Without much fuss, 20-year-old Kai Cenat has become the new star of the streaming service Twitch in recent months. Now he has surpassed 80,000 paid subscriptions, overtaking Félix “xQc” Lengyel among English-speaking channels. But something is bothering him.
What is the performance now?
- “Subs” are the paid subscriptions that viewers use to support a streamer. The subscriptions need to be renewed regularly – this makes Twitch a permanent hamster wheel that you can’t get out of without losing income.
- The streamer “xQc” has recently led on Twitch with about 80,000 subscriptions. Other popular streamers like HasanAbi or NickMercs have come in further places.
- However, with Kai Cenat, there is now a new Sub King on Twitch. He cracked the 80,000 subscriptions on September 23, surpassing xQc. This made the 20-year-old the English-speaking streamer with the most subs. Cenat is now heading towards 90,000 subscriptions (via twitchtracker).
Here we explain the joke about subscriptions on Twitch on MeinMMO:
Kai Cenat becomes an identifying figure for young Black viewers on Twitch
What is Cenat doing on Twitch?
- Like xQc, Kai Cenat streams a lot: In the last 7 days, he was live for 66 hours – xQc streamed for 73 hours. Kai Cenat is mostly active in Just Chatting but also plays games like NBA 2k23, GTA 5, Minecraft, or God of War.
- Cenat has been on the platform since January 2021 and has seen a steep rise: He now averages almost 50,000 viewers. In January 2022, it was still 22,000.
- The 20-year-old targets a young, Black audience – a group that is hardly addressed on Twitch: The long-time most successful Black Twitch streamer Myth has switched to YouTube and was a completely different type than Kai Cenat now.
A highlight was that Cenat received a call from his mother during the stream, congratulating him on the great success when he cracked the 80,000 mark.
The mother was so proud of her son, who shows how hard work can lead to success. Her son is a grinder, someone who has really pushed through:
Accusation: Twitch does not feature Black streamers on the front page
What bothers him? Despite the massive success, Kai Cenat is upset that Black streamers are not adequately supported by Twitch: No tweets, no great spots on the front page, no real recognition.
He says it’s not about himself at all, but that no Black streamers are being strongly promoted:
I want you all to watch what is happening on Twitch. I want you to understand it, Bros, for years people with my skin color have been overlooked. I refuse to let my community be ignored by Twitch. Yo, Twitch, I have no problems with you. But I haven’t even seen one of my community members on your front page of the platform, Bro.
Why does he believe he is not being supported? That he himself is not being supported, Cenat can apparently understand. He believes it has to do with his language. He uses the word, the N-word, too often:
I don’t give a shit if I am not marketable. Do you understand me? I don’t give a shit, okay. I don’t care what you all N* are doing. Or if I say N* too often, I don’t care, N*, I don’t give a damn. They don’t want to really recognize me, okay.
Gaming platforms YouTube and Twitch are accused of racism
What’s behind this: There is currently a controversy in the USA as to whether the big gaming platforms are racist:
- On YouTube, Black gaming streamer CoryxKenshin has shown that he is under stricter scrutiny than comparable white colleagues (via kotaku)
- The community of the scandal-streamer IShowSpeed believes that their streamer often gets into trouble because he is Black and is thus viewed so critically by white journalists
In the case of Kai Cenat, it seems clear why Twitch does not feature him as prominently as would befit his success: The “N” word is not acceptable. It makes him, as he says, “unmarketable” for advertisers.
The question Cenat raises is indeed real: Why are there so few prominent Black Twitch streamers?
One of the few successful “non-white” streamers on Twitch is Lirik. However, he streams without a camera because he didn’t want to be perceived as “brown”.
We also had a discussion in Germany about whether a gaming YouTuber is “marketable” or not. It concerned ApoRed, who felt he deserved much more support:
YouTuber ApoRed wants preferential treatment in Fortnite, applies pressure
