Traditional linear television and YouTube / Twitch are often compared as big rivals, with the latter often said to succeed the former. In fact, in many cases, when there have been record audiences on Twitch thanks to moments from TheGrefg or Ibai, there has already been a lot of talk that the purple platform has surpassed traditional television. It wouldn’t be surprising, since TV audiences are going down and Twitch’s going up, but so far it has not happened beyond some anecdote.
In Spain, yesterday was the day to prove it with a great event. It was a broadcast of the game Reims against Paris Saint-Germain of Ligue 1, in which you could see the debut of Leo Messi in the Parisian team and what perhaps were the last minutes of Mbappé with that shirt. The game was a success in both media, but the (imperfect) figures make it clear that Twitch and television are still very far, both in some variables and others.
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TV figures seem (for now) unattainable for Twitch
This morning the audience figures for yesterday’s television in Spain were made public. They are collected by Barlovento Comunicación, a specialized consulting firm. Messi’s debut match was seen on Telecinco by up to 6,734,000 viewers (at least one minute of the match), with an average audience of 2,214,000 viewers and a peak audience of 2,925,000 viewers at 22.27.
Twitch’s numbers are another big hit for Ibai, but the audience still can’t be compared to Telecinco’s, and that’s normal.
They are spectacular figures for a game in a foreign league, especially considering that it took 18.6 of the quota of its time slot. On Twitch, according to Ibai and it could be seen in the broadcast numbers in which Gerard Piqué was also, among others, the broadcast of the game reached a peak of 500,000 people, with a total audience of 2,000,000 people. What gives more merit to these figures is that they only correspond to Spanish users, compared to other times when users from all over the world are also taken into account, with Latin America being key.
The numbers make it clear: In large events traditionally linked to it, traditional television is still ahead or far ahead of Twitch. In events more native to the digital medium, there could be a reversal of roles. However, something very important must be kept in mind.
The traffic figures offered by Twitch may be more or less realistic, but they are not an estimate with audimeters based on the behavior of some 4,000 households, but they are extracted from its tools, and we can all see the number of people who are watching content on the platform at this very moment, something unthinkable with television.