Is There Room for A New Streaming Giant?

The streaming space, whether for video-on-demand or for live streaming, has become somewhat stale over the past few years as a few big names have managed to corner this piece of the market. But with recent turmoil, some of the short-sightedness of these platforms are being seen and fans are seeking out alternatives to scratch that content itch. We’ll take a look at the biggest platforms, how they were able to grow so successfully, and what are the current challenges they’re facing with their core audience. 

Kick – The newest kid on the block, Kick was launched in a response to the uncertainty for many streamers looking to promote gambling content on another of the big streaming services, Twitch. It has become a popular hotspot for players looking to stream some of the biggest casino games like those found at Limitless Casino, as well as other content that was less acceptable than on other streaming platforms. Whilst the platform has seen impressive growth in a short time, it has received a lot of criticism for its partnership with a big name in the space, and with other factors related to protected content too, and as such it’s unlikely to truly compete with the bigger names on the platform.

Twitch – The largest of the streaming platforms and after its acquisition by Amazon a number of years ago, connectivity became even better with Prime subscriptions and regular game and cosmetic drops offered by partnerships with the biggest games too. Pulling in millions of viewers, it’s the largest live streaming service by quite some margin, but with strange policy changes behind the scenes and other issues within the platform itself too, many fans are becoming frustrated with aggressive ads, increasing prices, and the lack of requested features to improve the platform. 

Although the platform has seen a few minor disruptions, largely with big paydays luring talent to other platforms like Mixer, Facebook, and even recently Kick, it has still managed to remain at the top of the pack with a seemingly endless amount of talent interested in replacing the old heads in the space. 

YouTube – Long being held as the largest platform for media in the world, Google’s step into the livestreaming space has been something of a slow burn. Whilst YouTube itself has come under a huge amount of criticism in recent months due to the implementation of an anti-AdBlock policy, the streaming service side of things often fly well under the radar. Some of this is due to the lack of huge talent on the platform with only a few notable names, but much of it has also been linked to discoverability, something that other platforms do very well. 

Finding active live streams and big names on the platform can be quite difficult, and often why so many viewers seek out other platforms, but it does seem YouTube is trying to actively grow its space, and with the difficulties seen in other platforms, there’s an opportunity for new success to be found.

Streaming as a whole looks to show no signs of slowing down with big online events hosted through live streaming platforms, young hopefuls hoping to become the next big influencer, and media in general changing to a more live streamed nature, and as these more established platforms continue to disappoint fans and introduce lackluster changes, there’s certainly an opportunity for a new name to not only emerge, but thrive in the live streaming space too.