Sawt Falasteen - Drag queens and Minecraft players converge on Rotterdam for TwitchCon

The event, bringing together users and fans of the Twitch video livestreaming service, displayed a cacophony of colours and sounds across the multiple stands, punctuated by shows by drag queens and a Minecraft tournament.

"Live streaming is bigger than ever," Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said Saturday as he officially opened the convention.

"The rest of the world is discovering the connection, belonging, and the fun that you can find on Twitch, something you all have known for years," said the 62-year-old American, sporting a leather hat.

The company he runs, founded in 2011 and bought by Amazon three years later, has helped define live streaming as a popular entertainment option.

At any given moment, up to 2.4 million people are connected to it, according to the Twitch Tracker site, making it a culturally prominent brand.

However, while it remains a leader in gaming and esports, Twitch's share of the overall live streaming market is being steadily eroded by YouTube Live, TikTok Live and a direct competitor, Kick.

- Innovations -

Clancy told the crowd that Twitch was about to roll out several innovations, including dual format streaming from June, which will let content creators broadcast in both horizontal and vertical orientations -- making for more comfortable viewing on smartphones.

Adrien Nougaret, a 36-year-old French streamer who goes by the handle ZeratoR, told AFP that the changes were useful for his online work on Twitch.

"We'll see how it works, see how it's received too... It's not a platform standing still, and that's a pretty good sign," he said.

Another Twitch content creator, Melissa Croft, 32, said the platform has evolved beyond what it was originally known for, though that was not always known by people outside of it.

"I think a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about Twitch, they think it's about video games, they think it's just watching people play video games," said Croft, who specialises in what she calls "extreme makeup".

She said that, for many people like her, Twitch started out as a hobby, but then once videos were shared "you end up finding more like-minded people that way".

TwitchCon is held twice a year -- once in the United States, in California, then in Europe.

After the Netherlands this year, TwitchCon Europe will be held in Berlin next year.

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST