Twitch Wants You to Know It’s Not Just for Gamers

“We want Twitch to be the safest and most welcoming place for all communities,” she added. “We see the safety of the service being the priority for us.”

The platform has long tried to evolve beyond its reputation as a niche for gamers. In 2015, it introduced a new category, Twitch Creative, with a marathon showing of tutorials by Bob Ross, who hosted the PBS show “The Joy of Painting” and has developed a cult following since his death in 1995.

Last year, the platform replaced Twitch Creative and a category for everyday streaming, I.R.L., with 10 specific sections that included “crafting,” “outdoors” and “ASMR.” A live science fiction series on Twitch, “Artificial,” won the platform its first Emmy last month, in the category of outstanding innovation in interactive media.

Twitch Sings, an interactive karaoke-style game, started in the spring with a competition called Stream Star, which this season promises the winner $20,000 and a record deal.

Twitch also has agreements with sports leagues, including the National Basketball Association and the National Football League, to stream games, sometimes with commentary from Twitch users. This year, the platform announced similar deals for wrestling and women’s hockey.

Live-streamed sports commentary on Twitch, which allows viewers to interact with the commentator, represents a shift away from traditional game broadcasts, said Anthony Danzi, the company’s senior vice president of sales, during a presentation at the Advertising Week conference in New York on Monday.

“It’s a tell about the future of TV,” he said.

As Twitch broadens its scope, companies like Wendy’s and Hershey’s have inserted ads into streams and sponsored channels. Last year, the company stopped offering an advertising-free version to all Amazon Prime subscribers.

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