Twitch

Twitch is live streaming built around gaming first, with chat running beside the video instead of behind it. By our assessment, its great strength is the live format itself: real-time audience reaction, long streams, and a culture that rewards personality as much as gameplay. The downside is also part of the design, because live streams are messy, moderation is hard, and discovery can be dominated by already-big channels. In practice Twitch feels immediate and noisy in a way edited video never does, with raids, emotes, and chat moving faster than the stream sometimes can. It sits at the center of game streaming and has become the default reference point for that category, even when people use YouTube or shorter clip apps instead. It works best for viewers who enjoy being present for the moment and for streamers who can keep a live audience engaged. The country attached to Twitch is the United States.