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Amazon is positioning Twitch as a defining asset in its CTV ambitions, folding the platform’s hard-to-reach audience and live-video inventory into the same pitch it uses to sell Prime Video and Fire TV.
That marks a clear break from not all that long ago. At Amazon’s 2024 upfront, executives walked advertisers through an expanding video portfolio, but Twitch — despite having been in the fold for a decade — barely registered. The omission was telling then. The inclusion now is even more so.
Page two of the Twitch section of Amazon DSP’s latest pitch deck, starts putting that audience into numbers: 70% of millennials and Gen Z adults, in fact.
The point is driven home in the next slide, which breaks down just how valuable Twitch’s audience really is. By advertising on Twitch, marketers will be reaching 67 million viewers in the U.S., 70% of which are between 18 and 34, and 74% are considered incremental reach to Prime Video campaigns, according to the deck.
The next slide aims to show just how unique the Twitch audience is by comparing it to other platforms. According to the deck, 13% of Twitch viewers don’t use YouTube, 66% aren’t on TikTok, 67% of users don’t use X, 86% are not on Snapchat, 68% aren’t on Instagram, and 70% of Twitch viewers don’t use Facebook.
But exclusivity alone only goes so far. Advertisers also want proof that the people it is reaching are actually paying attention. Here, the slide pivots to engagement, pointing out that Twitch viewers spend an average of 74.3 minutes per visit on the platform. That dwarfs time spent elsewhere, per the deck: 23.3 minutes on YouTube, 8.6 minutes on TikTok, 5.8 minutes on Snapchat, 3.5 minutes on Facebook, 2.8 minutes on Instagram, 2.2 minutes on Reddit and 1.6 minutes on X.
To turn that attention into scale, Amazon rounds out the pitch with a slate of video formats aimed squarely at upper-funnel goals. Advertisers are offered premium video, stream display, browse display, First Impression Takeover (FITO) and Twitch headliner placements. Notably the slide positions Twitch’s vertical video ads as a cost-efficient option — cheaper, Amazon says, that its managed-service Next-Gen Video bus. It’s a move that suggests Twitch is being framed not just as distinctive, but as commercial pragmatic too.
Cost effectiveness, however, is something some advertisers don’t yet feel the same way about, as some expressed to Digiday that they felt it was the opposite.
Basis’ media investment director Becca Elowitch said that while her team doesn’t spend a lot on Twitch, the few times they ran campaigns, they had difficulty scaling consistently.
“It tends to be inconsistent where the daily budget delivered in full some days whereas on other days we did not clear anywhere near the limit,” she said, noting that CPMs were typically around $35 plus. “The inconsistency in scale makes Twitch challenging for advertising.”
That said, she did still caveat that Twitch’s unique audience can be “perfect” for some campaigns, which is why the team remains “open minded” if it fits well for certain clients.
Similarly, Ethan Kramer, evp of innovation at Go Fish said that while it has historically been known for its extremely high engagement and authenticity, the platform is slightly more complex for advertising than others.
“There are higher spend minimums, and Twitch requires more coordination with the platform than self-serve solutions,” he said, though he didn’t share specific figures.
That’s not to say all advertisers feel the same way. Some are all in on Twitch. In fact, Purplegator Marketing Agency & Consultants president, Bob Bentz said that for a typical campaign with good video content and a target audience of 16 to 24, his team will typically allocate around 30% of their budget to Twitch. And they buy those Twitch ads through Amazon’s DSP.
“Twitch is one of the most valuable, yet seldom-used, platforms out there — especially if you’re trying to reach teens and young adults, because it consistently delivers,” he said.
Bentz shared an example of a recent campaign he and his team worked on for a county workforce development group. “The click through rate we obtained on Twitch was 1.77%, while TikTok was 1.06%, and Snapchat was 0.81%,” he said. “Click-through rate is not everything. Engagement also matters and we felt Twitch was the winner in that regard. For the client, Twitch won because its audience was deeper, more intentional, and ultimately more likely to convert.”
Responding to this point, a Twitch spokesperson said: “We know that Twitch audiences are deeply invested in the creators and communities they watch, resulting in meaningful engagement on ads and sponsored content. Forty-six percent of daily Twitch users spend more than three hours on the platform, significantly higher than other services. And, we found that 48% of viewers would consider trying a product after seeing it promoted by their favorite streamer.”
Similarly, NewGen’s co-founder and CEO Mike Craddock agreed that when comparing Twitch against a traditional CTV buy, it will look expensive. But the value isn’t something that you can really compare.
“When you work with creators, you’re getting multi-hour engagement at around $1–$3 per viewed hour and that’s where the real value lies, something you definitely don’t achieve with traditional media,” he said.
Craddock talked through a campaign whereby the team built a “game within a game” that let Twitch viewers influence the outcome of the sponsored segment.
“That interactivity meant people stayed and live viewer numbers grew by up to 350% from the start to the end of the activation,” he said, without sharing specific figures. “When you get that level of attention, the investment pays for itself.”
Responding to request for comment, a Twitch spokesperson said: “We’ve heard from our partners that when campaigns fit the cultural moment and community, Twitch outperforms traditional advertising platforms—especially for hard-to-reach young adults. We’re committed to continue building turnkey ad product solutions that provide seamless ways to scale and make it even easier for advertisers to tap into our uniquely engaged service.”
Click through below to view the full Twitch section of the Amazon pitch deck:
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