Report: Amazon is planning to offer a Twitch-for-business product

Amazon might someday repurpose Twitch’s game streaming technology for business applications, according to The Information. The move would be akin to how Amazon began selling its internal web hosting technology under the Amazon Web Services (AWS) brand, today its fastest-growing business. Twitch would not go away under the plans.

Squeezing some money out of Twitch — The new product would likely be a whitelabel sort of service, meaning companies could customize the player with their own branding and host it off-site. Businesses may find that the technology is useful for hosting events or Q&A’s, as Twitch features comprehensive tools for audiences to engage with broadcasters.

For Amazon, creating a business application for Twitch could help the company monetize its $1 billion acquisition of the video streaming platform. According to The Information, revenue for Twitch did not meet expectations in 2019, reaching $300 million for the year, far short of an internal forecast of $500-600 million. The report indicates that Twitch is not yet profitable.

Increased competition from rival services like Facebook Gaming could be another reason for the move to find additive revenue streams.

Keeping AWS customers locked in — Amazon already upsells AWS web hosting customers on extra services like AI processing tools and Mechanical Turk, so it’s not a far stretch to see how video streaming may slot in neatly. Twitch has proven itself as a strong product for streaming, with 9.3 billion hours watched on the platform every month. By offering business customers a full suite of products to serve their every need, Amazon can lock in lucrative deals and keep clients from going elsewhere.

Google recently announced that it inked an exclusive deal with Activision-Blizzard to host its network infrastructure on Google Cloud and stream its esports leagues on YouTube. The company's AI technology will be used to power Blizzard's recommendations.