Twitch hits 28M viewers a month as livestreaming games hits its stride

Live game video streaming site Twitch is hitting its stride, as the company announced today it drew 28 million unique viewers in February alone.

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Those viewers watched more than 600,000 players broadcast their own games, and each of the viewers watched more than 90 minutes of video per day. This suggests that the video game community is becoming hooked on live events and watching other gamers play.

“Twitch launched in June of 2011 and our growth ever since has exceeded even my expectations, which were not small,” said Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. “A year-and-a-half later, the community of broadcasters and viewers has multiplied hundreds of percent.”

Publishers like Electronic Arts, Activision, and Sony Online Entertainment have begun integrating Twitch directly into their games. They have found that tapping the community is a good way to spread word of mouth about a game. That reduces the need to spend money on traditional advertising.

Twitch has created a broadcasting software development kit that game companies can use to easily add in-game broadcasting. Players can share their gameplay with the whole Twitch community — as they are playing — with only a few clicks. Professional gamers are starting to draw big audiences that way.

“Twitch has become the go-to live video platform for the entire video game ecosystem,” said Matthew DiPietro, Twitch’s VP of marketing. “Our broadcaster base includes everybody from passionate individual gamers to large video game companies and organizations. E-sports organizations, gaming media outlets, game developers, video game talk shows, conventions, charities and more all find a home on Twitch, with a passionate audience craving their content.”