Google needs Twitch to get to gamers

Google is turning into more of a gaming company.

According to reports, YouTube -- the web giant's online video arm -- is poised to spend $1 billion (£600 million) on Twitch, a streaming internet service that lets people share videos of games they play on consoles like the Microsoft Xbox and the Sony PlayStation -- and watch such videos posted by others. This is a play for more online video -- an effort to expand the reach of YouTube -- but it's also another sign that Google wants to get its hooks into the gamers who spend so much of their time not at their computers but in front of their televisions.

In one sense, the deal can significantly expand the reach of YouTube's video empire. As of the end of 2013, Twitch said that its service is used by 45 million people. With Twitch, YouTube -- and its ads -- can reach more eyeballs. "Twitch extends YouTube's ability to deliver [a] 'Superbowl-sized audience' of young men to advertisers every day of year," former YouTube executive Hunter Walk wrote on Twitter.

But this deal can also help Google gain a firm hold in the world of gaming consoles, something that the company is apparently exploring on multiple levels. News reports have Google preparing its own game console, based on its Android mobile operating system. Twitch would be another way of bridging the gap between this living room hardware and the web giant's existing internet services, and it would give the company a new path onto competing gaming consoles such as the Xbox and the PlayStation.

Google is, at heart, a company that sells advertising. And game players are catnip for advertisers: They skew young, averaging 31 years old. They're legion, putting consoles in 51 percent of U.S. homes. And they're often deeply engaged with their screens, playing long sessions and sharing their experiences with other people, through multiplayer games and via online social channels, as well as through video services like Twitch.

That's why Google wants not only Twitch, but its own living room game console. And if the Twitch deal goes through, it can marry the two. Plus, it can, in a way, more tightly integrate YouTube with the console where Twitch is already available: Microsoft's Xbox One and Xbox 360; Sony's PlayStation 4; and Ouya, an independently developed Android console. (Google declined to comment on the Twitch reports or what possible role the company's tech might play in its future.)

Today, Twitch lets you upload previously recorded game videos to YouTube. But if it also moved Twitch's live streaming videos onto YouTube, it could more tightly plug its video services into the world's televisions. Google already does this with its Chrome cast TV dongle. But that's just a start. It wants a hand in both television and gaming.