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Class Prepares Students for ‘New Normal’ of Live Entertainment

A group of students playing a video game.
UA students learn to use Twitch in an APR class in a previous semester.

By Cole Lanier

For two years Randall Huffaker, instructor of advertising and public relations, has taught students to maximize the potential of a fast-growing and evolving streaming platform called Twitch.

While it started in 2011 as a video game streaming platform, in the last few years Twitch expanded to include live events and original programming, and represents an entire new market for advertising, marketing and public relations professionals.

“It’s really about the content marketing,” said Huffaker. “Twitch is just the platform. It allows you to create whatever you want to create. It’s not about gaming; gaming is just one piece of it.”

In special topics course APR 490 students get hands-on experience operating a branded Twitch channel, including streaming video gameplay, live entertainment and original content such as Encore, the live music program from the department of journalism and creative media. As a special topics course, Huffaker’s class is open to all of campus.

The hands-on learning allows students to control content, analyze what works and adjust. Simulations tell part of the story and will leave students shortchanged at the end. More than that, students can follow passion projects and create content to share with the audience.

“More and more industry experts see Twitch as more than a video gamestreaming service, they see it as a place to share ideas,” Huffaker said.

This is a global shift. In the United States, Twitch’s overall content is 95% gaming-focused. Outside of the United States, gaming makes up only 5% of Twitch’s content. For the other 95% outside the U.S., Twitch is an interactive forum to learn together and teach other people about personal interests. That’s the focus of Huffaker’s class.

“The hardest thing so far is trying to have a structure where they’re always creating stuff. It doesn’t just have to be gaming. When you get a steady mix of kids, you get them interested in many different things,” he said.

In his first semester teaching this class, Huffaker said it was all gaming. Now, three semesters later, it’s 80%. Original content topics have ranged from live music to college success tips to breakdowns of the latest episode of “The Bachelor.”

The goal is for students to find a passion and build and nurture their own audience.

“People want to see content,” Huffaker said.

Word is spreading on campus about the class, partly because Huffaker’s efforts to partner with other organizations and departments, and people are joining to build their own brands and create.

“I try to avoid lectures, outside of the first few weeks of class,” Huffaker said. “I just want them to create. It’s just up to them to find that passion and go to work.”