Media has been the governing force for society for as long as people have been around. First, there were plays performed at the amphitheater, then newspapers sold at every street corner. From there, the media got electric and morse code was invented from their radio; and then in 1927, the TV was invented. 

TV and movie actors have been some of the most influential, highest paid, culturally significant people for the past 95 years since the TV was invented. We looked to them for our next wardrobe additions, our next grocery store purchases, and our political stances. The world was driven by the plot points of the new hit show and overpriced coffee. Then the pandemic came and hit the world like a bus; COVID-19 started and most people’s world stopped. America’s most important people went from running our world to a screeching halt. 

Just because America’s captains of correspondence had enough money to sit back and relax, does not mean that the people’s media addictions were just going to go on hold, especially when everyone was locked in their homes. Smaller celebrities (those that were not quite at the penthouse level) took to twitch for their media production. For those who have not heard, Twitch is an American live streaming platform that has dozens of categories including gaming, music, talk shows and, starting for the 2021 season, major league sports.

Since the start of the pandemic, Twitch viewership has doubled in size. In February  2020, Twitch viewership was at just 1.4 million concurrent viewers. By the end of March 2020, however, concurrent viewership almost doubled to 2.49 million viewers. Not only has viewership increased, but the streamers increased in popularity with television and movie celebrities like Terry Crews and Chandler Riggs, Athletes like Luca Doncic, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyreek Hill.

 Live streaming on Twitch not only added a new outlet for media consumption but

also added a new opportunity for people to interact with one another around the world. Twitch saw an increase of just under four million new streamers from February 2020 to April 2020.

Now that life is back to normal, it is time for the world to decide if live streaming will take TV’s place and for a new era of entertainment to begin.