The new Twitch goes to conquer the world. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a record-breaking article
That same year, Jeff Bezos decides to to drop 980 of the millions of dollars accumulated through Amazon to get their hands on the newborn platform, revolutionizing its monetization systems and bringing it, in a relatively short time, to occupy a position of absolute pre-eminence in the digital entertainment sector. The 27,000 partners, hundreds of millions of viewing hours and 3,000,000 broadcasters pushed it to the thirtieth place in the Alexa Ranking, a system designed to identify the most solid web pages on the planet.
Over the past six years we have been accustomed to immediately associating Twitch with the world of video games, as if Amazon's streaming platform and virtual experiences have a kind of symbiotic relationship. In light of the record of 439,000 spectators recorded by the channel of the American Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it would be natural to wonder if things are changing lately. But the truth is that in the immense web of content that airs on Twitch, video games are only a small piece of the puzzle.
This might seem like a statement in stark contrast to the metrics that emerge weekly from the platform's analysis, but behind the veil of simple content lies a factor that many struggle to grasp: the success of channels on Twitch it is closely related to the personality sitting in front of the camera, and except in rare cases it has very little to do with what is shown in the foreground.
AOC talks healthcare with @Hbomberguy, who is from the UK, where healthcare is free. pic.twitter.com/3wMUZXpuF7
- Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) October 21, 2020 This content is hosted on an external platform, which will only display it if you accept targeting cookies. Please enable cookies to view. Manage cookie settings Our shared Twitch idea has been tainted since 2018, a year that will be remembered as a key turning point for the new flourishing market around the world of video games. It is the year of Fortnite, the title that has brought the medium to the ears of parents and even grandparents; the year of Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, the most famous gamer in the world who accompanied the New Year in Time Square; in short, the year in which the industry officially went viral, breaking all previously established records.
A new generation of influencers found themselves at the center of the scene: Dr Disrespect, Michael "Shroud" Gresziek, the controversial Turner "Tfue" Tenney and many other creators have begun to peep into the general media, garnering millions of followers and grossing hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. The shock was so violent that it also reached Italy, a historically conservative country yet touched by the rise of Giorgio "Pow3r" Calandrelli, whose effigy now stands out on the billboards displayed in the center of Milan.
In our country the numbers have increased tenfold in just over a year, transforming the career as a streamer into a consolidated reality, and we say this with all due respect to the great "early birds" of the platform. Twitch, in short, has become the perfect springboard for hundreds of young people looking for a career linked to the world of entertainment, boys and girls willing to turn their passions into a job.
Then the Fortnite era has come to an end, and in the undergrowth of the platform things have begun to change. The "content" as such began to lose importance, and the streamer's personality became the center of gravity of success. The Italian public, today, does not connect on Twitch to watch a video game, but to spend time in the company of Dario Moccia, from Homyatol, to follow Masseo's reactions, in short, to be part of a community where the content coincides with the sphere of influence of the live stars.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an anti-Trump and very progressive senator. And now it's on Twitch too. The first change in the Twitch universe, however, has a first and last name. His name is Austin, aka Rajj Patel, and has become, in other words, the "Maria De Filippi" of the undergrowth of international streaming. Austin has started putting together a series of political shows and digital dating shows, putting aside video games and creating an unprecedented category of reality that, while throttled by the world of gaming, has made its way to the top. br>
There was a moment when Rajj Patel had the power to decree the rise of new 'celebrities' linked to the digital universe after a single appearance in his lineup of programs. It should not be surprising, therefore, that the new drift of the platform has caught the eye of numerous public figures, as well as the attention of the numerous agencies that take care of its image.
Senator Ocasio-Cortez, pilots Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, the musical mastermind of Machete, Hell Raton, adult movie stars Sasha Gray and Mia Malkova, even Alessandro Cecchi Paone and other weird characters in sight, they rushed to win a piece of the pie.
Today the "chat" is the absolute master of Twitch. It is a new way of entertaining, in some ways similar to radio broadcasts, but above all of a finished mass medium. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez understood all this very well and managed to gather over 450,000 people in front of the screen to watch that Among Us match, which saw the senator compete with some of the most famous streamers and youtubers in the world.
Today, the figure of Giorgio 'Pow3r' Calandrelli occupies advertising billboards in the center of Milan. A game that allowed her to communicate with half a million young people by simply clicking a button, to discuss the national health service with European content creators and to tighten the focus on the importance of voting, but above all to do all this without necessarily speaking in politicians, reaching an audience historically immune to traditional media. Although the senator has stated that she wants to start her channel to "evade the vote", it is clear that this is a decisive strategic move, perhaps not considered but certainly very effective.
Alexandria has understood that Twitch today is an explosive reservoir filled with potential trends, and while it is still capable of bringing a video game like Fall Guys to international success and driving the world of esports, it has become a reflection not only of the modern digital community, but also of especially of the historical era in which we live. Something that our politicians, in the face of the small avant-garde that is leading Twitch Italia, still seem unable to understand.
In short, now between saying "I followed him on Twitch" or "I followed him on Sky "makes very little difference, but it is clear that the platform closest to the evolution of the company is that owned by Amazon. And this is because the so-called "content" is the fruit of that same community that determines its success, creating a sort of microcosm capable of feeding itself indefinitely.
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While in the United States Ocasio-Cortez plays Among Us, in Italy Carmelo Miceli still lashes out against the video games. We do not have the presumption to judge whether this kind of media evolution is good or bad but the fact is that it exists, it is already among us, and whoever chooses to understand and embrace it as the brilliant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did, seems destined to be welcomed with open arms.
The new world of communication has arrived and we advise everyone to get used to it quickly, because it has absolutely no intention of leaving.
