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Twitch as a communication platform for non-endemic brands

Research · April 2022

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36595.40482

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Twitch as a
communication platform
for non-endemic brands
Prof. Dr. Benedikt Römmelt, SRH Hochschule Heidelberg
Christian Kempf, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment
April 2022
Agenda

1. Intro 2. Unaided 3. Aided ad awareness

ad awareness

03 04 10
4. A
 cceptance of 5. Ad disturbance 6. D
 esign and sample
brands

13 22 25

AGENDA 2
1 Intro
While you‘re reading these lines, more than 2,9 Million people are
watching Twitch. 1.5 Trillion minutes of content were watched in
content on topics like fashion, sports or music are uploaded to the
platform, creating further potential for brands from other industries.
2021, and 8.5 Million+ unique streamers go live every month. Today,
Twitch is arguably the go-to website for videogame streaming – the With our joint project together with master students from the
platform’s origin. But it‘s massive reach is not the only argument International Management and Leadership course of the School
making it a highly attractive platform for brands. One of Twitch’s big- of Business at SRH University Heidelberg we wanted to find out
gest strengths is certainly it‘s strong community involvement when it
which brands currently are relevant on Twitch, how users perceive
comes to live streaming. Strong ties between creators and followers
ads and what brands should take into account when launching
allow brands to get closer in touch with people than with most other
services. Ultimately, with over 70% of Twitch viewers being between
gaming-related campaigns on the platform.
the ages of 16 and 34, brands have the chance to engage with a par-
ticularly young audience. While offering rich opportunities for brands
which seek to dive into the universe of gaming, more and more We hope you have a lot of fun with the reading!

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 3
2 unAided Ad awareness

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 4
Unaided Ad Awareness Top 25 Brands

Red Bull 3 % 9 % Twitch users were asked which brands they noticed ad-
Coca Cola 2 % 8 % vertising while watching Twitch (unaided ad awareness;
Pringles 3 % 8 % multiple answer possible).
Mercedes 0 % 8 %
Red Bull came to mind firmly in every
Lieferando 1 % 7 % tenth user‘s head. Coca Cola and Pring-
LevelUp 3 % 7 % les came close and took second and
Porsche 1 % 7 % third place on the winners‘ podium.
Nike 2 % 6 % 11 out of the top-25 brands are food and
(energy) drink related brands.
Logitech 1 % 6 %
Adidas 2 % 6 % Within the top 25 there are 3 German upper class car
Netflix 2 % 6 % brands Mercedes (8 %), Porsche (7 %) and BMW (5 %).
Gillette 4 % 6 % 2 sports fashion brands have also been remembered:
ads of Adidas and Nike reach 6 % unaided awareness.
Xbox 1 % 6 %
Gamersonly 3 % 5 % With 4 % top of mind awareness (total awareness 6 %)
BMW 2 % 5 % Gillette seems to have very effective ads. For people who
KFC 0 % 4 % are aware of Gillette ads, it comes to mind as relatively
Call of Duty 0 % 4 % dominant.
Although Mercedes advertising is well remembered (8 %),
SugarDad 1 % 4 %
no one thinks of Mercedes first. BMW makes it with 2 %
Amoreli 1 % 4 % better into the top of mind, even if this brand has only 5 %
Booster 1 % 4 % unaided ad awareness.
Samsung 0 % 3 %
Monster 2 % 3 % Unaided ad awarenss
Burger King 0 % 3 % Top of mind

Braun 1 % 3 % (n=318) “Top of mind” indicates how often a

HP 0 % 3 %
8% 10 %
brand has been named first.
0 % 2 % 4 % 6 %

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 5
 Not considered for this ranking was Amazon. 21 %
have been aware of Amazon ads. As Twitch is a
subsidiary of Amazon the Twitch subscriptions are
promoted and sold under the “PRIME” brand. This is
the reason for the high perception of Amazon ads,
although this brand hardly does proper Twitch adver-
tising for other Amazon offers.

2 % stated that they do not see any ads as they are
streamers themselves or use adblockers.

26 % of Twitch users could not remember any brand

without an aid. This implies that to more than one
quarter of the users there is no measurable adver-
tising effect!

26 %

(n=318)

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 6
Unaided Ad Awareness –
Gender differences
Lieferando (p=0,000) 18 % For 15 of the 25 most unaided remembered brands
4 % there are no differences among females and males. But
10 of the top-25 brands differ significantly between fe-
Nike (p=0,033) 12 % male and male respondents (column proportion z-tests).
5 %
In 9 of those 10 cases the unaided ad awareness is
Logitech (p=0,033) 1 % higher for females. Only the endemic brand “Logitech”
8 % has a higher level of ad awareness among men than
among women.
Netflix (p=0,004) 13 %
4 %

Gillette (p=0,001) 14 %

3 %

Xbox (p=0,000) 14 %

3 %

KFC (p=0,001) 12 %

2 %

Amoreli (p=0,041) 8 %

3 %

Samsung (p=0,009) 8 %

2 %
Female (n = 78)
Male (n = 234)
Burger King (p=0,001) 9 %
1 %

0 % 5 % 10 % 15 % 20 %

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 7
Unaided Ad Awareness –
Gamer type differences
Porsche 20 % 12 of the 25 most remembered brands differ
6 % significantly between different gamer types
1 %
(column proportion z-tests).
Adidas 16 %
7 %
Casual gamers seem to be more aware of ads than
1 %
heavy gamers. In 8 of those 12 cases the unaided ad
Coca Cola 15 %
11 %
awareness is significantly higher for casual gamers than
3 % for heavy gamers.
Xbox 14 %
7 % Only for the endemic energy drink “Level up”, the heavy
1 % gamers have a significantly higher ad memory perfor-
Mercedes 14 % mance than causal gamers.
12 %
1 %
Booster 11 %
3 %
0 %
Amoreli 11 %
3 %
0 %
Call of Duty 11 %
3 %
1 %
KFC 10 %
6 %
1 %
Casual gamers (1 to 4 h/w; n=80)
Gillette 10 %
Regular gamers (5 to 13 h/w; n=90)
9 %
1 % Heavy gamers (14 + h/w); n=95)

Pringles 10 %
14 %
3 %
LevelUp 3 %
8 %
14 %

0 % 5 % 10 % 15 % 20 %

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 8
Bottom Line

It‘s not a big surprise that there are so many snack & drink brands on the list, with three of them being top
of the table. These brands‘ tie to the gaming community has always been clear, and users are familiar
with them advertising on the platform.

Non-endemic brands‘ appearances on Twitch mainly seem to stay on the minds of those who enjoy
playing first and foremost for the fun of it. This result underlines Twitch‘s appeal to those brands which
seek to engage with casual gamers.

Lastly, female users tend to remember brands better than men do. This is quite striking considering that
most of the brands with gender-specific differences in awareness presumably have a high share of male
customers.

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 9
3 Aided ad awareness
of selected brands

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 10
Aided ad awareness –
selected non endemic brands
Red Bull 42 % 30 % 72 %
Gillette 31 % 31 % 62 % The aided ad awareness was analyzed for 20 selected
brands who are active on Twitch. Apple did not advertise
Coca Cola 35 % 24 % 59 %
on Twitch and was inserted as a control brand.
Samsung 30 % 29 % 59 %

KFC 29 % 20 % 49 %

Pringles 32 % 17 % 49 % But still 28% remembered the at least in users’
Burger King 27 % 19 % 46 % minds omnipresent brand Apple due to spill over
Got2B 22 % 18 % 40 % effects from marketing measures elsewhere.
T-Mobile 10 % 30 % 40 %

Porsche 22 % 14 % 36 %

Red Bull was also the most successful brand in terms of
Doritos Chips 11 % 23 % 34 %
aided advertising awareness: Nearly 3 quarters of the
Uber Eats 10 % 22 % 32 % Twitch consumers remembered the ad of Red Bull. 42%
Otto 10 % 22 % 32 % even remembered details.
8 % 23 %
The other top ranks are similar to the unaided ad awa-
Old Spice 31 %
reness. Twitch watchers can recall ads from Gillette,
Kinder (Duplo, Bueno, etc.) 7 % 22 % 29 % Coca Cola, and Pringles. Samsung, KFC and Burger King
Paramount Pictures 7 % 21 % 28 % achieved better recall values in the ranking than in the
7 % 18 % 25 %
 es, I remember at least one ad of
Y unaided recall.
MasterCard the brand in detail.

Deutsche Bahn 5 % 18 % 23 %  es, I remember ads of this brand,
Y
but not the details.
Guess 5 % 16 % 21 %
total aided ad awarenss
Raiffeisen Banken/Volksbanken 4 % 16 % 19 % (n=318)

Apple (control) 10 % 18 % 28 %

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

3. AIDED AD AWARENESS 11
Aided ad awareness –
gender differences
KFC* 44 % As was already observed for unaided ad awareness, the
66 % recall performance of women is in some cases better
than that of men when it comes to aided ad awareness.
Burger King* 42 % For 9 out of 20 supported brands, aided ad awareness is
58 % significantly higher among women.
Only the brand Old Spice is remembered by men more
Old Spice 34 % often. However, this difference fails to reach the signifi-
22 % cance threshold.

Got2B* 34 % It is remarkable that women remember the commer-

59 % cials of fast food providers (KFC, Burger King, Uber Eats)
significantly better than men.
Porsche* 29 % There is no difference between the sexes regarding
57 % beverage brands (Red Bull, Coca Cola), chips brands
(Pringels, Doritos) and financial brands (Mastercard,
Uber Eats* 28 % Deutsche Bank, Volks-/Raiffeisenbanken).
47 %

Otto* 27 %
49 %

Kinder* 26 %
38 %
Male (n = 223)
Paramount Pictures* 26 % Female (n = 76)
38 %
* significant differences

Guess* 16 %
38 %

0 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 %

3. AIDED AD AWARENESS 12
4 Acceptance of
non-endemic brands

Neon triangle photo created by wirestock - www.freepik.com

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 13
Effects of Twitch ads
Have you ever…

… considerd buying a product because of a … stopped watching Twitch because you clicked … bought a product because of a Twitch ad?
Twitch ad? on an ad?

n = 317
48 % 40 % 20 %
About half of Twitch users have considered to buy a product that came to their attention
buying a product based on an advertisement on through Twitch advertising.
Twitch. While heavy users see themselves less likely to be
4 out of 10 Twitch users have stopped consuming influenced by advertising, also one in five heavy
streams because they followed an advertisement users have already purchased a product as a result
when they clicked on it. of a Twitch advertisement.
Compared to light or medium users, heavy users Regarding gender, there are significant differences
are significantly less likely to be persuaded by in terms of product purchase based on Twitch ad-
Twitch advertising to think about buying a product vertising. Nearly one third of the women (32 %) have
or to end the stream. already bought a product based on a Twitch ad.
1 in 5 users have made a conscious decision For men, the rate is only 16 %.
  

4. ACCEPTANCE OF NON-ENDEMIC BRANDS 14

Acceptance of CRUCIAL BRAND ATTRIBUTES
What brand attributes are crucial for you to accept a non-endemic brand on Twitch? (n=269)

Reliability 4,1 For non-endemic brands, the question is under

what conditions they and their ads will be
accepted by the gaming community on Twitch.
Honesty 4,1

Twitch users expect brands to be reliable, honest,

Price Performance 4,0 credible, and deliver value for their money (price
(value for money) performance).

Credibility 4,0 Regional origin of a brand plays a subordinate role for

Twitch users. They seem open to brands from all over
Sophisticatedness 3,8 the world. The uniqueness of an advertising brand also
plays only a relatively marginal role.

Fun 3,6 Significant differences between the genders are found

for only three attributes: Men place slightly more value
on innovativeness and honesty than women. In contrast,
Helpful for the daily life 3,5
the everyday helpfulness of a brand is more important
to women than to men.
Innovation 3,5

Uniqueness 3,1

Locality 2,9
(German based brands)

1 2 3 4 5

Low importance High importance

4. ACCEPTANCE OF NON-ENDEMIC BRANDS 15

CRUCIAL BRAND ATTRIBUTES –
USE INTENSITY DIFFERENCES
What brand attributes are crucial for you to accept a non-endemic brand on Twitch? (n=269) Three attributes show significant differences between
Twitch consumption intensities.
For heavy users, honesty, reliability and credibility are
significantly more important than for medium and
4,4  light users.
Reliability 4,0 

3,9 

This indicates that heavy users expect parti-

cularly high standards from brands in terms
of the moral and value orientation of brand
4,4  communication.
Honesty 3,9 

4,0 

4,3 

Credibility 3,9 

3,8  Heavy user (7 + h/w; n=65)

Medium user (4 – 7 h/w; n=75)
Light user (1 to 3 h/w; n=111)

1 2 3 4 5

Low importance High importance

4. ACCEPTANCE OF NON-ENDEMIC BRANDS 16

TOPICS OF INTEREST
Which of the following topics are particularly important or interesting for you personally in the
context of advertisements? (n=291)

Humor appeal 3,6 To create advertising formats that are suitable for the
target group, it is helpful to know what topics excite
Twitch users.
Informational focus 3,5

Sustainability focus 3,3 Twitch users prefer humorous advertising

and content that is informative for this
Social focus 3,1 target group.
(Family and Friends)

Health focus 3,1 Sustainability aspects are also topics that are more
relevant to the target group than other topics.
Romance, sex, youth appeal and the use of endorsers
Adventure focus 3,1 are less desired.

Community focus 2,9

(sense of belonging)

Endorsement appeal
(celebrities, athletes,artists 2,7
as brand ambassadors)

Youth appeal 2,7

Sex appeal 2,3

Romantic appeal 2,2

1 2 3 4 5

Low importance High importance

4. ACCEPTANCE OF NON-ENDEMIC BRANDS 17

TOPICS OF INTEREST –
USE INTENSITY DIFFERENCES
Which of the following topics are particularly important or interesting for you personally in the Five topics show significant differences between Twitch
context of advertisements? (n=291) consumption intensities.

For heavy users humor and information is

3,9 
more important than for the medium and
Humor appeal 3,5 light users.
3,6
On the other hand, heavy users are less responsive to
ads with endorsers, sex, and romance as a theme.
3,7
Informational focus
3,4 
3,3 

2,3
Endorsement appeal
(celebrities, athletes,artists 2,8 
as brand ambassadors) 2,8

1,9

Sex appeal 2,4

2,5

1,9 
Romantic appeal 2,4 Heavy user (7 + h/w; n=75)
Medium user (4 – 7 h/w; n=81)
2,3
Light user (1 to 3 h/w; n=120)

1 2 3 4 5

Low importance High importance

4. ACCEPTANCE OF NON-ENDEMIC BRANDS 18

General influences on brand acceptance
and user behaviour
Streamer & brand Streamer & Brand
A streamer/creator must fit to an It‘s no surprise that Twitch users largely (65 %) emphasize
65 % that a streamer used for advertising purposes should fit
advertisement brand.
to the brand being advertised. Also important to most
I am more likely to purchase a product if the 57 % Twitch users (57 %)
streamer is authentic (means trustworthy). It is also explicitly important to 57 % of the Twitch users
that the streamer remains authentic. For campaign
Streamers’ influence strategy and creation, this means that the streamer
I am more likely to trust a brand if a streamer pro- is strongly integrated in terms of content and story
motes the same brand for a long time continuously. 52 % development during the creation and development of
the advertising campaign. This is a prerequisite for
I am likely to trust a brand if I see the streamer
41 %
preserving authenticity.
using it.

I am more likely to purchase a product if the Streamers’ influence on Twitch users

41 % In general, it can be concluded that advertising with
streamer presents it in a visually appealing way.
streamers has an impact on Twitch users.
I am likely to purchase products suggested from
28 %
For brands, continuity in the collaboration with testimo-
a streamer. nials seems to make sense. Brands that are promoted
by streamers in the long-term are credible for 52% of
I usually take the recommendations of a streamer
without reading more about a brand.
16 % Twitch users. If a content creator also uses the brand
himself, credibility increases even further for 41% of users.
In many areas, heavy users are particularly critical or
Twitch ads’ success unimpressed by Twitch advertising. However, nearly
I am more likely to purchase from a brand if it is 59 % one in two of heavy users (49 %) can be convinced of
generally well known in the market. a brand‘s trustworthiness if a streamer actually uses
it themselves. Therefore, when developing campaign
I am more likely to purchase a product if a
promotion code is offered.
46 % strategy, think about ways the testimonial can credibly
use a brand‘s products outside of commercials.
I am open to purchasing from a brand that does not
43 %
have a direct connection to the gaming industry.

I am likely to visit the website of an advertised

brand on Twitch. 27 % Follow
0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 %

Top-2-Box (agreement on a 5-point like scale)

4. ACCEPTANCE OF NON-ENDEMIC BRANDS 19
 Twitch advertising with streamers
has a direct influence on the buying
behavior of some of the users.

28 % of users buy products recommended by strea-

mers. Some even rely entirely on the recommendation
and buy products without looking further into other
sources (16 %). Women respond more strongly to advice
from streamers. About a quarter of female Twitch users
(24 %) trusts the recommendations of streamers without
reading deeper into the topic. Among male Twitch con-
sumers, this share is only 14 %.

Success of Twitch ads

As in many other areas, establishing a brand is also be-
neficial for the success among the „Twitch users“ target
group. Around 6 out of 10 Twitch users (59 %) consider it
more likely to buy from brands known in the market.
Promotion codes work for almost half of Twitch consu-
mers (46 %). There are no notable differences between
genders and the intensity of Twitch consumption.
Less than half of Twitch users (43 %) are generally open
to non-endemic brands advertising on Twitch.
Continuous and well-coordinated collaboration with
streamers can help non-endemic brands to successfully
use Twitch as an advertising platform.

Nevertheless, a quarter of Twitch users consider it likely

to click on an ad and convert to the brand‘s homepage.

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 20
Bottom Line

Whilst classic advertising has been losing more and more of its significance over the past years,
we can see that ads in the surrounding of gaming and similar content have a relatively high impact
on users.

Again casual gamers are the ones which ads on Twitch resonate particularly well with. When it comes
to most brands‘ media planning, Twitch should definitely be a platform to take into consideration.

Reliability and honesty – the top 2 tier brand attributes underline what is especially important to a
young audience: they want brands they can trust. It is in fact more important than just showing funny
and entertaining clips (which will of course help as well). Brands must meet these expectations in
the way they talk to their (future) consumers.

 ustainability has become a topic of major importance – this also goes for gamers. However, when
S
a brand puts its messaging focus on sustainability it must be authentic. This audience will unmask
green washing with a flick of the finger. Authenticity will also be key to create brand stories together
with streamers. Factors of success: Pick the most matching streamers, let them create as freely as
you can and make the partnership last to build long-term trust.

4. ACCEPTANCE OF NON-ENDEMIC BRANDS 21

5 Ad disturbance

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 22
There are different forms of ads

Twitch itself offers a variety of different advertising

formats. These can be booked via twitchadvertising. Ho-
wever, some advertising formats are streamer-control-
led. In this study, we examined eight typical advertising
formats on Twitch for their acceptance by users.

Video advertisement is a non-skippable video adver-

tisement. It appears before a user starts a stream on
Twitch.
Sponsorship: Streamer promotes, demonstrates, and/
or talks about the product, brands, or services during the
stream.
A medium rectangle is a small advertisement form A graphic overlay is a permanent (small) 
On streamer’s profile page ads are shown in the
(rectangle) on the side of the streaming page. “picture” advertisement in corner(s) of the
“About”-section.
streaming channel.

On streamer’s profile page ads are shown in the Pop-up advertisements occasionally appear Super leaderboard is a banner that appears on
“About”-section. and disappear during the stream (2-3 seconds).  the top of Twitch’s home page.

4. AD DISTURBANCE 23
Disturbance of different ad formats

Ads on streamer`s „About“-page 3,7 Users are least bothered by advertising on the streamer‘s
profile and about sponsorships. In the latter case, the
content creator integrates the advertising messages
Sponsorship ads 3,5 as content in the stream. This can be done passively or
actively. Passive integration is, for example, drinking a
sponsor‘s drink, wearing sponsors‘ clothing or by using
Super leaderboard ads 3,3 sponsored devices while streaming. In active content
integration, the sponsored products become the subject
of the stream and the action.
Medium rectangle ads 3,2

Video ads and break (video) ads are disturbing

Graphic overlay ads 3,2 the users most. Pop-up ads also irritate users
in the viewing experience.
Pop-up ads 2,7
If possible, brands should simply
avoid these forms of advertising in
Break (video) ads 2,4 their campaigns.

Video ads 2,3

1 2 3 4 5

Very disturbing Not disturbing at all

4. AD DISTURBANCE 24
6 Design and sample

2. UNAIDED AD AWARENESS 25
Research design and sample

Population: Twitch users (14+ years) in Germany are those who mainly focus on gaming & watching
content of streamers. Not part of the population are people who use Twitch mainly as chatting channel
or who listen to music streams.

Data gathering: Online survey via Sosci-Survey

Sample size: n = 328

Sampling method: Convenience sampling

Sample description: 43 % of the Twitch users are light users with a weekly Twitch consumption between
1 and 3 hours. 29 % indicate a Twitch usage of 4-7 hours per week. 28 % are heavy Twitch users with an
average usage time of more than one hour per day (8+ h/w). 28 % are casual gamers (1 to 4h gaming/
week), 32 % regular gamers (5 to 13 h/w). 33 % consider themselves as heavy gamers (14+ h/w).
75 % are males, 24 % females and the rest did not answer. 7% of Twitch users do not game themselves.
Mean respondents’ age is 23,4 years (median 23 y, standard deviation 4,6 y). Half of the sample ranges
between 21 and 25 years.

Origin of the study: At the SRH University Heidelberg we teach and learn according to the CORE principle.
CORE stands for „Competence Oriented Research and Education“. To promote competence development
of our students, the semester is divided into five-week blocks. This time structure allows students to work
on real-life projects in a practice-oriented manner. In the Business Research Methods module, students
acquire skills in scientific research methods.

Thanks to Michelle Hett (SRH University Heidelberg) and N. Gagzow (M&C Saatchi Sport &
Entertainment) for their excellent support publishing this study!

26
Sample – Analysis of the Twitch users

Gender (n=318) Intensity of gaming (n=265)

non-gamers
Not answerd (0 h/w)

2 % 7 %

Female heavy gamers casual gamers

24 % (14+ h/w) (1 to 4 h/w)

33 % 28 %

Male regular gamers

74 % (5 to 13 h/w)

32 %

5. DESIGN AND SAMPLE 27

Sample – Analysis of the Twitch users

Age distribution Twitch consumption (n=265)

70

60

50

heavy consumption
(7+ h/w)
40 28 %
light consumption
(1 – 3 h/w)

30
43 %
medium consumption
(4 – 6 h/w)

20
29 %

10

5. DESIGN AND SAMPLE 28

Authors

Prof. Dr. Benedikt RÖmmelt Christian Kempf

Benedikt Römmelt is professor for marketing, Christian Kempf is an Account Director at
methods and statistics at the School of Busi- sport sponsorship and entertainment PR
ness at SRH University Heidelberg. His teaching agency M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment.
and research focuses on different forms of He has worked on the development and
Digital Marketing, Social Selling, Brand Ma- implementation of brand experience and
nagement and Sports Marketing. sponsoring activation platforms for clients like
Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, ING and Lidl.
Benedikt.Roemmelt@srh.de
christian.kempf@mcsaatchi.de

5. DESIGN AND SAMPLE 29

THANK YOU
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