.10% 3,747 the platform and the simultaneous launch of a host of new live 5 ranked th 3.16% 14,037 2,38% 2,879 broadcasts from small content creators. Source: Authors. 5. Discussion and conclusions Table 2. Summary of the distribution of peak hours and This article has placed the live streaming platform Twitch within off-peak hours in streamers and audiences (peninsular the context of the entertainment industries and focused on Spanish time zone) its broadcast and consumption dynamics. A priori, Twitch is Off-peak hours Minimum Peak hours Maximum described as a digital platform based on contents generated hour hour Audiences 5 am to 4 pm 11 am 4 pm to 5 am 10 pm by non-professional users and live consumption. However, the results of this study reveal a process of industrialisation, Streamers 7 am to 7 pm 11 am 7 pm to 7 am 4 am professionalisation and standardisation which can be described using concepts associated with TV audience studies. Source: Authors. Graph 3. Comparison between the daily cycles of Spanish-speaking audiences and streamers on Twitch (peninsular Spanish time zone) Source: Authors. 73 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns A. Padilla and C. Navarro 5.1. Cyclical and polarised audiences content. Therefore, we can conclude that only 1 out of ever 4 Bearing in mind the cyclical audience behaviours, and drawing streamers participating on Twitch does so regularly and shows a parallel with the programming logics of TV, there is a clear some degree of professionalisation or commitment. alternation between broadcasts during prime-time and low Within this small group of professionalised streamers who competition time brackets. The data analysed show that this seem to be committed to the platform, we find names like alternation in cycles is stable and that maximum and minimum Auronplay, Ibai Llanos, TheGrefg and El Rubius, and their reach audiences are reproduced regularly, which enables us to claim and dynamic are similar to those of the mass media. They show that Twitch is a consolidated platform and that audiences go clear daily broadcast routines following the parameters of the there regularly to consume its contents. horizontal programming of linear TV, a concept detected back in The existence of ‘off-peak’ and ‘peak’ hours affects not only the 1970s in general TV channels (Williams 1974). Setting clear the volume of viewers but also the audience’s division among broadcasting times generates routines in viewers’ lives that help all the audiovisual contents available. During ‘prime-time’ to stabilise and ensure a high number of total viewers on a hours, the viewing public tends to concentrate around just a daily basis. These production routines, coupled with the use few broadcasts, while during the times with lower audiences of technical resources superior to those of other more modest the division is more equitable. Nonetheless, in absolute terms, streamers, enable us to draw a clear dividing line between the audiences in Twitch are polarised. A very small group of those who participate on Twitch as professionals and those who streamers (less than 1%) captures between 67% and 76% of dabble in it occasionally or in a totally amateur fashion. the audience available on the platform at any time of day, and there are even substantial differences within this small group of 5.3. Abundance of content in a highly competitive content creators (see Table 1). environment The surge in entertainment contents means that it is increasingly The division between amateurs and professionals becomes difficult to draw (and keep) viewers’ attention, as they are a evident when we see that more than half the broadcasts scarce good according to the attention economy paradigm. Only analysed (52%) have just one viewer, and it may well be the a few contents manage to attract large audiences, while the streamer him/herself monitoring his/her broadcast live via others remain niche or often even residual. In this sense, the a second window. This figure highlights the aforementioned vast catalogues of the major SVoD services also work under this audience polarisation, yet it also reveals the difficulties that dynamic, in which a small number of titles reach the majority many streamers encounter capturing audience attention. of subscribers while consumption of the rest of the catalogue is The figures indicate that Twitch is a highly competitive highly individualised. environment where there is a tendency towards audience As noted in the results, daily broadcasts are complemented concentration while a vast number of contents remain invisible with the programming of special events. Some of them, like the due to both the abundance of content and the unique features of ‘Esland’ awards ceremony organised by the streamer TheGrefg the platform and design of its interface. This has led many small and the bells tolling in the New Year, featuring Ibai Llanos and streamers to come up with broadcast strategies. For example, Ramón García, have a format that clearly echoes TV, and they during peak audience hours, we find the concurrence of the are produced with professional technical and human resources. most popular content creators in Spanish, yet this time does These special events, which reach huge peak audiences, are not dovetail with the highest volume of simultaneous streamers an opportunity to capture new viewers unfamiliar with the (see Graph 3), and at times the volume of contents actually platform’s own codes. However, the data analysed do not show decreases. This dynamic reveals that many content creators do clear indications that this audience is retained, and viewer not want to compete for their share of the audience during the figures tend to stabilise a few days later. same time bracket as the major streamers and instead prefer to start their broadcasts when the large streamers sign off in an 5.2. Amateur versus professional streamers attempt to capitalise on the orphaned viewers who are looking Among all the data analysed, we can make out three clearly for a broadcast to join. This is similar to the audience retention distinct groups of content creators. The first is a group of techniques used in vertical flows on TV line-ups. This strategy users (24.17% of the total) who have broadcast one hour or may explain the exponential surge in live broadcasts when the less throughout the entire period, and their contribution to the major streamers go off-air. overall calculation of total hours is just 1%, which indicates However, the end of the broadcasts of the major streamers also that they spontaneously and almost accidentally dabbled in the dovetails with a clear drop in audiences on the platform. That platform. The second group, which is in the majority (53.47%), is, a significant number of viewers show interest in a specific is comprised of streamers who operate in a totally amateur way, streamer and only consume contents when they are live, and who only contribute to generating 17% of the content. Finally, then leave the platform as soon as the broadcast is over. This there is a third group of streamers (22.36%) who broadcast dynamic reveals viewers’ behaviour and consumption patterns, regularly and whose efforts have generated 81.28% of the but it also sheds light on the competition faced by smaller 74 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 A. Padilla and C. Navarro Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns streamers, as the audiovisual contents increase precisely when Notes the available audience decreases, thus considerably heightening 1. In July 2022. the difficulty of attracting viewers. 2. Twitch VoD: https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/videos-on- Despite everything, it is important to recall that the logic demand?language=es used to measure success on Twitch is different than on other 3. For more information on Twitch’s API, see: https://dev.twitch. platforms, and audience volume is not a metric that automatically tv/docs/api/ translates into larger economic returns. The existence of a large 4. Netflix did not participate in the production of the event. unmotivated, casual audience gives the streamer no direct 5. Twitch Rivals: https://twitchrivals.com/ profit, while small, highly cohesive and committed communities of viewers can lead to significant income. Coupled with the low production costs, this means that a streamer can earn a profit References or even professionalise their work if they manage to win the loyalty of a small audience. Beil, B., Freyermuth, G. S., & Schmidt, H. C. (2021). Paratextu- To conclude, in the past decade we have watched as viewers alizing Games: Investigations on the Paraphernalia and have distanced themselves from linear TV and synchronous Peripheries of Play. Transcript Verlag. consumption (European Audiovisual Observatory, 2022). This https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839454213 trend has been further reinforced by the increasing presence of Bolter, D. J., & Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation: Understanding VoD content services and other digital content platforms. Just New Media. MIT Press. when it seemed that viewers wanted to decide when to view a Bourdon, J. (2000). Live television is still alive: On television as given content outside the rigid linear TV programming line-ups, an unfulfilled promise. Media, culture & society, 22(5), Twitch is clearly focusing on live contents. Within this context, 531-556. the platform is a ‘rara avis’ by proposing content whose value https://doi.org/10.1177/016344300022005001 lies in synchronous consumption and live interaction between Brugat, M. (2022). Egoland 2: Regresa el evento de ‘streamers’ audiences and broadcasters. The viewer figures described in que arrasa en Twitch. Lavanguardia.com, January 11. the results reveal that there is still an interest in these forms https://bit.ly/3IP9vgn of consumption, and in this sense, it is possible to venture a Caplan, R., & Gillespie, T. (2020). Tiered Governance and guess that audiences’ disaffection for TV may be motivated Demonetization: The Shifting Terms of Labor and by the contents, formats and forms of production instead of Compensation in the Platform Economy. Social Media necessarily by the consumption model. + Society, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120936636 5.4 Future research Carroni, E., Madio, L., & Shekhar, S. (2021). Superstar This study aims to be a preliminary general examination of Twitch exclusivity in two-sided markets. SSRN Electric Journal, in the Spanish-speaking world, which enables us to frame the 53 p. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3243777 platform as a mass medium in a highly competitive environment Couldry, N. (2004) Teaching us to fake it: The ritualized norms with hyper-fragmented audiences. There is a clear need to of television’s “reality” games. In: S. Murray, & L. perform interpretative studies with qualitative methodological Ouellette. Reality TV: Remaking television Culture (p. frameworks that could address issues like the audiovisual 57-74). New York University Press. formats used by the streamers and the types of content, in Delgado, M., Navarro, C., Garcia-Muñoz, N., Lluís, P., & Paz, E. order to understand both viewers’ needs and production trends. (2018). TV news and social audience in Europe (EU5): From the sociological and anthropological standpoint, it is On-screen and Twitter Strategies. Observatorio (OBS*), relevant to view Twitch as a new medium whereby cultures, 12(4), 107-124. ideas and values are shared, a function that the media like TV, https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS12420181317 radio and the press have traditionally fulfilled. Likewise, it is El País (2014). Amazon compra la web de videojuegos Twitch essential to analyse the content creators and their audiences por 735 millones de euros. El País, August 26. from the gender perspective, as we have found an absence of https://bit.ly/2HeqkAr women among the most prominent streamers. Finally, despite European Audiovisual Observatory. (2022). Yearbook the difficulty in circumscribing audiences to specific geographic 2021/2022: Key trends. European Audiovisual regions, it would be highly relevant to conduct comparative Observatory. https://bit.ly/3yIwkhi studies that could compare Twitch’s reach with that of TV. Flores-Saviaga, C., Hammer, J., Flores, J. P., Seering, J., Reeves, S., & Savage, S. (2019). Audience and Streamer Participation at Scale on Twitch. Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (HT ‘19), 277–278. https://doi-org.are.uab.cat/10.1145/3342220.3344926 75 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns A. Padilla and C. Navarro Förderer, J., & Gutt, D. (2021). The Effects of Platform Nematzadeh, A., Ciampaglia, G. L., Ahn, Y. Y., & Flammini, A. Superstars on Content Production: Evidence from Ninja. (2019). Information overload in group communication: 39 p. https://bit.ly/3zq5vjH From conversation to cacophony in the Twitch chat. Freire, F. C. (2008). Las redes sociales trastocan los modelos Royal Society Open Science, 6(10), 191412. de los medios de comunicación tradicionales. Revista https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191412 Latina de comunicación social, 11(63), 277-286. Olsson, M. (2018). “True gamer” culture on Twitch and its https://bit.ly/2lqeNbX effect on female streamers. [Master Thesis]. Malmö Gandolfi, E., Ferdig, R. E., & Clements, R. (2022) Streaming Universitet/Kultur och samhälle. https://bit.ly/3zfcCes code across audiences and performers: An analysis of Poyane, R. (2019). Toxic communication on twitch.Tv. Effect computer science communities of inquiry on Twitch.Tv. of a streamer. International Conference on Digital British Journal of Educational Technology, 53(6), 1688- Transformation and Global Society, DTGS 2019, 414- 1705. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13207 421. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37858-5_34 Gros, D., Hackenholt, A., Zawadzk, P., & Wanner, B. (2018). Pozo-Sánchez, S., López-Belmonte, J., Fuentes-Cabrera, A., Interactions of Twitch Users and Their Usage Behavior. & López-Nuñez, J. A. (2021). Twitch as a techno- Social Computing and Social Media. Technologies and pedagogical resource to complement the flipped Analytics, Proceedings, Part II, 201-213, Springer learning methodology in a time of academic uncertainty. International Publishing. Sustainability, 13(9), 4901. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91485-5_15 https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094901 Gutiérrez Lozano, J. F., & Cuartero, A. (2020). El auge de Prado, E.; Delgado, M., García-Muñoz, N., Monclús, B., & Twitch: Nuevas ofertas audiovisuales y cambios del Navarro, C. (2020). General-television programming in consumo televisivo entre la audiencia juvenil. Ámbitos. Europe (UE5): Public versus commercial channels. El Revista Internacional de Comunicación, 50, 159-175. profesional de la información, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.12795/Ambitos.2020.i50.11 https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.mar.04 Gutiérrez Lozano, J. F., & Cuartero, A. (2022). La construcción Raats, T., Evens, T., Ruelens, S. (2016). Challenges for mediática de los ídolos juveniles de Twitch: Los sustaining local audio-visual ecosystems: Analysis of creadores de contenido y su presencia creciente en los financing and production of domestic TV fiction in small medios españoles. adComunica, 23, 251-274. media markets. The Journal of Popular Television, 4(1), https://doi.org/10.6035/adcomunica.5936 129-147. https://doi.org/10.1386/jptv.4.1.129_1 Hilvert-Bruce, Z., Neill, J.T., Sjöblom, M., & Hamari, J. (2018). Radošinská, J. (2017). New trends in production and distribution Social motivations of live-streaming viewer engagement of episodic television drama: Brand Marvel-Netflix in the on Twitch. Computers in Human Behavior, 84, 58-67. post-television era. Communication today, 8(1), 4-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.013 https://bit.ly/3ScsrJ8 Jacobs, N., & Booth, P. (2021). Converging experiences, Scully-Blaker, R., Begy, J., Consalvo, M., & Ganzon, S. (2017). converging audiences: An analysis of doctor who on Playing along and Playing for on Twitch: Livestreaming Twitch. Convergence, 27(5), 1324-1342. from Tandem Play to Performance. Proceedings of https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856520976447 the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Kampel, S., Koban, K., Bornemeier, J., & Ohler, P. (2020). The Sciences. https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2017.246 downsides of being a female streamer. An automated Sheng, J. T., & Kairam, S. R. (2020). From Virtual Strangers to content analysis approach to sexual harassment in IRL Friends: Relationship Development in Livestreaming female Twitch streamers’ chatlogs. 70th Annual ICA Communities on Twitch. Proceedings of the ACM on Conference. Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW2), 1-34. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.30265.49764 https://doi.org/10.1145/3415165 Le, H., Wu, J., Yu, L., & Lynn, M. (2021). A Study on Channel Simon, H. A. (1971). Designing organizations for an information- Popularity in Twitch. arXiv, preprint arXiv:2111.05939. rich world. In: M. Greenberg (Ed.). Computers, Lobato, R., & Lotz, A. D. (2020). Imagining global video: The communications, and the public interest (p. 37-72). challenge of Netflix. JCMS: Journal of Cinema and The John Hopkins Press. Media Studies, 59(3), 132-136. Sjöblom, M., Hamari, J. (2016). Why do people watch others https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2020.0034 play video games? An empirical study on the motivations Narassiguin, A., & Garnès, V. (2020). The influence of COVID-19 of Twitch users. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, on Twitch audience: How lockdown measures affect live 985-996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.10.019 streaming usage?, 9 p. https://bit.ly/3OwKB6N 76 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022 A. Padilla and C. Navarro Audiences and streamers on Twitch: consumption and production patterns Steinbeck, H., Teusner, R., & Meinel, C. (2021). Teaching the Masses on Twitch: An Initial Exploration of Educational Live-Streaming. Proceedings of the Eighth ACM Conference on Learning@ Scale, 275-278. https://doi.org/10.1145/3430895.3460157 Straubhaar, J. D., Santillana, M., Joyce, V. de M. H., & Duarte, L. G. (2021). From Telenovelas to Netflix: Transnational, Transverse Television in Latin America. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77470-7 Tammy Lin, J. H., Bowman, N., Lin, S.-F., & Chen, Y.S. (2019). Setting the digital stage: Defining game streaming as an entertainment experience. Entertainment Computing, 31, 100309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2019.100309 Williams, R. (1974). Television: Technology and cultural form. Routledge. Wolff, G. H., & Shen, C. (2022). Audience size, moderator activity, gender, and content diversity: Exploring user participation and financial commitment on Twitch.Tv. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211069996 77 Quaderns del CAC 48, vol. XXV - October 2022