This episode is going to be a little different.
Since our very first episode, the BetaKit Podcast has been about talking Canadian tech and tech from a Canadian perspective.
“Essentially, Amazon has failed to make this company profitable. It doesn’t make money.”
But the last two years have been… bad? So our focus has mainly been on local issues directly impacting Canadian tech.
Now? Things are better so we’re taking the opportunity to emerge from our solipsistic shell and consider the world around us.
Like the fact that Twitch is currently on fire.
If you’re not familiar, Twitch is the streaming service Amazon bought in 2014 for about $1 billion cash. It has not been the easiest acquisition for the tech giant, and the last two years have showcased myriad issues:
- Major content creators have abandoned the platform in favour of lucrative contracts with YouTube.
- Twitch has riled the creators that stayed with changes to revenue splits, poor implementation of Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedowns of content, and discovery issues on the platform.
- And several Twitch executives have departed this year, including most recently the senior vice president of global creators.
That’s before we get to the content on the platform itself: a controversy machine ranging from teen drama to gambling to serious allegations of sexual assault amongst creators.
Where did I learn about all of this? Mostly from watching Devin Nash: Streamer, YouTuber, and CEO of Novo, a talent and creative agency for the creator era. I couldn’t think of a better person to come on the podcast and explain why this is happening to Twitch.
True to form, Devin covers it all, from poor business decisions and lacking tech to problems that might be inherent to the medium (or its core demographic).
Listeners, I get it: your kids are probably more familiar with Twitch. But this is a big tech conversation about a platform that once looked like the future of media, and now seems more and more like a costly liability rather than an asset for Amazon.
Let’s dig in.
Hi! We’re GSoft, home to a family of software products that lay the groundwork for a better employee experience. Employee experience has never been more vital and, unfortunately, more complicated. Where does one even start, right? What about here.
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The BetaKit Podcast is hosted by Douglas Soltys & Rob Kenedi. Edited by Kattie Laur. Sponsored by GSoft and SAAS NORTH.