Twitch has joined Google, Twitter and Facebook on the China ban-wagon. The live streaming platform confirmed that it was blocked in China. Chinese authorities have not issued an official statement explaining why Twitch has been blocked.
Rise of Twitch Followers & Twitch Views in China
Shortly after enjoying a major bump in popularity among Chinese Twitch followers due to the Asian esports competition held in Jakarta, both the app and website were cut off. Two Twitch streamers were caught streaming the League of Legends (LoL) competition, a very popular game title in China.
Chinese LoL Twitch followers were frustrated by the block as many gaming tournaments are not streamed on state-run media CCTV in China. So the only way for the Chinese to watch the tournaments were through Twitch. What more, watching live streams on Twitch is completely free and there is no need to buy Twitch followers subscription. Twitch’s iOS app skyrocketed to top 3 free app before the ban.
Twitch Followers Buy Bits to Support Streamers
Twitch is a popular video streaming platform owned by Amazon. The platform allows fans to follow Twitch streamers and become their avid live stream viewers. Top Twitch streamers like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins enjoys celebrity status, even in China. Ninja live streams Fortnight and has more than 13 million Twitch followers, 400 million Twitch views and regularly breaks hundreds of thousands of live stream viewers when online. Ninja’s Twitch followers and Twitch views doubles his closest competitor Shroud, who has close to 6 million followers and close to 300 million Twitch views. A review of the top streamers with the most Twitch followers reveals Fortnite as the most popular game on Twitch.
Live streamers make money from Twitch when their live stream viewers and Twitch followers buy Bits, a virtual currency on Twitch. Twitch provides a share of the revenue that Twitch receives from Bits to participating streamers. Top Twitch live streams like Ninja makes millions from streaming on Twitch alone.