Twitch is an American video live-streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to offering music broadcasts, creative content, and "in real life" streams. Twitch is operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. It was introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand. The games shown on Twitch's current homepage are listed according to audience preference and include genres such as real-time strategy games (RTS), fighting games, racing games, and first-person shooters.
Jaryd Russell Lazar, better known as summit1g, is an American Twitch streamer and former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. After retiring from competitive esports, Lazar became a well-known streamer on Twitch by streaming CS:GO and WarZ. He currently streams a variety of video games, such as Escape from Tarkov, Grand Theft Auto V, Sea of Thieves, Overwatch, DayZ, iRacing, Foxhole, Hearthstone and Rust.
Seán William McLoughlin, better known online as jacksepticeye, is an Irish YouTuber. Much of McLoughlin's YouTube content centres around gaming and vlogs. As of January 2024, his YouTube channel has accumulated 16.4 billion views and 30.6 million subscribers, making it the 2nd most-subscribed Irish channel on YouTube.
Hans Eli Sebastian Fors, known by the pseudonym Forsen, is a Swedish Twitch streamer who initially gained popularity for having competed in StarCraft II, but is best known for competing in Hearthstone and for streaming a variety of popular games. He is also known for his rowdy fanbase, who call themselves "Forsen Boys" or "Forsen Bajs" and have had a hand in popularizing a number of Internet memes. Since December 2018, Forsen has had over one million followers on Twitch, and as of May 2023, has more than 1.7 million followers.
The live streaming of video games is an activity where people broadcast themselves playing games to a live audience online. The practice became popular in the mid-2010s on the US-based site Twitch, before growing to YouTube, Facebook, China-based sites Huya Live, DouYu, and Bilibili, and other services. By 2014, Twitch streams had more traffic than HBO's online streaming service, HBO Go. Professional streamers often combine high-level play and entertaining commentary, and earn income from sponsors, subscriptions, ad revenue, and donations.
Michael Grzesiek, better known as Shroud, is a Canadian streamer, YouTuber, former professional Valorant player, and former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. As of April 2022, his Twitch channel has reached over 10 million followers, ranking as the eighth most-followed channel on the platform, and his YouTube channel has over 6.79 million subscribers.
Félix Lengyel, better known as xQc, is a Canadian online streamer and former professional Overwatch player.
Thomas Jefferson "Chance" Morris IV, known professionally as Sodapoppin, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He has one of the largest followings on Twitch, with over 8.7 million followers and over 398.3 million views as of August 15, 2022; he also has over 1.11 million subscribers and over 444.5 million views on YouTube. According to Social Blade, Morris sits at the number 10 spot for the most followers on Twitch; he also ranks number 15 for the largest total number of views on the platform. He is a co-owner of and content creator for gaming organization One True King.
Richard Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja, is an American online streamer, YouTuber and professional gamer. Blevins began streaming through participating in several esports teams in competitive play for Halo 3, and gradually picked up fame when he first started playing Fortnite Battle Royale in late 2017. Blevins' rise among mainstream media began in March 2018 when he played Fortnite together with Drake, Travis Scott and JuJu Smith-Schuster on stream, breaking a peak viewer count record on Twitch. Blevins has over 18 million followers on his Twitch channel, making it the most-followed Twitch channel as of March 2023.
Jeremy Wang, better known as Disguised Toast, is a Taiwanese-Canadian streamer, YouTuber, and Internet personality. He got his start on YouTube, creating videos about the digital card game Hearthstone. Wang later began streaming on Twitch, before signing an exclusive streaming contract with Facebook Gaming in November 2019. In November 2021, Wang announced his return to streaming on Twitch.
OfflineTV is an online social entertainment group of content creators based in Los Angeles, California. They produce a wide range of content, from prank videos to vlogs to the housemates playing games together. The group maintains a large following on their social media platforms.
Ludwig Anders Ahgren, known mononymously as Ludwig, is an American live streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, comedian, esports commentator, and competitor. Ahgren is best known for his live streams on Twitch from 2018 through late 2021, and on YouTube beginning in late 2021, where he broadcasts video-game-related content as well as non-video-game-related content such as game shows and contests. He is also known for his work as an esports commentator at various Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments. He is the co-owner of the esports organization Moist Esports. He began streaming full-time on February 16, 2019.
Asmongold, also known as ZackRawrr, is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and content creator. Asmongold's content primarily focuses on World of Warcraft, but he has covered other video games and topics related to gaming culture. Asmongold is a co-founder and co-owner of the streaming, gaming, and content creation organization One True King (OTK), based in Austin, Texas. Asmongold is also a co-owner of Starforge Systems, a computer company specialized in selling prebuilt gaming PCs.
Hasan Doğan Piker, also known as HasanAbi, is a Turkish-American online streamer and left-wing political commentator. He has previously worked as a broadcast journalist and producer at The Young Turks and as a columnist at HuffPost. He is currently one of the most-viewed and most-subscribed-to streamers on Twitch, where he covers news, plays a variety of video games, and discusses politics from a socialist perspective.
Benjamin Lupo, better known as DrLupo, is an American streamer and YouTuber particularly known for his charity streams in association with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
One True King (OTK), legally OTK Media, Inc., is an American media organization based in Austin, Texas. The organization primarily focuses on online content creation and previously competed professionally in World of Warcraft.
Matthew Rinaudo, known online as Mizkif, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He is a founding member and co-owner of gaming organization One True King.
Tyler Faraz Niknam, better known as Trainwreckstv or Trainwreck, is an American live streamer and co-founder of live streaming service Kick.
On March 14, 2021, American livestreamer Ludwig Ahgren began continuously livestreaming on Twitch. The livestream ended on April 13, 2021, after 31 days. The livestream was a subathon: a type of stream where viewer donations lengthen a descending timer that determines the length of the stream. Ahgren received 282,191 subscriptions during his subathon, breaking the previous record set in 2018 by Tyler "Ninja" Blevins of the most concurrent subscribers on Twitch. The subathon's content consisted of talking to his viewers and stream moderators, playing games, and sleeping, among other various daily activities. During Ahgren's sleep breaks his moderators entertained the audience, for which they were financially compensated. Ahgren grossed US$1,434,850 from the stream, before taxes, charity donations, and other deductions. Not including sponsorships, Ahgren profited $202,000.
