The former Overwatch professional Félix “xQc” Lengyel was for a long time number 1 on Twitch. In a stream, he revealed the secret behind his success: he knows exactly what people want, and that is light entertainment while gaming.
What is the deal with reaction content? Reactions, where streamers watch a video together with their viewers and comment on it, are a popular format on Twitch. For streamers, this is great because they can eat something conveniently on the side and earn money.
However, the format is controversial: Streamers are accused of profiting from other people’s content, while the original creators are left empty-handed. Currently, the debate is reignited after one of the biggest streamers in the world, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, was accused of stealing content.
However, the Twitch streamer defends himself and says: he gives his viewers only what they want.
Content creators put work into content, streamers benefit
What is the current situation? At the end of July 2023, xQc and his Twitch colleague HasanAbi came under criticism after they reacted to a video by Swedish YouTuber Lemmino. He had released an elaborate documentary on the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy on July 25.
Critics pointed out that the YouTuber’s video only received about 100,000 views, while xQc’s reaction was able to garner three times that. The streamer contributed very little to the content, while Lemmino did all the work with researching and compiling the video.
In the meantime, the original video has left the reactions of the major streamers behind with 4.3 million views (as of July 30, 2023).
xQc nevertheless felt compelled to present his point of view. Because he sees the matter somewhat differently and spoke in a stream about the accusations.
xQc makes “crap content” for the second screen
What does xQc say about his reactions? The streamer does not feel that he contributes too little to the original content. On the contrary: he paused the video “like crazy” and made his own comments. However, that is not what his viewers want from him.
xQc claims that his chat was actually angry at him because he interrupted so much. He even received a private message telling him to shut up.
This is what the viewers want according to xQc: The streamer explains that the viewers mainly want to be entertained on the second screen while they are gaming: 95% of the streams are actually “crap content” and only 5% are worth being seen on the main screen.
xQc says he gives his viewers only what they want. If he commented too much, they would get bored and angry. Only if a topic interests him a lot would the streamer say a bit more about it.
xQc also clarifies that there is not much money to be made from the reactions. He would love to return “every cent” he makes from “complete reaction streams” to the original creators. He does not care at all.
Reactions can also backfire, as the German Twitch streamer Trymacs found out when he received an unexpected jab:
Twitch streamer Trymacs wants to entertain at the expense of others – But suddenly it’s about him
