Always On
Twitch-specific category
Category
- Name
- Always On
- Category ID
499973- Followers
- 616,987
- Tracked since
- October 6, 2026
View on Twitch
Context
Always On is a home for around-the-clock streams meaning channels that broadcast continuously, such as 24/7 music and radio streams, ambient cams and channels that rerun their past content when the streamer is offline.
The idea started with Justin Kan, co-founder of Justin.tv (former Twitch.tv). At midnight on March 19, 2007, he began streaming his life from San Francisco, a webcam on a baseball cap and a laptop backpack built by co-founder Kyle Vogt. He stayed live for about eight months, skipping only bathroom breaks, and chatters watched him eat, sleep, and walk the streets. That experiment popularized “lifecasting.”
Early always-on channels included iJustine and a 24/7 cam of the Justin.tv office. Gaming later took over, spun out as Twitch in 2011, and Justin.tv shut down on August 5, 2014.
Sources
- TechCrunch, the day it went live (March 19, 2007): techcrunch.com/2007/03/19/kiko-guys-back-as-reality-tv-stars/
- Kan in his own words (2011): techcrunch.com/2011/02/12/starting-justin-tv/
- Wired, April 4, 2007, on the Ann Curry interview: wired.com/2007/04/lifecasting-15-/
- Twitch’s own open-beta post, June 6, 2011: web.archive.org/web/20110715202234/http://blog.twitch.tv/2011/06/06/behold-twitchtv-is-alive-in-open-beta/