Community is one of the ad industry’s favourite words at the moment, though it can be challenging for brands to find a way into genuine audience groups without feeling like the awkward salesperson in the room. The holy grail is to be welcomed in, but achieving this is a delicate art.

One way is to be invited to join, say by a popular creator, who has built an audience of fans and collaborators who trust their opinion, and will therefore be less suspicious of brands trying to edge into the group. This has been one of the routes to success for brands on the livestreaming platform Twitch, explains CMO Rachel Delphin.

Now almost two decades old, Twitch’s initial popularity began with gamers and while gaming content still dominants the most-watched channel lists on the platform, viewers can find plenty of other content streams there, from music to art to ‘just chatting’. While activity on Twitch is down a little from its peak in 2021, it still features over 7 million streaming channels per month and attracts an average of 2.3 million monthly viewers. Perhaps most significantly, the majority of these are in the hard-to-reach Gen Z and younger millennials demographic.

When explaining the platform for the uninitiated, Delphin leans into its community aspects. “I explain it as when you go to a pub and you want to watch your favourite football team. You can watch it at home by yourself. Or you can go to the pub, and you’re able to be surrounded, maybe by some friends that you know, but also a whole bunch of people you don’t know.

“Which is still a really enjoyable experience, right? Because you’ve come together. You’re all fans of the same team or sport or whatever it is. And there’s really something special about having that shared experience surrounded by a bunch of people who share this passion and interest. Twitch is very much like that, where you’ve got this affinity for the person and probably what they’re doing, whether it’s a game, whether it’s music, whether it’s cooking. And you’re all in there together.”

People form these really strong connections. You end up making these really tight bonds with all the people who are also showing up to that same creator, in those same spaces as you

Creators are huge drivers for the platform, both in attracting people there in the first place, and in getting audiences to return, time after time. “People form these really strong connections,” says Delphin. “Real friendships. Not just their passion for the creator, which is important of course because it’s what attracts them there, but you end up making these really tight bonds with all the people who are also showing up to that same creator, in those same spaces as you.”

Delphin points out that Twitch holds “a pretty high bar” in protecting their communities too, allowing creators to control their own channel settings, including comments and blocking, “based on your own comfort levels”, and sees this as vital in maintaining audience levels. “We’ve really veered on the side of having rules that allow communities to engage in a way that feels safe and respectful,” she says. “Most people will not engage if they’re in a scene that’s full of negativity, hate, or harassment.”

At a time when many younger audiences are claiming to be turning away from social platforms – or at least limiting their time on them – Delphin says that Twitch’s mission is “belonging”. “It is about helping people find those communities, individuals, creators that they feel a really close bond to.”

For many brands, a simple way to reach these audiences is by partnering with creators. Brands that have shown up in this way include the likes of State Farm, Taco Bell, Samsung and more. The key to success is for the brands to be led by the creators, who know their audience best. Plus it also helps if they engage in longer-term partnerships – an example of this is the State Farm Gamerhood Challenge, which is now in its fourth season on Twitch.

Often the involvement from brands is pretty simple and straightforward – the distribution of discount tokens, for example – but it is the link with the creator that is key. “You have to relinquish a little bit of control, but you get a more authentic community response,“ says Delphin.

“The ones that do it really well are participating in the community, they reap greater rewards,” she continues. “It’s a little like you get to infiltrate the group chat – the one you have on your phone with your friends. It’s where you’re more authentic. It’s where you’re more raw … you trust those people, you know them. And so that’s what it’s like on Twitch. When we look at influence levels, they’re extremely high because they spend all of this shared time together.”

Other brands host their own channels on the platform – offering engaging, creative content that audiences will actively seek out. Elf Beauty has pulled this off, for example, with its ‘get ready with me’ content where streamers demonstrate how to use their products. “They get thousands of people returning to their branded channel week after week, which is for any streamer really good numbers,” says Delphin.

If you’re working with an influencer on Twitch, it’s not 30 seconds, it’s not 60 seconds. It’s sometimes hours, where you can create something really cool

Twitch’s brand partnership studio also offers wider opportunities for brand involvement. These include The Glitch, a series of games from Twitch hosted on Fortnite, which has seen partnerships with the likes of Domino’s, Doordash and Turbo Tax.

As with all branded experiences on Fortnite, the key is to focus on creating an engaging experience. “I think it comes down to how valuable an experience did you build,” says Delphin. “How fun is it as a game? I think people are very much willing to engage in those branded experiences, as long as it’s good.”

Partnerships sometimes break out into the real world too: Delphin cites a campaign with Nike Jordan for the Paris Olympics last summer which was concepted with Twitch’s internal team. The brand created a community space for basketball fans in the 18th arrondissement of the city, accompanied by behind-the-scenes footage and live events streamed on the platform. One of these, featuring athletes and musicians alike, ran for seven hours and reached over 10 million viewers.

In an attention-deficit, doom-scrolling world, it is this kind of long-form engagement that Delphin believes makes Twitch unique. “It’s really deep engagement,” she says. “If you’re working with an influencer on Twitch, it’s not 30 seconds, it’s not 60 seconds. It’s sometimes hours, where you can create something really cool.

“So people are spending time with your brand and you’re participating in this situation where there’s higher influence, higher trust, and ultimately better results because of that live aspect.”

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