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Google is reportedly in talks to buy Twitch. The firm is a videogame streaming service, which has more than 45 million monthly users, according to several reports. Google would make this acquisition through YouTube (which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion). The buyout would be the most significant purchase the online video platform has made.
Variety reports that Google has already “reached a deal” citing sources “familiar with the pact,” to buy Twitch “for more than $1 billion.” The Wall Street Journal says however, that “talks are at an early stage” and “the potential purchase price couldn’t be learned.”
Twitch, which was launched back in June 2011, has become the most popular service for broadcasting and watching videogames. The service even knocks off YouTube from the top spot, in terms of live-streaming traffic. Qwilt, the online video and networking firm, reported that in the week ending April 7 of this year, Twitch accounted for a massive 44 per cent of all live-streaming traffic in the United States. The start-up also has their fingers in many pies as they have signed deals with both Sony for the PS4 and Microsoft for the Xbox one consoles to provide live-streaming services.
Twitch could provide a lucrative new stream of ad revenue fro the Internet giant. In September of 2013 Twitch earned $20 million from its investors and the service does attract a primarily young audience, which consumes content over long periods, sometimes for hours at a time. This obviously is favourable to the three-minute clips of video that are more commonly watched on YouTube. Twitch, which reportedly has used 1.35% of all downstream bandwidth in North America during the month of March 2014, came from Justin.tv, one of the Internet’s earliest video broadcasting websites.
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