TWITCH

        Twitch began its journey in June 2011 as a spin-off of Justin.tv, a live-streaming platform created by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear. While Justin.tv featured all kinds of live content, the gaming section quickly exploded in popularity — so the founders decided to make a separate platform just for gamers. That’s how Twitch.tv was born.

Within a few years, Twitch became the go-to hub for gamers, esports fans, and streamers, growing from a niche gaming site to one of the largest live-streaming communities in the world.

In 2014, Amazon saw Twitch’s potential and bought it for $970 million, marking one of the biggest acquisitions in streaming history. Under Amazon, Twitch expanded beyond gaming — adding music, art, talk shows, IRL (“In Real Life”) streams, and more.

By the late 2010s, Twitch had over 3 million monthly broadcasters and 15 million daily active users, hosting huge events like TwitchCon and becoming a key part of creator culture.