The Popular Streaming Platform You Didn't Know Was Part Of Amazon's Portfolio

Over the years, Amazon has grown exponentially from a small online book-selling enterprise to a global technology company worth more than $2 trillion in 2026. Although Americans spend a lot on Amazon every month, this mind-boggling figure is largely driven by ad revenue and the growing Amazon Web Services (AWS) segment. In terms of market capitalization, Amazon is ranked among the top five in the world, with well over a hundred businesses under its giant umbrella. In fact, Amazon boasts subsidiaries across several industries, from MGM studios to Whole Foods and tech brands like Ring and Zoox. But fewer people are aware about its venture into video game streaming with Twitch, despite the platform often being crowned as No. 1 in the live-streaming industry.

Amazon acquired Twitch back in 2014 in an effort to rival video-streaming companies like Netflix and YouTube. In fact, YouTube (owned by Google) was well on its way to capture Twitch, in what seemed like a fitting deal given the similarity of platform formats. But then Amazon shocked everyone with its $970 million move. At the time, that was the most Amazon had shelled out on a single acquisition. 

Around the time of the acquisition in 2014, Twitch had around 55 million monthly viewers, a number that grew to 2.5 million concurrent viewers by 2024. Offering an easy online side gig for gamers, Twitch went on to capture 61% of the live streaming market by this time, according to the 2024 Yearly Live Streaming report from Stream Hatchet. Although Amazon took a light-touch approach with Twitch right from the beginning, the success of the merger remains under scrutiny.

The Amazon-Twitch liaison benefits consumers in multiple ways. Free games and access to gaming content on Twitch are now some of the perks of having an Amazon Prime subscription. Meanwhile, Amazon leverages its cloud computing services, via AWS, to host streaming for Twitch. This gives the latter considerable advantage over other streaming companies like Google or Facebook, which have to rely on third-party services. In fact, even streaming giants like Netflix are essentially paying Amazon when they use AWS for hosting their streams.

By acquiring Twitch, Amazon has also been able to tap into an advertising demographic it did not have as much access to before — male viewers below the age of 34. Apart from bringing in revenue via advertising, Twitch also makes money for Amazon with other, more predictable streams. Twitch monetizes the enormous attention it gathers with monthly subscriptions, currency purchases, and product sales. In 2024, the platform's revenue was estimated at $1.8 billion, per Business of Apps.

However, some experts suggest that far from being a golden goose, Twitch has actually been a tale of frustration for Amazon. The ecommerce giant had hoped for an exciting future for the platform, as well as the live-streaming niche it was diving into. However, Twitch has still not been profitable a decade after the acquisition, and its annual revenue of almost $2 billion is well below Amazon's lofty standards.