Tencent has surprised the live stream community this week with Trovo Live. Will this platform become at par with Twitch in the long run?
Microsoft’s live streaming service Mixer has recently pulled the plug and has partnered with Facebook Gaming. With popular content creators like PewDiePie returning to YouTube, another competitor has entered the live stream arena.
According to Bloomberg, Tencent has been silently working on a mobile-focused streaming network via an affiliate in the U.S. since March.
Formerly known as Madcat, Trovo Live is undergoing beta testing and it’s been making noise this week—starting with the $30 million [AU$ 43.7 million] Trovo Creator Partnership Program announcement.
What attracts this new platform from Tencent is actually the massive support from mobile content creators.
Bloomberg reported that Bobby Plays, a gaming content creator with over 450,000 YouTube subscribers said he’s had “nothing but good experiences so far” with Trovo.
YouTube and Twitch streamers have already made the switch
Game streaming has become rampant on the Internet today, especially with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has forced the majority to stay at home.
Despite PewDiePie’s return to YouTube, it looks like some content creators aren’t keen on live streaming through YouTube Gaming.
Instead, they look into other platforms such as Twitch and now the emerging Trovo Live. With the ongoing hype of this Tencent-owned platform, it also looks like a former Twitch streamer has already made the jump to Trovo.
For those that missed it. Im leaving Twitch for awhile. I love my community but not a huge fan of the platform anymore.
I'm now with @trovolive and for a company thats started a month ago they really have some cool things going. You should absolutely look into it.
— NickIsNow Official (@Nick_is_Now) June 25, 2020
Doing a quick “Trovo Live” search on YouTube will give you videos such as this one from Call of Duty: Mobile gamer RyJohn explaining why he’s moving live streams to Trovo.
Trovo gets more hype through an eSports tournament
In addition to the partnership program, there is also an ongoing sponsored event with GLL —an esports tournament platform that has hosted a couple of events both offline and online. They have hosted games such as PUBG, Apex Legends, and Auto Chess.
Now, they have an ongoing Valorant event in partnership with Trovo Live called “Trovo Challenge: Valorant.” According to the GLL website, the June qualifiers are almost done and the finals will run from July 3 to 5.
Introducing the first #VALORANT tournament on GLL, #TrovoChallenge : VALORANT! Together with @trovolive we're hosting a $20,000 tournament for North America & Europe.
Sign up now!https://t.co/b5JHyqA4oQ pic.twitter.com/lYkB2cvYKw
— GLL Valorant (@GLL_Valorant) June 5, 2020
If this Trovo Live partnership program and sponsored tournament become successful, then Amazon’s Twitch may have a worthy competitor on the live stream arena in the coming months once the Tencent-owned platform converts more users.
The live stream hype looks perfectly timed since as well as League of Legends: Wild Rift mobile game is also making noise this month, which is also owned by Tencent.
Images courtesy of Chris Yunker/Flickr, Trovo Live/Website Screenshot