Twitch refreshes its brand for first time in eight years

Live streaming video platform Twitch has announced it has gone through a major branding refresh after eight years of existence. Aspects like the logo, font, and color palette are among those details that have changed. This update comes right before 2019’s annual TwitchCon event, which takes place between Sept 27 and 29 in San Diego.

Nice to meet you again, for the first time.

We’ve re-designed Twitch to help you and your communities shine even brighter.

Read more: https://t.co/xNkEvnYD3E pic.twitter.com/epIhrn1MgM

— Twitch (@Twitch) September 26, 2019

Twitch’s rebrand

The Amazon-owned website started off as a platform for people to watch others play video games. It has since grown into a giant in the gaming streaming space, with almost 1 billion hours watched and nearly 3.5 million total streamers in August. Other than personalities streaming themselves playing video games, there are now also other categories. These include podcasts, talk shows, cooking channels, and real-life streamers. The iconic dark purple and speech bubble logo has represented Twitch for its entire past life.

However, the new changes aren’t too different. The main color scheme is still purple, but just a different shade, changing from Hex #6441a5 to Hex#9146ff. Twitch has also added several muted and accent colors other than the core three colors of white, purple, and black. There is also now a gradient meter so each content creator can tweak it to their liking. The new font has been updated to a typeface named “Roobert,” and modifications have been made to the retro Moog synthesizer logotype. Emotes will remain the same.

Changes for competition

“This is the first of many steps we’re taking with our new shared understanding of what Twitch’s brand and product experience should be. We’re lucky to be able to support such a vibrant, passionate community of creators, viewers, and everyone in-between,” writes Twitch in the press release. “These changes are all about putting you front and center and equipped to shine as you reinvent what entertainment is and can be. We can’t wait to see what you do with them.”

Competitors like Microsoft’s Mixer have grown after Tyler “Ninja” Blevins recently signed an exclusivity deal. In addition, Chinese live-streaming platforms like HuYa, which is backed by gaming powerhouse Tencent, are extending into the market.

September 2018 had 815 million hours watched compared to 720 million in January of 2018. In comparison, January of 2019 had almost 950 million hours of watch time. The same percentage increase of viewers hasn’t happened this year. With the Twitch brand refresh, the company will be launching an advertising campaign with top content creators in an effort to attract and retain users.