GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 32 - June 2015

of Twitch is even anonymous players can build cult followings if their streams are interesting. And for online casinos, that means a potential army of grassroots streamers ready and waiting to build awareness for those sites. "We have seen this … where users can find a few live feeds at any time of (other) users playing table games, slot machines and other games," Bienenstock added. "What we have found is that these just happen to be everyday people playing their favorite games." For the most part, these anonymous play- ers are just people who like to gamble and broadcast their exploits. They're not industry experts, nor are they necessarily looking to profit from their streams (other than, of course, winning at the tables). This is where the affiliate steps in. Getting creative with content The best affiliates have always relied on content as a major vehicle to drive traffic and increase commissions. Traditionally, that content has been in written form, sometimes complemented by images or even well-produced videos. And while there will always be room for those tradi- tional mediums, they are in fact quite ex- pensive to produce, whether it be through opportunity cost (producing it yourself) or overhead (hiring full-time or freelance content producers). Twitch provides a new opportunity for affiliates to generate content, but it comes with the unique feature of providing in- stant data for the affiliate to analyze. For instance, an affiliate could post an online slot review article to his or her website and wait days or weeks to get a sense of the traffic that article will generate (and that may be due to the evergreen nature of the article, of course). But if that same affiliate were to go on Twitch and stream himself or herself playing that slot game, or hire others to do so, he or she would be able to see how many viewers were watching the video live and would have the added benefit of keeping the recorded video to use as evergreen content. An affiliate with a strong track record should already have a solid base of play- ers. Using Twitch videos and live streams will help that affiliate engage with that base and grow it to new players who find out about the affiliate's streams through social media, SEO and word of mouth. "Affiliates have the most to gain out of a platform like Twitch," Bienenstock said. "They're industry experts with the most knowledge to share. They are also the ones who are able to attract the most eye- balls to their streams. "Affiliates can provide added value to op- erators by offering in-play betting tips, ex- clusive promo codes and special bonuses and by explaining how to get the most out of the games they are playing." The live stream medium will surely be- come more popular with affiliates as the Twitch poker revolution continues to pick up steam. The most successful af- filiates will figure out how to monetize live streams of casino games to supple- ment more traditional forms of content on their sites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Podheiser is the associate editor of the GPWA Times Magazine . He has followed the online poker industry closely for more than a decade, played on U.S.-friendly sites prior to Black Friday and plans regular trips to visit his parents to play on regulated sites in New Jersey. Affiliates have the most to gain out of a platform like Twitch. They're industry experts with the most knowledge to share. They are also the ones who are able to attract the most eyeballs to their streams." – Harry Bienenstock 18 Twitch opens the door for new marketing channels