One of the biggest streamers right now is Jaryd “summit1g” Lazar. He recently streamed a sponsored segment for the new co-op game Marvel’s Avengers on Twitch and had a confrontation with his chat afterwards: they should keep their negative opinions to themselves. The negativity during advertising streams makes him and the channel look bad. He threatened his viewers with bans.
What was this sponsored stream about? Companies make deals with streamers to showcase their game in a “sponsored segment”. Especially the large variety streamers on Twitch, who entertain many regular viewers, are attractive for such deals.
Payment is rarely discussed. But in cases where money has been mentioned, figures in the range of over a hundred thousand dollars circulate that big streamers receive for advertising streams. Some top streamers earn in a few hours what others make as an annual salary.
summit1g hosted the advertising stream from Sunday to Monday. He played 2 hours of Marvel’s Avengers, the beta of the new superhero MMO.
This “sponsored segment” he inserted into his normal stream, between two sessions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The sponsored streams are clearly marked as advertising.
Much criticism of Marvel’s Avengers in the chat
The chat was quite negative about the game during the sponsored streams. In the chat, one could read things like:
- “I’ve never seen a game that was so lacklusterly tossed together”
- “I definitely won’t be playing this”
- “The co-op missions look like they will just keep repeating”
- “The game should be delayed until 2022”
- “The game looks terrible”
- “This is going to be a total flop”
summit1g scolds the Twitch chat, threatens with bans
This is how summit1g reacted: After the stream, summit1g had a serious word to say to his chat. He said he doesn’t want to hear such negativity anymore.
People could express their opinions elsewhere, that would be perfectly fine, but this is his Twitch channel. Here he makes the rules and he can ban anyone:
“You shouldn’t feel like you have the right to express your opinion here. It’s my channel. I don’t care.”
summit1g
The streamer then explained that the negative behavior of his Twitch chat makes him and his community look bad. They do these streams to present the game. Even if you don’t like it, you don’t have to announce it, you can just keep quiet:
“You guys back your streamer and say: Grab the money. But when it comes time for a sponsored segment to run, you’re just being jerks. So stop being jerks and just be quiet. Accept that it’s a part of what we do. Some people like it, some don’t. That’s just how it is.”
summit1g
This is what’s happening with summit1g right now: The streamer was on track to become the most viewed streamer of 2020 on Twitch earlier this year. Currently, Escape from Tarkov and Valorant were right up his alley. The former CS:GO pro dominated Twitch when showing the shooters.
But in the middle of the year, summit1g started playing the MMORPG “The Elder Scrolls Online” and lost the race for the viewer crown against xQc.
summit1g is actually known for showcasing offbeat games on Twitch that are not mainstream, such as Remnant from the Ashes or even Guild Wars 2. However, in the past few weeks, he has returned to “normal terrain”. He is now mainly playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Fall Guys.
What’s behind this: summit1g’s example shows the dilemma that top Twitch streamers face. On one hand, they are the “buddies” of the viewers for 8 hours a day and themselves gamers who want to speak to their audience on equal footing to establish a bond and build a community.
On the other hand, they are also business people who want to provide an attractive advertising environment for clients.
Both interests apparently clash starkly in summit1g’s case.
Sponsored deals or brand deals are an important source of income for streamers. The world’s largest streamer, Imane “Pokimane” Anys, explained in a lengthy interview that these deals play a larger role than donations or subscriptions.
For Twitch viewers, it is often unclear how streamers actually work. Pokimane dispels several misconceptions:
The world’s largest streamer explains how Twitch really works
