They are using the better-working brand for re-entering these markets after the first attempt failed years ago... seems logical to me? The name JustinTV IMHO has a lot of negative baggage attached because it wasn't very successful for so long.

It dilutes Twitch as a place for gaming, though.

EDIT: Downvoted, maybe I wasn't clear enough. Context is very important within a brand. If you start offering all types of videos on Twitch, the landing page isn't just going to show gaming videos any longer.

Sure. But we've yet to see any competitor affect Twitch's dominance in gaming by any real margin, so it seems unlikely that people who have been using it exclusively for gaming will be turned off when other things become available. I mean, they have a dedicated viewer base which won't really care what Twitch does with their homepage. It's like Amazon expanding from just selling books to selling everything. People looking for books are still gonna keep going there.

Does it significantly damage the image of Twitch as the place to go for gaming streams? YouTube has been gaining a lot of high production quality content makers for a while now (e.g. web series and music videos) but I feel like it still holds its reputation as the place to go for more independently made content as well.

I didn't mean to insinuate it was damaging, just that the brand would be diluted. Yes, if they can pull it off and maintain and support the different communities - then it won't be "damaged."

It was also an objectively terrible name. I thought it was just iJustine's personal webcasting site.

It wasn't terrible for its original purpose, which was to livestream a man named Justin's life continuously, a la the Truman Show.

They've realised TwitchTV is a much stronger brand that JustinTV ever was?

Also, iirc wasn't JustinTV polluted/tainted with a lot of dodgy re-streams of non-user-created content such as soccer?

It's a success story that they've managed to successfully cultivate twitch out of that and grown it up where they can now branch other user-streaming back from it.

You have to realize that artists were already using Twitch to do what they are now providing a category for those same people to stream under. I've watched clay, 3D, 2D, etc artists on Twitch; I've watched/listened to DJs, including deadmau5, play with their equipment for hours on stream. These same people also tend to play games now and again, and a lot of the graphical artists tend to have gaming themes. The same is probably true for all of the streamers that will use this category.

Seems like perfectly sensible decision to me. Perhaps you should try to find objective reasons for this product development approach instead of insinuating incompetence of "brand" people?

They're trying to build ecosystems around streaming. Gaming has taken off and is sustaining itself, so it only makes sense for them to try and expand into newer realms.

Maybe this is the Amazon effect on the management?

I thought that they would spin off this Creative product in a new independent business venture so it won't clash with the established Twitch brand name or dilute it due to conflicting dynamics at play but this is Amazon after all and we're used to expect the unexpected from them.

The difference between then and now is that YouTube Streaming and Periscope are now potential threats.

Justin.tv people are no more the driving force. This is an Amazon move 100%.

The person leading this effort is literally the second Justin.tv hire from many years ago.

i assume they are thinking that they'd like to expand into new areas, and this was the best way they could think of to do it. do you have a better idea?

The world has changed much since 2007!