Inside one plan to build the next great college sports revenue stream...in Twitch

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

Today’s newsletter is a sponsored content colaboration with The LinkU, and their new partnership with Twitch, called StreamU:

Normally, when folks talk about social media and athlete NIL earning opportunities, they’re talking about the sorts of networks that are more commonly used by reporters and older fans. Instagram. Twitter. Podcasts. Maybe Youtube and TikTok. When athletic departments are trying to engage their fans, those are the types of places where they’re posting content as well.

But there’s one huge platform that isn’t being used by athletic departments very much, or at least, not at the same scale as the others. And a new program is looking to change that.

On Monday, NIL platform The LinkU announced the launch of StreamU, a partnership with Twitch. StreamU will be a digital network that lives entirely within Twitch, hosting athlete-centric content like Q&As, video game tournaments, Day-In-The-Life videos, watch parties, and more. Schools do not need to be fully fledged LinkU partners to participate in the StreamU program.

Via the initial release,

If you haven’t heard of Twitch, don’t feel too bad. While the platform is massive (more than two million people ware watching stuff on the platform at any given time), the site is probably best known as the destination for video game livestreams. If you’re interested in live content around video gaming, and the personalities in that world, then Twitch is likely to be as much a part of your internet diet as Instagram or Youtube.

There’s a lot of other livestreaming content on Twitch besides gaming, from music to politics to talk shows and more, but LinkU founder Austin Elrod agreed with me in that the programming and existing userbase skews much younger.

To him, that’s part of what makes the partnership exciting not just for athletes and schools, but Twitch itself. “We have an opportunity to expose Twitch to a much broader audience,” he told me. Twitch and StreamU will also work to help put their thumb on the proverbial scale a bit, surfacing more athlete-centric content to the site’s front page, and giving all participants Twitch Partner status from the jump.

Starting a completely new social media channel can take a lot of time and effort. StreamU’s goal is to help give athletic departments, and athletes, a head start in building, and growing, that streaming audience.

“I travel all over the country, and one thing that I hear a lot is that fans feel disengaged from the athletes in a post covid, post NIL world. We're going to bring that engagement back together through this initiative.”

Like Youtube, Twitch has plenty of built-in audience growth and monetization features. Athletes and schools do not necisarrily need to source their own sponsorship deals, but can tap into existing advertiser spend. As long as the athlete has an audience, they can monetize their livestreams.

Elrod told me that StreamU content will be a mix of both free (and sponsorship supported) content, as well as subscription content that would live behind a paywall, although he anticipated the majority of the early content in the program would be free. Elrod also added that StreamU has the capacity to work in conjuction with any existing, school-specific video initatives (like Hogs+ at Arkansas), rather than competing.

In a world where every athletic department (and athlete) is anxiously looking for new ways to sustanabily generate revenues, Elrod is bullish about the flexibility offered by any athlete or brand that is able to build an audience on Twitch.

StreamU would handle the compliance, contracts, reporting and paperwork side of the athlete earning operation.

“We think our partners will get the best of both worlds. They get access to a huge streaming platform, and the partnership of the most compliant, capable and innovative NIL company.”

Livestreaming is a very difficult skillset from posting on Twitter, Instagram, or even creating shortform video. The type of content (and athlete) who is successful at one may not automatically be as successful growing an audience on another platform. Elrod sees that as a feature, not a bug.

“We’re going to be able to take some athletes who are already great and well known, and we’ll be able to train them to brand themselves on this platform,” he told me, while noting that some of the athletes who already have strong following on Twitch may not necisarrily be well known to most fans. A backup longsnapper who is really into video games, for example, could command a huge Twitch audience. Athletes who have passions for storytelling, comedy, live music and other creative endenvors have a pathway to reach new fans, regardless of where they play or how well they play on the field.

It will also reach a very different type of fan. While the Twitch audience may eventually grow older and broader, the StreamU iniaitive very much seems more targeted around engaging in much younger fans and consumers. Elrod told me he expects the specific content produced by athletes and schools to change over time, depending on the data and feedback provided by fans and Twitch consumers.

The initial StreamU schools and athletes will launch “Around Selection Sunday (March 15)”, with programming increasing over the course of the tournaments. LinkU is also planning a large, in-person activation at the Men’s Final Four, including multuple athletes, brands and more.

Additional information about StreamU and athlete livestream programming can also be found at the LinkU website.