As gaming as a lifestyle has become further intertwined with pop culture, a stronger cross over between news and politics is inevitable. Because of this, during the 2020 presidential election several politicians leveraged live streaming platforms like Twitch in an effort to connect with young gamer voters. Stream Hatchet’s recent Streaming Political News report details key insights on audience growth within this sector.
Similar to how brands run marketing campaigns in partnership with streamers, politicians like AOC led similar initiatives. She leveraged popular content creators while playing a trending game to generate substantial reach. However, the era of cable television and linear news may be over after considering the results of these political live streams. With the impressive growth of live streaming even media companies are turning to these platforms to extend their reach to younger audiences. CNN, FOX News, ABC, and more channels ran live streams on Twitch and YouTube during the 2020 election season.
- The infographic shows the distribution of total channel hours watched broken out by content type. This includes: Among Us, Just Chatting, Politics, Talk Shows, Animal Crossing and Art.
- Most politicians, including Trump, Bernie and Biden, utilized Twitch as an additional distribution point. By restreaming campaign speeches and other political rallies they increased their potential reach.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) & Ilhan Omar have opted for a different approach; engaging directly with the key personalities on these platforms. AOC reached a peak audience of 400K viewers on Twitch streaming Among US with Hasanabi, Pokimane, Valkyrae, and Myth.
For access to the full report to better understand how politicians leveraged live streaming platforms, please follow this link.
