It’s no secret that teenagers are watching less and less television, which has allowed live-streaming websites like Twitch to explode in popularity in recent years. While it is primarily a platform for gaming content, the site’s growth has resulted in more streams of ‘Just Chatting’ and other daily activities.
JustinTV was founded in 2007 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear and was divided into several categories, with gaming being the fastest growing of them all. As a result of their expansion, they split off and founded Twitch.
The duo sold the platform to a major corporation just a few years after it was founded, but who was it?
Who exactly is the owner of Twitch?
With the creation of the interactive Twitch Plays Pokemon and even a back-and-forth with a potential Google acquisition, the first few years after Twitch’s founding were a bit of a roller coaster.
Amazon purchased Twitch Interactive for $970 million in cash on August 25, 2014.
As a result of the acquisition, the company can now use its existing web services to help the platform support ever-increasing traffic, allowing for seemingly limitless expansion. Since then, the Seattle-based company has acquired a wide range of other businesses and extensions that Twitch users can use.
What was the beginning of Twitch?
JustinTV was a single channel streamed by Justin Kan who broadcasted much of his life. It was founded in 2007 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear. Kan coined the term “lifecasting,” which is similar to the in-person streams that are popular on the platform today.
By 2011, the site had expanded into a variety of categories, including the rapidly expanding gaming category.