Twitch named marketing executive Christine Cassis as its new chief marketing officer on Tuesday, according to the company, filling a role that has sat open since Rachel Delphin departed in January to become chief communications officer at Block.
Cassis arrives at Twitch following leadership stints at Pinterest, Reddit, Google, and Shopify, giving her nearly two decades of experience building online communities. She will take over the global marketing organization at a moment when the Amazon-owned platform is looking to push beyond its gaming roots into sports, music, and entertainment.
For Cassis, the appeal of the role was partly rooted in the real-time nature of the platform, which stands apart from other channels increasingly inundated with AI-generated content. “While much of the web has shifted toward hyper-optimized, algorithmic feeds built for passive scrolling and digital isolation, Twitch is live, unscripted, participatory, and deeply human,” Cassis told ADWEEK. “It’s where people hang out, build belonging, and create culture as it happens.”
Cassis laid out three priorities for her marketing strategy. First, she plans to continue to champion the gaming community on the platform, an audience that has been loyal to Twitch and is a key source of consistent engagement.
Second, she wants to reduce the “perception gap” among marketers and consumers that concerns the variety of content that exists on the platform. While many associate Twitch primarily with gaming, a broad swath of other content, specifically fashion, music, and cultural output, also thrives there.
Finally, Cassis wants to improve the discovery capabilities of the platform, allowing audiences to more easily find live creators and tap into cultural moments that they might enjoy.
“The opportunity is to take something millions of people are intensely passionate about, make it easier for new audiences to understand why Twitch is different, and help them find a community here,” Cassis said.
Her hiring lands amid a broader surge in the cultural relevance of live-streaming.
Figures like Kai Cenat, IShowSpeed, and the hosts of the tech podcast TBPN have drawn heightened attention in recent months, as ADWEEK reported in February. The uptick is part of a larger trend, in which real-time, unscripted video serves an alternative to social feeds increasingly populated by AI-generated content.
Twitch, which Amazon acquired in 2014 for $970 million, has long been the home base for live-streaming.
Similarly, live programming has surged in popularity among viewers and marketers in recent years, largely due to its ability to draw audiences of concurrent users. In a highly fragmented media landscape, such concentrated attention is rare and exceedingly valuable.
While Twitch has primarily trafficked in niche content offerings, if it can tap more capably into this demand for live programming, it could achieve a wider level of cultural and commercial resonance. “In the near future, every major media property and brand will realize that passive impressions don’t build long-term loyalty—live, shared experiences do,” Cassis said. “Twitch is the pioneer of that model, and we are setting the standard for where live media is headed.”