Twitch's top-performing APAC campaigns: Q4 2021

In a new quarterly series, Twitch's APAC head of sales Steve Ford curates a list of three top-performing APAC campaigns from Q4 2021 using a variety of performance measures.

In the wake of the pandemic, it’s clear that marketing has been elevated to new heights in the C-suite, and the pressures to drive growth and transformation have never been higher. But rising to the challenge, we witnessed marketers throughout 2021 reimagine how to engage and connect with their communities, and experiment with new channels to find what their own ‘new normal’ might look like.

In evaluating our top-performing campaigns, a key factor we usually look out for is how the brand creates relatable moments with Twitch audiences, based on the behavioural insights they glean from the gaming community. Success measured on Twitch varies by campaign objectives, the type of campaign, and tactics, so we are careful not to take a blanket approach to measuring performance.

In this first collection of top-performing campaigns on Twitch, we’ve zoned in on three brands—Mars Wrigley 5 Gum, Uber Eats and HP Omen—as they tap on some of the best passion points in gaming. The first two, despite being non-endemic brands to the world of gaming, managed to capture the hearts and minds of gamers across Asia by tapping into the power of streamers and their communities, and creating relatable and inspiring moments. HP Omen, on the other hand, leveraged the innate competitive streak in gamers and engaged a well-known Korean Twitch streamer to play hardcore esports and inspire other gamers on the service.

Spotlight: 'Life Happens in 5' by Mars Wrigley 5 Gum

—September 2021

Gen Zs love gum. And they also love games. Unfortunately, they’re also hard to reach via traditional media—for example, 39% of Twitch’s audience don’t watch traditional TV.

Previously known for its memorable sci-fi approach to advertising, Mars Wrigley 5 Gum in Australia was looking to re-capture Gen Zs by positioning itself as a lifestyle brand. Its brand ethos, ‘Life Begins in 5’, centres around the idea that the five seconds before you achieve something are often scarier than the actual doing. And gum can help you keep your cool in the moment.

Putting two and two together, 5 Gum partnered with Twitch to help drive the connection between staying focused in gaming and chewing in a meaningful and authentic way.

Enter Team Clutch—a group of up-and-coming Aussie streamers including /AussieAntics, /soleKEFS, /GeekGG, /PaladinAmber and /PlayitShady—tasked to battle it out across a series of bespoke, themed challenges on Fortnite.

The brand activation saw the team come together for three dedicated live ‘Squad Streams’—a function that allows four creators to go live and stream together in one window. Viewers are then able to switch between streamers and experience different angles, all the while tracking every move. Or in this case, watch every heart-pounding ‘clutch’ moment (read: epic win from the jaws of defeat) as it unfolded.

Successfully bringing 5 Gum’s brand values and benefits to life, the campaign ultimately topped the Australia charts as the #1 most viewed stream, #1 highest reach and #1 total minutes watched. Meanwhile, the humble chewing gum’s status was upgraded from impulse buy to gamer must-have—a great example of a non-gaming brand finding its place within the gaming world.

Results snapshot

• 481K minutes watched on sponsored stream (one year’s worth of engagement)
• 158K views (total combined views from the three streams)
• 117K reach
• 11K chat messages
• #1 most viewed stream, #1 highest reach, and #1 total minutes watched in the country

Honourary mention: 'Gaming is Hungry Work' by Uber Eats

—November 2021

After putting in a hard day’s work in the office or at school, gamers in Japan like to play into the small hours of the night. But we all know that staying ahead of the competition can’t be done on an empty stomach. Uber Eats saw this as a chance to create moments in gaming to engage these hungry gamers, and show them that with meals delivered to your doorstep, players can spend more time doing what they love.

To ramp up engagement with gamers, Uber Eats decided to partner up with two streamers—/Alelu and /Kaori_ BSP—in two sponsored streams. The streamers in turn let their viewers pick their late-night pick-me-up meals from the Uber Eats menu. Ultimately, Uber Eats was able to identify a genuine need experienced by gamers and demonstrate their value to the community, all while remaining authentic to their own branding and building affinity with their audience through Twitch. 

Results snapshot

• Ad messaging associations +60%
• Favourability +5%
• Purchase intent +6%
• Unaided brand awareness +8%

Honourary Mention: 'We Don’t Care' by HP Omen

—November 2021

In the eyes of Korea’s HP Omen, gaming is the great equaliser. It’s a community that only cares about your gaming skills, and nothing else. But you can’t up your game without upgrading your kit. Even though HP Omen is a familiar brand to the gaming scene, this time, they dove deeper into esports to inspire novice and seasoned gamers alike, and to further fuel their competitive streak.

To launch their new Omen 15 laptop, HP Omen teamed up with Twitch streamer /FlameKR, a former pro esports competitor, and put his skills to the test in a thrilling two-hour stream where he completed a series of challenges in League of Legends. All the while, diving into the specs of the product during the stream.

Results snapshot

Twitch Premium Video Stats

• Video completion rate (VCR): 69% on KR Benchmark: 65-71%
• Click-through rate (CTR): 1.79% on KR Benchmark: 0.63%
• Total impressions delivered: 4,651,874
• Reach (number of unique users): 1,435,210

Sponsored Streamstats

• Total views: 155,699
• Unique views: 111,510
• Minutes watched: 357,884
• Max CCUs: 5,471
• Chat messages: 7,029