YouTube is acquiring Twitch for $1 billion

The popular video game streaming service may soon be a part of YouTube.

A deal for YouTube to purchase Twitch for $1 billion is closing "imminently," according to a report by Variety.

Sources familiar with the matter say that the deal will be carried out with an "all-cash offer" and would make it the biggest acquisition in YouTube's history since Google buying the video-sharing site for $1.65 billion in 2006. YouTube has prepared for regulators in the United States to challenge the deal with expectations that the Justice Department will decide whether the deal is anti-competitive, sources say.

Chase, director of PR for Twitch, said on Twitter, "For those asking about the story today, Twitch doesn't comment on rumors." YouTube representatives have declined to comment too.

Twitch is a significant player in gaming today now that new consoles like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can take advantage of Twitch streaming out of the box. A deal like this can be beneficial for Twitch to scale up in its infrastructure, but there are other concerns too like YouTube's copyright claims. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out and what it really means for gamers.

9 years and counting!

Last week, on Valentines Day, YouTube celebrated its 9th birthday. Launched on February 14th, 2005, YouTube has skyrocketed to be the biggest, most popular video sharing site in the world. With parent company Google, YouTube is a massive part of many people’s daily lives. Before YouTube, in order for something to go viral it probably meant a flu epidemic, now it can be a cat video or a drugged up kid fresh from the dentist. I can’t imagine a time before YouTube, it has become such a phenom, so happy birthday YouTube.

In order to celebrate this occasion I collected some interesting YouTube facts. Enjoy!

• 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second.
• Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day
• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube is localized in 39 countries and across 54 languages
• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views
• In 2011 there were almost 140 views for every person on Earth
• Created in 2007, the YouTube partner program now has 30,000+ partners from 27 countries around the world
• YouTube pays out millions of dollars a year to partners
• Hundreds of partners are making six figures a year
• Partner revenue has more than doubled for four years in a row
• YouTube is monetizing over 3 billion video views per week globally
• 98 of AdAge’s Top 100 advertisers have run campaigns on YouTube and the Google Display Network
• Hundreds of advertisers are using TrueView in-stream and 60% of our in-stream ads are now skippable
• YouTube has more HD content than any other online video site
• There are thousands of full-length movies on YouTube
• 10% of YouTube’s videos are available in HD
• YouTube mobile gets over 600 million views a day
• Traffic from mobile devices tripled in 2011
• The YouTube player is embedded across tens of millions of websites

goutube+

Like YouTube? Got Google+? If the answer to those questions is yes and no respectively then you have a slight problem. You see, the thing is that until recently, although it was convenient to have both a Google+ and YouTube account that are connected, it was not mandatory. However, now thanks to the new commenting system on YouTube you will now need a Google+ account.

Since its creation back in 2011 the social media arm of Google, Google+ has been steadily consolidating itself as vital to use other company products. It began when Google+ became essential to possess a Gmail account, then it unified Gchat with the social media site. Now obviously there are plenty of other E-mail providers out there and a whole host of messengers so there’s no big deal, you have options. However, how many other video sharing services match up to YouTube? Answer is simple, folks, let’s be honest there are none comparable. So, because you now will need a Google+ account to comment on YouTube videos you really have no other choice. You can of course still watch the videos but you just can’t have your say without a G+ account to do so from.

I have to say it’s a little bit unfair, but what the hell, you don’t have to actually use Google+, just sign up for an account. I have had mine for ages and really don’t use it for anything at all. It’s a small price to pay when you consider it to retain the ability to comment on YouTube videos. Remember, though, if you’re a complete jerkface, your comments will now be forced down the lists.

Pakistani YouTube

We often forget when we are watching all manner of things on sites like YouTube that we can only do so because of freedoms that we are given. There are many countries around the world that limit or just plain block sites from being seen on the region’s internet servers. As an example, due to a perceived blasphemous video on YouTube the government of Pakistan has had the site blocked since September 2012.

Well, there could be some good news for YouTube lovers in that country as apparently 12 months later the government may be ready to unblock the site. This is due to hard work by Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology. The ministry has been working with filters provided by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). It would appear that previously these site filters have managed to block blasphemous content from over 4,000 sites and has also been able to do so on YouTube. This could mean that the country will be able to unblock the site in the near future. There is, however, a little confusion as the country’s IT minister Anusha Rehman had said that tests had been completed while the ministry as a whole claims tests are ongoing. Either way, signs are good

Welcome to Geek Week

For those of you that might have missed this historical event, we are now in the midst of Geek Week! After the successful experiment with Comedy Week, YouTube decided to try something similar but yet very different.

This time, however, it is not comedy that will be front and center, it is instead geeky content. YouTube features a wide variety of videos related to those shows that help us all get our geek on.

Content from over 100 YouTube channels will be promoted, out of which 7 carefully chosen users hosting their own specific days. As the week progresses there will be a wide variety of content including comic books, SciFi, Cosplay and even geek cooking shows. Today is Super Wednesday, featuring all you ever needed to know about everything super! 

Check out these 10 forgotten but very real superheros!

It is felt that YouTube itself is a huge part of geek culture so this week dedicated to all things geeky seems like the perfect fit. Much of the content will be fresh and new so fans of all things geeky will have what all geeks require, the inside scoop. So check in with YouTube for some really interesting clips and shows that anyone will love - geek or no!