YouTube Gaming, Network Defensibility, The Applicability of Metcalfe’s Law

YouTube Gaming is taking on Twitch, which raises a number of interesting questions: is YouTube Gaming like Google+, and if not, why not? Will it succeed, or should Google have simply bought Twitch? Also, a fascinating paper about Metcalfe’s Law and when and where it applies.

Amazon: Not an E-commerce Company

Let’s start with the premise that Twitch, the video-game watching network, is the next ESPN – you know, the jewel in Disney’s crown that, by itself, is worth $50.8 billion. Like ESPN, Twitch is about live competition, and, like ESPN, Twitch does exceptionally well in the highly desirable young male demographic.1 Obviously this is the […]

Daily Update: Amazon Buys Twitch, Amazon’s Ad Program, Facebook Taking on DoubleClick

Good morning, If you’ll forgive a bit of braggadocio, I’ve certainly been getting lucky on Stratechery when it comes to acquisitions: I wrote about hardware-based business models the day before Google bought Nest, and how messaging was mobile’s killer app the day before Facebook bought WhatsApp. I can’t claim to be quite as spot-on whenSubscribe […]

Daily Update: AT&T to Buy DirecTV, Google to Buy Twitch, Facebook Building Snapchat Competitor

Good morning, After a relatively slow week, lots of stuff happened this weekend, so let’s get to it: AT&T to Buy DirecTV Lots of folks are comparing this proposed deal to the Comcast-Time Warner merger, but I think it’s much more benign, both from an explanatory perspective as well as an impact one. One ofSubscribe […]