Abstract

Video streaming Websites are popular. YouTube is the most popular community-driven video streaming Website, and thus has been the subject of many studies. Similarly, Twitch.tv is the most popular community driven live-streaming Website, broadcasting gaming content live to millions of people. However despite their similarities, less is known about Twitch.tv's streaming and content characteristics. This project gathers data on Twitch.tv through three primary tools: A Web crawler, which gathers Twitch.tv stream metadata, a survey, which gathers YouTube and Twitch user demographics, preferences, and opinions, and a third-party Website, which gathers Twitch.tv stream technical data. Analysis of the results shows the following: Game popularity changes unpredictably over time, as age increases, the number of people that use Twitch decreases, and there are only two commonly used resolutions between most popular and least popular channels. The results should aid in the development of future live-streaming platforms.

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