Twitch

 Twitch effectively categorised esports in April 2020 when the livestreaming platform introduced an ‘Esports’ specific tab onto its homepage. On today’s UI, the category rests alongside Gaming, IRL and Music with the subtext: “Live tournaments, match highlights, and your favourite pro players all in one place.” Gaming is for fun, Twitch seems to specify. Esports is for professionals, or at least, those on a path towards it. Before this categorisation, viewers had to know what they were looking for or be satisfied with what the discoverability algorithm fed them. Image credit: StreamCards RELATED: StreamCards raises $530,000, partners with The Esports Bible for closed beta The platform debuted ‘extensions’ in August 2017, as explained on Twitch’s Creator Camp page: “You can think of extensions as apps for your streams that give your community more ways to interact with you, each other, or what you’re streaming.” Like browser extensions, Twitch extensions are generally designed to enhance the experience of the core service. Twitch extensions allow the audience to vote, collect digital items, and interact in other ways with live-streamed content. Warsaw-based start-up StreamCards has devised a clever way to combine the over-the-top (OTT) functionality of Twitch extensions with in-game player performance data…

Mark Hoppus shared new details pertaining to his cancer diagnosis including the type and stage of cancer he’s currently battling. The blink-182 bassist/vocalist shared in a recent Twitch stream he has stage 4A Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This type of cancer is also the same type Hoppus’ mother had and beat. (She also previously was diagnosed and beat breast cancer twice.) A portion of his stream (below) was recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Hoppus shared earlier this week that he’d be undergoing tests to determine “if I live or die.” He would explain in this new stream, “The test is to find out if my chemotherapy is working at all. And if it is, then I go back for at least three more rounds Ideally, I go in tomorrow and they say, ‘Congratulations! Your chemotherapy has worked and you are all done, and you’ll never have to think about this cancer again for the rest of your life.’ I hope.” He added, “If I go in tomorrow and they’re like, ‘It’s kinda working, we think it’s working,’ we’ll see. Then I’ll still do three more rounds, I think. And if they say, ‘Well it’s really not working like we’d hoped,’…

(00:00) Joe Murray, One half of the Bankroll Boy$, is in-studio for their weekly segment with Toucher & Rich. Joe drops some facts about Kofi Kingston and thinks Jimmy Stewart is a big deal in the wrestling world. (10:29) Joe gives a bachelor party update and possible locations. (25:49) Fred desperately wants to go on the KISS kruise. Watch Toucher & Rich every morning on Twitch! Watch them live or whenever you want: Twitch.tv/thesportshub

Time and time again, there have been issues regarding influencers and Twitch streamers to promote and hype up a product. The most recent example can be the whole cryptocurrency scam, of which the influencers and streamers from the FaZe Clan played a major part.Amidst the whole "pump and dump" scheme and controversy going on, another Twitch streamer has come under the limelight with her promotion of an Android phone. It may not be on the same level as that of the FaZe crypto scam, but Twitch streamer Neekolul has become the target of trolls for her recent promotion.Neekolul is a popular streamer, and this is not the first time she has gotten stuck on the wrong side of fame. Previously, she received a temporary ban from Twitch over wrongful copyright allegations.Also read: "I really appreciate that he still cares": Valkyrae on Twitch streamer Sykkuno and the Amigops groupTwitch streamer Neekolul gets ridiculed for tweeting "Team Android :D"... from an iPhoneHowever, the recent ordeal is over the fact that Neekolul had been pushing a new Android phone from the house of OnePlus, while she uses an iPhone herself. Although this might seem quite trivial, she must not be the only influencer…

Fans might remember the insane popularity that Among Us attained on Twitch, with no small part played by some of the most prominent names on the circuit.There was a time when Rachel "Valkyrae" Hofstetter, Sykkuno, Corpse Husband, and Jeremy "Disguised Toast" Wang used to stream the game together on the platform, giving rise to some of the most entertaining on-stream moments.Moreover, their friendship off-stream is also something that fans have celebrated. For instance, their trip to Las Vegas was something the community gushed over and maybe even wished to be a part of it.However, Sykkuno has grown a lot as a streamer ever since and has attained immense popularity on platforms like Twitch.On a recent stream, Valkyrae, who happens to be an excellent friend of Sykkuno, said that she was worried he would move on from this band of streamers, given his growth as a streamer and his solo popularity.Also read: Twitch streamer Adin Ross "arrested" while sneaker shopping: Here is what actually happened"I really did think that he was going to, like, I don't know, move on and leave us behind:" Valkyrae on Twitch streamer Sykkuno While on the stream, Valkyrae admitted of her concern but also added that…

By Chris Forrester July 14, 2021 A report from equity analysts at investment bank Berenberg on the games and gaming sector, and covering such high-profile businesses as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Activision and others, says that while some observers were forecasting a collapse of the sector as the world comes out of Covid, the bank suggests otherwise. Berenberg says that after more than a year of significantly boosted player engagement and accelerated player base growth as a result of lockdowns across the globe, we believe that expectations of a complete reversion to previous levels of video gaming engagement are overcooked. “Instead, we expect an acceleration of structural growth factors, such as gaming as a form of socialising. While we do expect a dip in engagement as global restrictions ease, we view this as a short-term bump in the road before a continuation of tailwinds within the sector,” says Berenberg. The bank recognises that Covid has changed the game, saying: “While some investors expect a cliff-edge drop in engagement as we emerge from the pandemic, user data (such as Steam and Twitch statistics) tell a story of a more robust industry. As we dig into the specifics of the motives for gaming,…

Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau's dislike for each other spilling into the public forum has been one of the most fun things to happen in golf in years. The now-infamous video of Koepka rolling his eyes out the back of his head while DeChambeau walked by escalated their interpersonal conflict to silly levels. Most recently, Koepka trash-talked DeChambeau about The Match (which Koepka wasn't even involved in) and DeChambeau got fans kicked out of a tournament for calling him "Brooksy."Since it is the most interesting off-the-course story in the game, Koepka was asked about it once again on Tuesday as he and other tour members arrived at Royal St. George's for this weekend's The Open Championship. He has been more than willing to answer questions about his dispute with his fellow golfer, and gave viewers an inside look into exactly how this feud got to where it is. They had apparently agreed to not mention the other, but then DeChambeau went on Twitch and poked fun at Koepka for appearing in ESPN's Body Issue. That, apparently, signaled to Koepka that anything was fair game. Via ESPN: "He didn't like that I had mentioned his name in slow play, so we…

The Baseball Hour with Tony Mazz The Baseball Hour with Tony Mazz airs weeknights from 6pm-7pm ET during baseball season. Hosted by Tony Massarotti, he is also joined weekly by Jared Carrabis of Barstool Sports, and Matt McCarthy from 98.5 The Sports Hub. Download full show podcasts every weeknight right here on 985thesportshub.com, bPod Studios, or wherever you get your podcasts. Play Latest (16 hours ago) 669 episodes

Fnatic, the London-based global esports organisation, is championing diversity among its content creators after reporting a 50/50 gender split in its grassroots programme, Fnatic Network.  This means that of the 52 streamers signed up to this programme – which celebrates its first full year of operation today – 26 are male and 26 are female. Fnatic says this is an industry first. Fnatic Network is a content creator academy that aims to scout and engage with top streamers and take them through a three-tiered programme, which can ultimately lead them to a contract with Fnatic or another org. Fnatic also said that participants have seen an average growth of 56% in their stream’s concurrent users, and an average increase of 150% in their Twitch following since the programme’s inception. For example, Moonryde, who is getting his own £30,000 Moonryde Invitational CoD Warzone tournament with Fnatic, went from 800 viewers on his stream to an average 6,000, with a peak of 82,000 on one of his Warzone streams. “Our ambitions for the esports and gaming industry is to see a more diverse and inclusive audience on and off the screen. I believe this change must start from within, and education and development are key…

(00:00) Rich is back from vacation, so Fred fills him in on what he missed while he was away, including doing a show with Marshall Hook and Joe Murray. (13:38) WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT: In an unexpected turn of events, the Boston Red Sox with the No. 4 overall pick Marcelo Mayer in the 2021 MLB Draft was unexpected, to say the least. The Milwaukee Bucks cruised to a 120-100 victory against the Phoenix Suns. Game 4 is Wednesday night. Watch Toucher & Rich every morning on Twitch! Watch them live or whenever you want: Twitch.tv/thesportshub