Which Is a Better Gaming Platform: YouTube OR Twitch?

With Microsoft signing into exclusivity, and the names on the leaderboard shuffling to the two major media giants, Twitch and YouTube, we are about to compare which of the two is the better gaming platform. When it comes to twitch, Twitch is the offshoot of Justin TV a lesser known streaming service that streamed the general stuff, but when it comes to Twitch, Twitch tends to focus more on game streaming and it rapidly garnered an audience, and it actually took off, which when the parent service shut down, the whole focus shifted to the gaming platform, Twitch. Twitch soon gained popularity and it is believed that Google and Amazon wanted to purchase it, but Amazon finally won the deal, Twitch as a gaming platform has a monthly audience of more than hundred million users, and more than two million broadcasters, one of the most surprising facts being that it was only founded about five years ago. Coming to YouTube, who does not know about YouTube? Gaming has always been a craze on YouTube, and as more people started entering the gaming and technological world, YouTube was one of the biggest platforms for streaming live games. Although YouTube could not keep up with the rapid rise of Twitch, they were not far behind, and now they are competitors, YouTube is not far behind. The best thing is that you can have more interaction with users on YouTube as compared to Twitch.

Which brings us to the topic in hand, which is the better gaming platform, YouTube or Twitch?

YouTube gaming vs Twitch gaming on the basis of Audience.

When it comes to the general audience of the platform, YouTube, the gaming audience is relatively smaller as compared to the regular audience of YouTube. Though, YouTube is great at reaching out to their audience and while people who are streaming on YouTube, their subscribers get notified then. Apart from that when the users are bored or just browsing through the platform, they will check and go through your streams. Coming to twitch, the general audience of Twitch as a gaming platform is massive and is way more larger than that of YouTube gaming platform, and it goes on to show the people actually use Twitch more than they use the YouTube gaming platform, especially for events like the International. Though when it comes to notifying the subscribers or followers when the person is going to start streaming, they do lose points in that since they do notify but through mails. The best thing is that you can have more interaction with users on YouTube as compared to Twitch. And users can also build and customize their youtube profile picture.

Twitch vs YouTube on the basis of user interface and usability.

When it comes to YouTube gaming, the gaming platform has a very simple user interface and while it does take more space for the display and the advertising, it also has a lot of clutter when it comes to the display of the streaming. But YouTube as a gaming platform pays more attention to the video quality and offers the real world resolutions ranging from 480p to 1080p and more for the user to have a variety to choose from in quality of the streamer.

This gives the user the freedom to get to choose from the kind of viewing experience they would prefer based on their network experience. Another thing about YouTube gaming platform is that it also allows the user to enjoy the various DVR features where the user can pause and unpause, start from where they left the streaming or even go back to a point in the streaming where they want to visit and watch again. Twitch also has a simple user interface and all the options the user would want to choose from, as well as the options the user would want to browse through the platform are available on the left side of the platform which allows the stream to take place in the center and all of the functions like following or subscribing are found beneath the video and though Twitch does give the user the freedom to choose the video quality, it does not really specify the resolution of the video apart from using the terms like medium, mobile or source. Added to that, the features where the user can pause the stream or even rewind the stream are absent and the user will have to wait for the stream recording to be uploaded later.

Twitch vs YouTube on the basis of moderation and chat.

YouTube gaming platform offers hardly moderation incentives or special features and this in fact acts as a limiting factor because Twitch as a gaming platform offers moderation tools, and allows the users to be more interactive which helps in a much better retention of the audience.

Coming to who exactly wins here? Well, it does depend on your needs and what you really want out of both the platforms. But Twitch is a clear winner if the user wants to stream on the gaming platform, but if you do want to grow a better and much more engaging audience, it has to be YouTube.