Twitch Weighs Live Shopping and Even a Chatbot for Creators

Given that Amazon owns Twitch, you’d think that the live streaming service would have made commerce a key part of its product. That hasn’t been the case, though it’s tested features like affiliate links and even live shopping games. But Mike Minton, Twitch’s chief monetization officer, said it still has hopes for commerce—and live shopping may be a better fit. 

“We’re trying to balance and figure out what’s the right way to bring a shopping-forward experience into Twitch without the tradeoff of audience loss for these streamers,” said Minton in an interview this week. “The last thing you want to do is drive [a streamer’s] community off somewhere else on the internet for them to continue the shopping experience.”