Streaming Wars Go Live: Twitch streamers migrate to Mixer
When I was a kid, getting a new video game was an occasion. My cousins and I would gather around my brother as he took control of a new hero in a single-player adventure. We would experience the same surprise, frustration or laughter, even though only one of us was playing the game.
It is no different than when a livestreamer sits down to play a game and a thousand people watch with the same fascination my cousins and I had. “Let’s Plays”, a phenomenon that started with YouTube videos, has taken a whole new dimension on platforms like Twitch, which allows you to play a game while interacting with an audience in (almost) real time.
Twitch is the most popular livestreaming site for video games. It gets more than a million average viewers every day, and there are almost 45 thousand channels for those viewers to watch. With revenue from ads, subscriptions, and donations, video game streaming has become a full-time profession for some, and a lucrative one at that.
In August, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, 2018’s most-watched streamer, left Twitch to produce content exclusively on its competitor, Mixer. Following the move, another prominent streamer, Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, announced he would also have a new home on Mixer.
“Ninja” made a name for himself by playing Fortnite, the biggest video game in recent history with more than 250 million registered players. His biggest stream featured a special appearance by rapper Drake, and reached a peak viewership of more than 616 thousand concurrent viewers.
“Shroud” is a former Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) professional player who is heralded as one of the most gifted technical players in video games. His fast reflexes and dead-eye aim attract viewers that seek highly skilled gameplay in first-person shooters games, while his affable personality appeals to his audience.
The acquisition of these two streaming powerhouses is the fuel in Mixer’s push to overtake Twitch’s number one spot as the go-to gameplay streaming platform.
Neither Blevins nor Grzesiek has revealed the amount of compensation they received for their exclusivity, but insiders believe Blevins’ deal to be at least seven figures.
In an interview with the New York Times, Blevins admitted that every hour that he wasn’t streaming, he was losing subscribers. Blevins told the reporter that by taking an hour to do the interview, he’d probably lose 200 to 300 subscribers. “The longest vacation I’ve ever taken was my honeymoon, and that was like six days. And that was devastating. It was a calculated risk.”
A fellow streamer and close friend, Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar, told his audience that by making the move to Mixer, Blevins could take vacations and not worry about losing subscribers or money.
“It’s a question of who can throw more money at it,” says writer and game designer Ian Bogost. The ‘who’ being the parent companies behind Twitch and Mixer: they are owned by retail magnate Amazon and the technology conglomerate Microsoft, respectively.
Bogost views the quarrel between the two platforms mostly with cynicism; just something else the two tech titans can fight about, but that doesn’t impact their main businesses too much.
The numbers have drawn attention to just how much more traffic Twitch commands. Mixer’s viewer base is 26 times smaller than that of Twitch, and Shroud and Ninja alone make up 37 percent of all viewership on Mixer. Even with the notoriety of the two content creators, it will come down whether or not the viewers make the same platform switch.
Twitch also has the upper-hand in the growing market of eSports, which makes up 21.3% of viewership. eSports events also have the record for peak average viewers, and League of Legends, a competitive MOBA, is the #1 Ranked game on Twitch in terms of viewers and channels.
Yet, Mixer has things to offer, the most prominent one being the seamless integration with Microsoft’s Xbox One console. Because Mixer is a first-party software, the Xbox One’s software makes it so you’re only a few button presses away from broadcasting your own gameplay.
The platforms are free to watch for everyone, but when it comes to supporting streamers, both Twitch and Mixer have subscription options. Twitch’s basic channel subscription is valued at $4.99, with the option of more expensive Tier subscriptions in exchange for additional perks. Mixer recently lowered its $5.99 subscription to equal Twitch’s offering. However, only Mixer’s partnered channels can receive subscriptions, and the requirements of 50 unique viewers in 2 months is steep for Mixer’s limited viewer base.
While Twitch splits subscription revenue evenly with the streamer, with some even achieving a 60/40 split depending on viewership, Mixer’s partners are required to sign a contract which forbids them from disclosing the exact slice.
Both sites offer virtual currency that you can use for direct donations. Mixer has developed a progression system that rewards viewers by simply watching. Viewers can gain experience points, level up, and earn another type of virtual currency called Embers. This means that viewers don’t necessarily have to spend cash to support streamers.
While Twitch’s and Mixer’s attractive is the ability to watch things unfolding live, Mixer’s Hypezone channel is a highlight reel of best moments. “I think that is just a cleaner presentation,” says Eric Allen, Associate Chair of Interactive Design and Game Development at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
These highlight reels are closer to the content audiences are accustomed to consuming. That’s how let’s-players started building their audiences on YouTube, and it is a format that viewers recognize. “[livestreaming] is a powerful medium, but it hasn’t [fundamentally] changed the way we consume media,” said Allen.
Allen thinks that the platform that is actually winning the streaming wars is YouTube. According to The Verge, most of the biggest livestreamers on the internet also post videos to YouTube. More than a fourth of Twitch’s traffic is redirected from YouTube.
According to hard numbers, Twitch is ahead of the pack. But this doesn’t mean that Mixer is to be ignored, as their push onto livestreaming is only getting started. These two platforms should also keep an eye on YouTube, which is starting to pursue similar strategies to join the fight.
