"Prevalence and Strategies of Energy Drink, Soda, Processed Snack, Candy, and Restaurant Product Marketing on the Online Streaming Platform Twitch"
Authors: Catherine C. Pollack,1,2 Jason Kim,1,2 Jennifer A. Emond,1,3 John Brand,2 Diane Gilbert-Diamond,2,3 Travis D. Masterson2,3*
Paper Abstract: Social media presents new opportunities for advertising nutrient-dense, energy-poor foods. Twitch.tv (Twitch) is a platform whereby individuals can broadcast live audiovisual material such as video games to millions of daily users. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the state of advertising on Twitch for products associated with poor health outcomes, including processed snacks; food delivery services and restaurants; candies; energy drinks, coffees, and teas; and sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages. Mentions between January 2018 and July 2019 of 238 products were scraped from Twitch streamer profiles and stream titles to assess monthly hours of viewership for each brand. Chat room data was pulled for the same brands between July 1st and July 21st, 2019 in order to gauge the frequency of mentions in messages and corresponding hours of viewership. Results suggested a significant increase in the exposure brands received on Twitch in both titles (sodas and candies, p < 0.05) and profiles (sodas, restaurants and food delivery services, candies, and energy drinks, p < 0.05). Energy drinks, coffees, and teas dominate the advertising landscape, with 1.08 billion exposure hours from profiles and 83 million exposure hours from titles. Restaurants and food delivery services and sodas tend to be the most frequently mentioned products in chat rooms. This study is the first to highlight the extent by which food and beverage products garner millions of hours of exposure on Twitch; future studies should evaluate the impact this may have on health outcomes.