Twitch hires Spotify’s Kaur to spearhead APAC expansion

Amazon-owned game streamer Twitch has hired former Spotify exec Sunita Kaur as its first APAC region managing director. 

Twitch, which is the de facto game streaming leader in the West, is not as dominant in APAC, with Huya and Douyu posing greater competition.

As such, Kaur has been brought on board to spearhead its efforts in the region. She will be responsible for growing the local Twitch community and improving the service for its partners. She will be based in Singapore.

While Kaur is new to the gaming and esports space, she is no stranger to the region. The exec joins from Spotify, where she spent six years as managing director of Southeast Asia and as VP revenue of APAC. Kaur is noted as being a significant driving force behind Spotify’s expansion through Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Sara Clemens, COO of Twitch, said: “Asia is a burgeoning region for user-generated live content and gaming, and we are excited to deepen our investments with Sunita’s hire.

“Sunita’s 20 years of experience in digital advertising and online services and communities that serve content creators in APAC make her the perfect leader for Twitch’s business in the region.”

Kaur said: “Twitch is proof that entertainment and media consumption habits around the world, including in APAC, have foundationally changed. Young consumers in APAC are cutting the cord and are influenced by social media where the audience expects to play a part in entertainment they watch.

“This means the unique Twitch entertainment experience, one that fosters collaboration and community between content creator and audience, can support this consumer-led revolution of how content is delivered.”

This is Twitch’s second senior international hire of 2020, following the appointment of Facebook Gaming’s Damian Burns as its first-ever managing director of EMEA.