Streamer World Cup – The Future is Here
In our blog’s latest instalment, we explore the modern phenomena of Twitch and the bedroom-born internet stars. Will we see a streamer World Cup this year? Join us as we explore what it is and what you need to get started, and we will also feature some of the stars of the streaming platform.
Streamer World Cup – What is Twitch?
Mention Twitch to someone, and the chances are they fall into one of two groups.
They either know all about it, have an account and use it to find out the latest news, listen to their favourite DJ or band, or even watch a famous footballer show off some skills. The other type of person has never heard of it and is probably wondering why they should care. If you fall in the latter category, give us five minutes of your time, and we’ll explain all you need to know about it.
Twitch began life as a video game streaming service which enabled gamers to share clips of themselves playing titles. Popular ones include League of Legends, Grand Theft Auto V, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite and even the OG of streaming games, Minecraft.
For football fans, live streaming of Fifa 22 and eFootball are incredibly popular, but we’ll discuss these in more detail later.
Aside from video games, the most popular category is IRL (In Real Life) which features people just chatting with their visitors in real life. As long as you have a webcam or a microphone, anyone can become an internet sensation, all from the comfort of your own home.
World Cup Streamers – What to Expect
One of our favourite pastimes, especially in the offseason, is listening to Talksport on the radio. Very often, with footballers being on holiday, there is very little football news, so rather than pressing F5 on Sky Sports repeatedly, the radio is the perfect medium for the latest news. It’s a similar experience when watching or listening to football-related streams on Twitch, and you can find some fantastic personalities who know their football and can give a unique perspective on a game or a tournament.
As Twitch has increased in popularity, it has become less of a video-sharing platform like YouTube and more of a social network such as Facebook and Instagram.
Twitch users can follow a person who hosts a channel, send DMs (direct messages) and talk in a chatroom with like-minded people. Although when you get plenty of football fans together, it’s rare to find that rival supporters agree on anything, which is great if you’re a lover of banter.
Once we get closer to the World Cup in Qatar in November, we expect there will be hundreds if not thousands of world cup streamers who will share their thoughts on the upcoming games, share World Cup betting tips and give you the latest team news, all in one place.
Although Twitch was male-dominated in the early days, it is much more inclusive today. We are confident that nearer the time, a Google search of “female streamer world cup” will bring plenty of results for women who want to follow in the footsteps of Alex Scott and Emma Hayes by becoming football pundits.
Talking of Alex Scott, she became the first-ever female to provide the commentary on a Fifa game when Fifa 22 was released last year. We expect many girls and women will be inspired that she is breaking new ground in a traditionally male sector. With the Women’s World Cup approaching in July 2023, there will likely be more household names commentating on the Women’s game.
Twitch Streamer: World Cup – Can I Make Money?
You may not be aware that it is possible to make money from a Twitch channel and the famous stars of the platform do very well indeed.
Partners and Affiliate Twitch accounts allow for money to be made by broadcasting. Anyone can open one of these accounts, although you are unlikely to be granted one until you reach a certain threshold (the number of active subscribers).
Twitch Affiliates can earn Bits, a form of currency viewers can award to World Cup streamers. Channel owners can also earn 5% of game sale revenues if they advertise video games such as Fifa 22 and eFootball.
For example, a quick search on Twitch for Fifa 22 allows you to join a group with 3.5m followers and 11k active viewers. Even posting a video of you and a friend playing the game will likely attract a fair bit of attention.
It is, however, worth pointing out that a general search such as “Twitch Streamer World Cup” will not mean you can watch live World Cup games on the platform. Due to Amazon, the owner of Twitch, not owning the rights to show games, a channel is likely to be closed down if they broadcast games as this would be copyright infringement.
The good news for us Brits is that the World Cup is a protected event by the Ofcom Code on Sports and must be broadcast live and free-to-air on terrestrial television in the UK. BBC and ITV have not yet announced the schedule, but all games will be shown live.
Want to know more about each team at the 2022 World Cup? Use our world cup squad builder to select your best starting 11 for each team and find out interesting stats about each player and team.
