YouTube continues its strategy in the streaming platform battle against Twitch and Mixer. They are tying content creators who are already big on YouTube to themselves. Typical Gamer gets an exclusive contract. He has 9 million subscribers on the platform and is known for streams about GTA 5 and Fortnite.
This is the streamer in question: The live streamer Andre “Typical Gamer” Rebelo (28) is one of the biggest gaming stars on YouTube. He started his channel in 2008. Rebelo began with videos on Red Dead Redemption, Call of Duty, GTA 5, and Minecraft.
When live streaming began on YouTube, Typical Gamer was one of the pioneers. He switched from classic, structured video-on-demand formats like guides to chaotic live streams that players could later watch on YouTube. Especially with Fortnite and GTA, Typical Gamer has become big in recent years. He now has over 9 million subscribers.
His most popular videos are:
- A live stream of the “Black Hole” event in October 2019 for Fortnite – it has 20 million views
- GTA 5 live streams: a whole series of streams were viewed more than 10 million times, which range in length from 70 to 119 minutes.
Now Rebelo announces that he has signed an exclusive contract with YouTube. He will stream exclusively on YouTube in the future.
YouTube focuses on nice, established, and “non-USA”
This is YouTube’s strategy in the streaming war: Since August 2019, a kind of “war for streamers” has broken out. Back then, the biggest Twitch star, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, switched from Twitch to Mixer. It’s rumored that he makes double-digit millions annually.
In recent months, it has become clear that YouTube is vigorously participating in these deals and distributing exclusive contracts. There is one type of “gamer” that YouTube has its eye on:
- they are mostly Fortnite live streamers
- they are streamers who are considered “nice and friendly”
- and they are players who have already built a large following on YouTube
A streamer, Jack “Courage” Dunlop, had been dual-streaming before the YouTube deal. He streamed live on Twitch but was also active on YouTube. With the new deal, he is only seen on YouTube now.
Also, the streamer Valkyrae moved over from Twitch to YouTube.
YouTube is not primarily “buying” stars from other platforms for large sums of money, as Mixer or Facebook do, but is tying its own content creators more closely to itself with exclusive deals. YouTube clearly negotiates contracts that require them to regularly live stream. Apparently, YouTube wants to strengthen this.
Thus, YouTube signed 3 Fortnite stars in January 2020. Now one of the biggest live streamers on YouTube is about to get his payday.
It is noticeable that the players are not necessarily American. Among the last signings were 2 Australians, Typical Gamer is Canadian.
This is what YouTube says: The Head of YouTube Gaming, Ryan Wyatt, says: “Typical Gamer is not only one of the most prominent streamers in the world, he is a passionate content creator who is dedicated to his audience.”
YouTube’s strategy seems to be paying off. In January 2020, YouTube was able to record a substantial increase of 71 million hours compared to the previous year. Rival Mixer, which spent so much money on stars, could hardly improve in the streaming services battle.
