Deal would be biggest ever for Google-owned YouTube
Google’s YouTube has reached a preliminary deal to buy Twitch, a popular videogame-streaming company, for more than $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the pact.
The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube earlier this year.
Reps for YouTube and Twitch declined to comment.
SEE ALSO: Why Google Wants to Hitch Twitch and YouTube
San Francisco-based Twitch lets users upload and watch free, live gameplay videos that can be streamed from Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 consoles, and also sells a $9 monthly ad-free subscription and subscriptions to individual channels for about $5 per month. The company claims to have more than 45 million monthly users, with more than 1 million members who upload videos each month. It also has deals to distribute shows from partners including CBS Interactive’s GameSpot, Joystiq and Destructoid.
YouTube is preparing for U.S. regulators to challenge the Twitch deal, according to sources. YouTube is far and away the No. 1 platform for Internet video, serving more than 6 billion hours of video per month to 1 billion users worldwide, and the company expects the Justice Department to take a hard look at whether buying Twitch raises anticompetitive issues in the online-video market.
Twitch was launched in June 2011 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, co-founders of Justin.tv, one of the first websites to host livestreaming user-generated video. Shear currently serves as CEO of Twitch.
Founded in 2011, the startup has raised about $35 million in funding. Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Alsop Louie Partners, WestSummit Capital, Take-Two Interactive Software, Thrive Capital and Draper Associates. Twitch Interactive, which includes Justin.tv, has about 130 employees.
SEE ALSO: Major League Gaming, Twitch Compete to Become the ESPN of Videogames
Gameplay videos already are a highly popular category on YouTube. Twitch also plays in the separate “e-sports” market covering live professional gaming competitions; others in that space include tournament organizer Major League Gaming, a New York-based company whose investors include Oak Investment Partners and Relativity Media CEO Ryan Kavanaugh.
In March 2014, Twitch represented 1.35% of all downstream bandwidth on North American fixed-access broadband networks — nearly triple from last fall, according to bandwidth-equipment company Sandvine.
Kaceytron is the only thing on that website worth paying attention to.
a semi forgotten entity in this is justin.tv as it is owned by twitch interactive once the shining star of live broadcasting sadly reduced to a pale imitation of its former self, recently justin has been on the downslope badly many of its features are being removed as the staff were unable to fix it while i wish twitch every success its the death knell for justin and rumours are justin staff are being offered jobs on twitch in preparation cant imagine how much damage that lot will do to twitch like they did on jtv so if being tied to google doesnt harm them im sure bad coding will
I’m calling bullshit on this. One, it has not been confirmed by either company. Two, every new article that mentions this “merger” cites this article as it’s source. And three, this cite won’t cite it’s own source. I’m fairly confident this is a rumor. If it isn’t, then from what I’ve heard from many streamers on Twitch there will be a mass exodus from the platform
get ready to have to sign in to google for EVERYTHING we do on the internet
let Google own everything, what can possibly go wrong.
Pretty sure it ain’t finalized yet. I’m tryna hop on that gameplay community too ya heard. Can you doig it
But yeah…I think it’s still a rumor. Stiil, it would be interesting if Youtube actually bought Twitch. Hope Twitch stays independent tho
This BETTER be a rumor. I’ve been using twitch for years and I literally JUST bought a VCC so I could start streaming. It hasn’t even arrived in the mail yet. Talk about bullshit.
Why can’t google keep their hands off the good things in life?! Now they are going ruin Twitch too?!
They will get on doing a monopoly, then they will shutdown what they’ve bought with the excuse that the revenue wasn’t enough, while it actually was. Then youtube will be the only good website standing and everything else would’ve merged into Youtube.
Nope. Needs more digging for proof, and that would ruin Twitch, Their staff are dedicated, while Google’s staff still have trouble managing YouTube alone.
Please don’t sell off Twitch… I love you :'( Youtube will ruin you!!! :(
Well I guess there’s always ustream
Thanks. Typo is fixed.
Google are going to ruin twitch just like then broke the YouTube copyright system DO NOT BUY THIS!
I don’t think people realize that they’re pretty much ditching the google+ route. The head of the google+ idea left a while back and google+ is dying.
No. This is going to ruin Twitch… If you need any proof, look at youtube…. Google turned that into a hellhole, now Twitch too?
If Comcast is allowed to buy Time Warner and AT&T is allowed to buy DIrectTV, then Google should be allowed to buy Twitch. Simple.
No they shouldn’t, look what they did to YouTube.
Google turns anything it touches to shit. Quick and simple.
Except, google will ruin twitch, Comcast didn’t ruin anything, because they are good at what they do, AT&T was allowed to because there good at what they do, google will ruin twitch, because there good at ruining previously good sites, just look at youtube
Except their robot army.
Did you even fucking see what Google did to YouTube? If their gonna fuck up Twitch too, im gonna go shoot myshelf.
Don’t get me started on Comcast customer support robots…
Well, if that happens it will be time to move to a new site, simple as that…. Google have already ruined youtube and they will do the same with twitch… that really sucks…
Let’s hope this never happens! Google is so annoying with buying everything on the internet. I want to use copyrighted music!
They’re buying more than the some of the most popular parts of the internet. They are buying the lions-share of robotics and AI companies.
Copyrighted music is a law in every country. Blame your government and bands for caring about making money.
Let’s hope this never happens, last thing I need is my favorite streams getting blocked by some content-ID matches
welcome to twitch.tv plz login with your Google+ :)
They can buy over Twitch regarding if they keep the chat as it is. Twitch without chat is like driving a car without sterling wheels.
Self-driving cars = Google. They’re working on that issue already. XD
You’ll want to retract that, it’s rather: “Twitch without chat is like driving a car WITH steering wheels.”
And I want to ask you, you the hell would want that!?
Crazy and unlogical rides ftw!
Google kjøper opp alt som er “stort” på nette. Både youtube og twitch er sinnsykt populære sider. Google hvorfor??
ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ raise your googles ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
This used to say “raise your dongers”
So they can go deleting everyone on copyright infringement allegations? All I see Google doing is buying Twitch, changing its interface 5 or 6 times, run everyone away, shutting Streamers down, and closing the site entirely by 2015
I hate what Google did to YouTube, I hate the redesigned layouts they put out. Yes, I’m whining, back around 2011/2012 I was getting used to everything, now I can’t find the damned inbox link without drudging through the hellhole useless Google+ they think is the second coming of Raptor Jesus.
You watch, Google will ruin Twitch, better enjoy it before they crash it into the ground.
$1b come on twitch you are worth wayyyy more
1 billion is literally double what twitch is worth right now…
Do you have ANY idea how much 1 billion is???
I’d say make it at least 3 billion, and let our group reserve the right to make another better streaming site. Kappa
1 billion in today’s business world is a drop of water in the ocean.
well i rather Google bought it than MLG.
Kappa.
fucking twitch memes are awful
Twitch is a streaming website, primarily aimed at the PC segement of the market. You cannot upload videos. MLG is not a competitor. Own3d was a true competitor, it went bankrupt and vanished.
Google is going to fuck up twitch. but in a slow way, just like they did to youtube.
yes youtube WAS bought by google back in 2006, when you guys were under 13.
YouTube could not sustain itself, if Google would not have bough it there would be no YouTube. Or just some limited site with a million ads and no features.
Google+, removal of channel designs, and destroying the comment sections are features, and the videos aren’t? Surrre…
Go slither on back to Google+ you fanboy.
i was 14!
ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ raise your dongers ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
Twitch lest you upload gameplay? That’s too much bull crap for one day. Please do a deeper research when writing an article :)
What do you mean ‘bullcrap’? That is literally the the main function of twich
What’s wrong with that statement? AGDQ, a charity stream that show speedruns of various games, and thus gameplay OF those games, runs on Twitch.
Do you not agree with the wording? People upload and stream videos of them playing games.
mlg is not a competitor to twitch at all twitch is a video streaming service and mlg is a competitive esport tournament organizer
MLG also has their own streaming service and has been attempting to seduce various E-sports tourneys (some dota tourneys) into streaming on their site in lieu of twitch.
slipknots
You can steam from PC too.
Of course you can Steam from PC, it’s kind of the whole point of Steam.
Wow, this is the worst rumored news I’ve heard in a long time. I am a huge fan of Twitch, but I do not like the direction YouTube has gone in lately–particularly with the Google Plus integration. As a user of both services, I hope Google keeps its hands off of Twitch and stops trying to take over everything just to screw it up. I don’t think any challenge is going to be successful. If Time Warner and Comcast can merge, there are no limits anymore. The only thing I can hope for is the deal going south.
No way -_- What next? Wikipedia?
If you mean Youtube buying Wikipedia, then sorry for misunderstanding, but the Wikipedia article has been updated to say at least a little tidbit about this rumor. http://i.imgur.com/qItB9qh.png
worst thing that could ever happen! Google is becoming like a disease… First they ruined Youtube and now they are after TwitchTV. -__-
Incoming:
-30fps cap
-Content ID
-Paranoid censorship, blocking random videos and harassing uploaders without any evidence of wrong doing, because some troll thought it would be funny to report ownership when there is none. Then flat refusal to actually verify it.
-Busted comment system that half the time won’t let you post at all, the other half not being able to tell the difference between spam and legit comments. Troll spam reports instantly hiding posts, again without any moderation/verification, and no way to reverse it.
Twitch is already capped at 30 fps. YouTube acquiring Twitch is probably the best thing to happen to the site.
no, it’s not. i’ve streamed at 60FPS using OBS before.
Twitch is not capped at 30 fps, you can go up to 60 easily if you want. The commenter higher up is completely right about everything, it’s the worst thing that could happen to twitch.
For live streaming, Twitch caps out at 60 fps provided you pay for a XSplit subscription. VOD also caps out at 60 fps
RIP in peace, twitch. The king Midas of crap is about to lay its finger upon thee.
“RIP in peace” :P
Oh yay! Now we can look forward to the layout of the site changing every 6 months for no good reason. I’m also super psyched to get all my videos flagged without warning! Let’s not forget Google+ integration, because I love it when a company forces me to use a social network I have no interest in being a part of because it’s in their agenda! Google has some of the most pretentious, smug people working for them, acting as if everything they do is god’s gift to the internet.
Don’t forget mandatory google+ logins
Estaria mal porque twitch una pagina de tan pocos años como compañia de stream
deberia tener un tiempo de progreso
Que mal por twitch porque es una de las grandes fuentes de progreso para gamers y stremers, pero que bien por google que estara cada vez aumentando ganancias a traves de fuentes pequeñas. tuyiyo LAS
please note the repeted phrase ‘according to sources’ which means, it’s bullshit
I know right? Someone could have easily mocked up a photo or conversation and then sent it to this website. Every single other website has used Variety as a source. Twitch Staff have already said ‘We don’t comment on rumors’, I’m almost certain it’s bullshit.
plz don’t let youtube buy twitch they will ruin twitch layout has they’ve ruined youtube layout plz no no bad youtube its sucks
Considering Twitch users used to hate the current layout of streams, I bet they could redo Twitch so it looks better.
At least it would be consistent throughout. How long did it takes to convert the setting pages into the new layout? The front page is still on the old layout design.
There’s no source in this article.
CONGRATS! Google/YouTube on picking up another Spy network to monitor the Youth! how much sooner till your done with the RFID chip to implant? Mark of the Beast technology. Obviously nobody there is a christian. God Help Us!
Reblogged this on that one ginger and commented:
I just have one big question … Why? YouTube is a company with a completely separate style of service in mind from what Twitch offers. It just doesn’t make sense to me that this would be a beneficial move for YouTube.
I said the same thing about Facebook buying Oculus.
Now that one is just as ridiculous as this one, hah.
I think this has potential to actually be a good thing, as long as there aren’t youtube type or bureaucratic issues, particularly copyright issues. Hopefully twitch would still function as it does now, but more integrated with google and youtube, with the same people running it. Also, I don’t think this would contribute overly to anti competition, in part because I don’t think twitch and youtube really compete with each other.
They will most likely bring over the ContentID system. RIP Everything. Music from a game? Boom ContentID Take Down. They will probably take down the Admin Team that contains members of Twitch Staff friends and members from the same community for YTs report system. (Which IIRC is a mix of automation and manually)
This *could* be a good merger, but I would have rather Google spend the $1 Billion for protecting Net Neutrality.
It would make perfect sense for YouTube to buy Twitch.tv. I’ve read that they streamed a videogame finale to over 1.000.000 people: http://1ksociety.com/2014/05/19/riptwitch-youtube-about-to-acquire-twitch-tv-for-1-billion/ – it was from the game League of Legends. Those are pretty impressive numbers and def. something YouTube would like to get its hands on!
“San Francisco-based Twitch lets users upload and watch free, live gameplay videos that can be streamed from Microsoft Xbox and PlayStation 4 consoles.”
Uh, and streaming from PC. You know the platform that made Twitch what it is today? The platform that still brings in the vast majority of traffic for Twitch? Yeesh.
I prefer any company over Google to buy it. I lost respect to Googe with their new rules and enforcements. They force you to google+ your youtube account, and force you to combine all google products. They store your search data, basically everything you do with a google product is being used Against you. Fu*K Google, F*cK FaceBook! Twitch was the only entertainment I would watch when Bored, and now its going to shit
Haha 1st April Fool ! … Whaaaaat?!! We are already in May?! What the *$?#&! is going on?!