Twitch CMO Rachel Delphin on Fostering Community Alongside Platform Safety

variety.com:

Kaare Eriksen Media Analyst Twitch has long thrived as the leading platform for livestreamers, be it hardcore gamers or more socially driven personalities honing their craft as influencers in real time.

But when your platform has nearly 2.5 million viewers in 2023 watching a stream at any given time, it also necessitates partnering with outside brands alongside the home turf of individual streamers.

Rachel Delphin, chief marketing officer at Twitch, has that balance to maintain both on and off the platform, and it’s the latter that really demonstrates the power of the community through events like the semi-annual TwitchCon, which ran in Paris back in July and will see its U.S.

event take place in Las Vegas this October. “The IRL element of that is really, really powerful and meaningful, when we bring people together at TwitchCon, they’ve been friends for months or they’ve been friends for years,” said Delphin in a conversation for Variety’s Strictly Business podcast. “I think it really deepens those bonds, and then they go back to the community building and nurturing and connection that they have online.” Acquired by Amazon in 2014 for nearly $1 billion after launching in 2011, Twitch has a lot of power behind it to attract brands to the service and allow them to do their own community building. “Lots of brands wanna be there,” she said while stressing the importance of authenticity in the presence of brands. “It’s about contributing to the community, it’s about being a participant in the community, it’s about supporting creators within those communities, and that is received really positively.” But despite its popularity, competitors still vie for Twitch’s command of hours viewed and streamed.