Interview: How Streams Charts maximizes creator and brand revenue with Twitch data

Streams Charts recently launched a major global update that grants its PRO users access to detailed Twitch audience demographics. Esports.gg interviewed Streams Charts product manager Nazar Babenko about the update and how both content creators and brands can best leverage the data.

This update, available via the Audience Geo and Demographics add-on for PRO users, includes information about age ranges, income ranges, gender, family status, language, occupations, and interests. In his interview with esports.gg, Babenko revealed that this type of data is important because brands now request credible audience information to validate sponsorships. At the same time, creators need stronger proof points to secure deals.

"We see a trend where Twitch viewership and advertiser demand have matured to the point where who watches matter as much as how many watches," Babenko said.

He continued, adding that the Streams Charts platform's coverage and historical data are now robust enough to support standardized demographic profiles at scale. These are refreshed continuously to capture seasonal trends.

Let's say a mid-tier variety streamer uses Streams Charts' add-on to identify that their audience is mostly 18 to 24-year-old, students, early-career technology enthusiasts, and bilingual in English and Spanish. The streamer can then tailor sponsorship pitches to relevant brands. This approach, according to Babenko, increases sponsor response rates and improves affiliate conversions.

On the branding side, affiliate links drive more value than viewership due to the focus on conversions. Brands use demographic data to compare channels and align campaigns with buyer personas. For example, a peripheral brand can identify and target 25 to 34-year-old PC gamers in the mid-income range.

"So using our demographics model, they search for channels that are over that age that I mentioned and have computers and electronics interests. Then they localize assets where language shares are highest, they export distributions as a baseline and [measure] post-campaign uplift by segments. And as a result, they will have a [better set] of target placements with higher CTR," Babenko explained.

In terms of data consistency, Babenko said that achieving comparability across diverse channels while accounting for seasonal shifts was the biggest challenge. However, his team standardized audience categories, including classifications like age and income, built seasonality into their inference framework, and conducted ongoing testing against historical patterns to keep results stable.

User feedback, meanwhile, always plays a role in usability improvements such as exports, filters, benchmarks, and workflows. This feedback also informs Streams Charts' prioritization, helping the team decide which channels and categories to refresh more frequently.

When esports.gg asked about how Babenko sees the add-on evolving over time as the Twitch ecosystem and creator economy continues to grow, he talked about the potential of native commerce integrations on Twitch. He cited Elf Cosmetics as the first brand to launch a shoppable in-stream element powered by Amazon Ads.

"So from my perspective, this is the future of live streaming integration -- commerce native streams where discovery and checkouts happen without leaving the broadcast," Babenko said, adding that viewers will be able to purchase products directly within a stream to make the shopping experience seamless and fully integrated.

"So Twitch will do the same with Amazon Ads. And I believe that our viewership and demographics data will be a perfect solution here for brands to understand not only specific streamers' audience interests, but also see some original preferences," he said. "Remember my words -- the future of livestreaming is about the integration of commerce that syncs into the streams directly."

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news, interviews, and updates about the esports and gaming industry.