Streaming to the Bone
When being online 24/7 still isn’t enough
Keza MacDonald has done exquisite work bringing to light the insane grind it takes to be a streamer on Twitch.
“My sleep schedule shifted into the North American time zone because most of the people who were viewing my channel at the time were there,” says 36-year-old Cassie, a founder of the Black Twitch UK network, who has been streaming for five years under the name GeekyCassie. “I would do my day at work, nap a bit, and then stream for up to eight to 12 hours at night-time. I’d be absolutely beat, and then get up and do my work again … People burn out and then they don’t enjoy it any more.”
It’s one thing to have a side hustle as I do with TimeMachiner. We work on these projects when we have time and when you can MAKE time. It’s another to work that side-hustle for more hours than a day job and get no sleep. The sad part is Twitch streaming pays peanuts or literally nothing to most of their streamers.
The top 1% of streamers on its platform received more than half of the $889m (£660m) it paid out to creators last year; three quarters of the rest made $120 (£89) or less. Millions made nothing at all.
