According to a post by Streamlabs in April of this year, “Tipping volume is up 13% quarter-over-quarter, from $20.8 million processed in Q4 2016 to $23.5 million processed in Q1 2017.” This shows that 13% more money is being freely and voluntarily given to these broadcasters in support of the entertainment provided in one quarter alone. The reason these numbers are so important is because not only does it represent a portion of money going directly to the platform (through percentage cuts taken by Twitch), but it also shows how willing people are to pay for this entertainment and therefore how generally well received it is. That being said, I looked towards Streamlabs (regarded as the #1 monetization tool for Twitch streamers) to observe the amount of money viewers have been tipping to broadcasters. I believe that the most effective statistic in measuring the growth of Twitch is the monetization of the platform. Now where does Twitch and the livestreaming industry fall into this cycle? Plateau of Productivity – The technology has proved viable and begins to be accepted widely. Slope of Enlightenment – Some will remain cautious of these products but the majority are starting to understand the benefit of the product as improvements are made or conditions change. At this stage, producers either fail or improve their product enough to gain back the satisfaction of the early adopters. Through of Disillusionment – Interest in these technologies decreases as failures develop. Peak of Inflated Expectation – These technologies have earned their fair share of success but also a similar amount of failure.

Technology (Innovation) Trigger – Often these technologies are in the concept stage and have not proven themselves viable yet, but the idea seems promising. There are five stages included in the cycle: The chart takes data on a technology and makes a judgement about which stage it should be in.

The research consulting group, Gartner, has developed a chart to plot emerging and current technologies on their visibility over time, called the Gartner Hype Cycle.

Gartner hype cycle 2017