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Report: YouTube Buying Twitch.tv For $1 Billion
Variety reports that Google's YouTube unit has reached a deal with Twitch.tv to buy the game-streaming service for $1 billion. From the article:
"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. ... 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."
For mysterious reasons that will be 'explained' only by spokesweasels emitting word salad, this will become the Big Bad Scary antitrust issue of the day, while the rapid consolidation of physical network infrastructure (despite the radically higher barriers to entry) will quietly recede into the background.
Bummer =/
This channel has been suspended due to multiple copyright claims from Nintendo of America.
it seems like the only one not making a billion dollars these days is me...
the amount of cash it costs to make live video is not cheap twitch is not really a money maker look at other game streaming sites they all went bottom up becouse of that reason.
twich doesnt have a ton of users compared to youtube and the biggest streams usually dont do twitch advertising but get sponsorship deals.
on the other hand google does have the servers available for it so if the rumour is true (which i doubt) it could be cheaper then expected to run the service
I thought only Microsoft and Apple bought companies for their technology? Google is doing it AGAIN?!?!
Where'z teh innovations!?!?!?!!1111?!
Checkbox: Automatically convert your archived videos to Youtube.com videos permanently?
God spoke to me
Since by YouTube's standards, everything on Twitch is a 'copyright violation' (streaming footage of a video game and completely ignoring that most of it is Fair Use with added content) I really have to wonder how they intend to deal with the corporate trolls who are now going to descend on Twitch like the vultures they are.
I imagine that will involve giving most of the money currently going to the content creators to the copyright asserters. The RIAA model.
Extinguish.
Yeah, maybe Comcast or Verizon instead.
I know Twitch TV and Justin TV are closely linked. I think in fact that Twitch is an offshoot of JTV and the user accounts are shared. Is YouTube buying JTV as well, will JTV go on independently, or will JTV be shut down?
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
YouTube != Yahoo
How can it be anticompetitive when its a free service?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Twitching in fear?
Maybe google can find a way to make the video streaming less awful. They can hardly make it worse!
-josh
Back when I was a kid the last millenium (80-90s), a billion as a lot of money. It was a domain that only Bill Gates and a handful of other chosen few were allowed to occupy. Now every damn internet start up is getting a billion each at least, often in the double digits.
Shit with absolutely no real world business prospects to justify the price they command. Are we in Internet bubble 2.0?
I haven't laughed so hard since Apple bought Beats.
Hell, I don't even get why people watch athletics on tv. Talk about dull. I'd rather play the damn sports casually than just watch it on tv.
THIS. E-sports is the next big media spectacle. It's like the Olympics, for people who can't enjoy sports but who enjoy watching gaming.
google owns youtube genius
Twitch.tv are pretty big. They can get 50-100k live viewers on dota 2 streams, which are typically hours long. That has to be worth something.
I can certainly understand the appeal of watching game replays and "let's plays" - heck I watch them myself. But why is live playing popular?
That's what I've been wondering about myself. Twitch.tv - integration in games is seemingly a growing trend, yet I've never had even the slightest of urges to broadcast my gaming-sessions, let alone sit there with a finger up my ass watching as someone else plays. Where the fuck is the fun in that?
And I say this as an occasional gamer.
I say the above as a pretty much addicted/hardcore gamer.
I watch zisteau's inferno mines (and others) recently. Practically, i learn new techniques, ideas, etc.
Looking for people to chat about multicopters, coding, music. skype: gtsiros
right next to that 48.5 billion article doesn't it
People watch it for the personalties or banter between streamers.
Pro tournaments can be fun to watch sometimes. Depending on who is casting they really understand the audience and it isn't always presented in the same style as a super serious 'sports' show.
People also like to watch and learn, see interesting things that they can try and copy or weird tactics that really only work under certain conditions. Its also nice to see some of the best players in the world thrown off by special tactics.
I kind of wondered the same thing until I started watching. I originally went there to look at actual game play footage for a game I was thinking of picking up. In the process I found a few streamers who I actually enjoyed watching. They were funny, interactive with their viewers, and pretty good gamers to boot. Now I go back pretty much every day to watch while I work or surf. It's replaced some TV and podcasts as my "background noise".
Keep in mind most of the smaller streamers (and those tend to be the more entertaining to watch) are not e-sports try-hards. Their play is more casual. I tried a few of the bigger streams but yet, just watching someone team grind to keep their K/D is boring as watching golf.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Well, (for me) it's like an interesting talkshow. I watch Quickybaby play World of tanks, partly because I like that game and can learn a few things watching someone really good play it, but also because he talks about all kinds of things. It's just like watching kevinpollakschatshow, but framed around a game instead of Hollywood.
OTOH there's a lot of people on twitch playing the game and saying nothing, that I don't understand. Boring.
Maybe it will start to work correctly at last.
I watch PA replays every now and again for the same reason I watch fencing.
As I enjoy it and I get to see where I am going wrong.
I don't watch football (Association, Rugby or America) as I find it dull, I can't relate to it in away way.
I'll have a kick about as it is socializing rather than "football".
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
Moreover, in watching others play well, you can often gain insights into how you can play better yourself.
With a 2-3% inflation you get a doubling of price every 23 to 35 years. So 1 billion today is equivalent to 350 million $ in 1980 and 550 million dollar in 1990. So not so "big" anymore.... I used this by the way : http://www.bls.gov/data/inflat... very useful to compare money amounts.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
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visit randi.org
Not really. How close are we now to digital copyrights lasting a millennium?
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
Why would regulators care at all about this deal? Twitch isn't a public company.
Whether a company is traded publicly or not is irrelevant to anti-trust concerns. The only thing that being a publicly traded company means is that the stock is traded on an exchange. That's all. Many large companies are not publicly traded and anti-trust regulators are concerned with whether the merger will adversely affect consumers and competition in the market. Whether the stock is traded on a stock exchange is completely unimportant to the analysis.
If CNN bought Fox News, MSNBC, and ABC would there be less competition in TV news? Of course. I don't see how payment or lack of payment has anything to do with whether or not two companies are competing .
That said, people DO effectively pay for YouTube and Twitch. You pay in the form of ads watched. Google converts those ad views to cash just as surely as they'd convert credit card numbers to cash if you paid by credit card.
Does Twitch really compete with YouTube? Probably not, but that's because Twitch is a speciality boutique and YouTube is a mass merchandiser. I don't think the form of payment has much to do with it.
I'm slightly confused.... is Youtube buying Twitch or is Google's wholly owned subsidiary (Youtube) buying Twitch?
It's a distinction without a difference. YouTube is a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. It would be equally accurate to say YouTube is buying Twitch, Google's subsidiary YouTube is buying Twitch, or Google is buying Twitch. In the end equation they all mean the same thing for all practical purposes. There are some subtle accounting ramifications regarding whether YouTube or Google actually is the the buying entity but nothing you or I will care about in the slightest.
Maybe it really isn't shit today and the US currency has actually devalued this much?
I think you may be confused about what currency devaluation means relative to other currencies. The mere fact that a dollar buys fewer Euros than it used to is only bad if you are trying import goods. If you are exporting goods (and we do a lot of that) then it means your products are more competitive. The Chinese have intentionally kept their currency relatively "weak" compared to the dollar in large part because it makes their exports less expensive compared with the competition. Japanese car companies have been doing fairly well lately in large part because the Yen has depreciated significantly against other major currencies.
A "weak" currency is only a bad thing if you are trying to reduce exports and increase imports. If you want to reduce the trade gap with China then you WANT a somewhat weaker dollar and a stronger yuan. If you want US companies to be able to sell their products overseas then you WANT a weaker dollar.
the prices paid for "strategic acquisitions" are way inflated
I would certainly argue that some of the acquisitions I've seen lately (looking at you Facebook) are WAY too expensive. Facebook buying WhatsApp for $19 billion makes zero economic sense that I can discern. I don't know enough about Twitch to properly evaluate this acquisition but the valuation to a casual observation seems a bit rich for a website that hasn't been in existence even 3 years yet. Google certainly has the money and their track record isn't bad but if I were a shareholder I'd seriously wonder how careful Google was being with cash.
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That's a very shortsighted view and brought to you by the same people who tell you that inflation is a good thing as they help themselves to the wealth you earned.
If you think it is shortsighted, prove where my logic is wrong. Show how weakening currencies do not actually aid exports and strengthening currencies do not aid imports. When you do that, publish some peer reviewed papers and collect your Nobel Prize. (because if you actually can prove that you will win one)
Furthermore, nobody says "inflation is a good thing". Ideally we would want neither inflation nor deflation but that is impossible to ensure for a lot of reasons including because human populations do not remain constant even if you hold the money supply fixed. We know from experience that a lot of inflation or deflation is very bad. We also know from experience that the effects of a little inflation is not as bad as the effects of a little deflation. So we try our best to ensure there is a modest amount of inflation, somewhere between 0%-5%. If you think I'm wrong, prove it, publish it, and collect your second Nobel Prize.
I can't answer for anyone else why exactly video game streams are currently the top grossing form of entertainment in the US *period* - but the fact is they are.
Grand theft auto 5 alone pulled in more money this year than any given form of entertainment. That includes movies, TV, books, you name it.
The various styles of game recordings (walk throughs, lets plays, streams, etc) taken as a whole compete quite well against other established forms of entertainment as well.
Asking if people are so depressed they resort to (games|tv|movies|books|education|workaholics|.*) seems a stupid question, and one you already know the answer to since you do the exact same thing yourself when bored. Why are YOU so depressed with life you do the things you do in your down time?
I see no problem with gaming taking off like it is, and it is far from wasted in "the real world."
Gaming is currently only one or two notches below porn at pushing the edge of technology right now, and with the current state of tech research I can honestly say it is welcome.
I can't answer for anyone else why exactly video game streams are currently the top grossing form of entertainment in the US *period* - but the fact is they are.
Err, that was supposed to be just "video games" not "video game streams" there.
The streaming aspect is just a subset of the whole video game industry. There is still plenty of pie for that to be a nice slice of, but it's far from the top taken alone.
(Thanks slashdot for not letting me post a correction for for-ever after the original post! Will beta at least accept more than one hit per hour?)