For years, his competitors have accused streamer Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo (27) of doing everything possible to become the most successful streamer on Twitch. In fact, it seems that Mizkif’s time has come: All he has to do is suffer live at “Camp Knut”. People love it.
Who is the little man?
- Matthew Rinaudo has been streaming since 2016 and is one of the most ambitious streamers on Twitch: He has worked hard for his career, he was cameraman for the legendary Ice Poseidon and has been working ever since to somehow reach the top of Twitch. He is about 1.70m tall.
- His competition often accuses him of doing “everything” to get ahead: He is said to deliberately milk and promote “drama” on Twitch. Associating with questionable individuals to generate views. Or blatantly copying popular trends. Mizkif is the first to admit that he has done all of this – to him, there’s nothing wrong with it.
- Mizkif has gradually worked his way into the circle of top streamers on Twitch: Last year, he had an average of 33,000 viewers, an increase of 70%. In the last few days, he was even able to increase that number to 50,000 and was at times the largest streamer on Twitch.
Anyone who wants to be successful on Twitch today is late and has a hard time establishing themselves:
A Norwegian colossus is the new star on Twitch – Mizkif is part of it
What is Mizkif succeeding with right now? Since 2013, there has been the bodybuilding streamer Knut Spilderjeorde on Twitch. The Norwegian is 1.96m tall and a colossus.
Although he somehow belongs to the platform and many people know him, the massive man hasn’t been particularly successful. Last year, Knut averaged 860 viewers.
At TwitchCon in Amsterdam, the 36-year-old announced that he would travel to Austin, Texas, to offer a month-long fitness camp for streamers and content creators: Among those participating in “Camp Knut” is Mizkif, who resides in Texas.
Knut explains:
“The concept is: We train and eat like professional bodybuilders to show the Twitch community that anyone can do it.”
Since then, you can watch every day as a mix of true fitness nerds and gaming nerds suffer in fitness studios and try different machines.
It has a kind of reality TV charm:
- Mizkif is the ambitious model student who dives in fully – even though he doesn’t seem to be made for it
- The strong WoW streamer Esfand is somewhat the “bad boy,” who allegedly doesn’t exert himself enough and is “not fully engaged”
- Knut is somewhat of a “dad” in the camp, who looks a bit astonished at “these young people” who refuse to shave their armpit hair
A mix of reality show and fitness exercise is well received on Twitch
Why is this so well received? “Camp Knut” is a total success for those involved:
- Especially Knut himself benefits enormously – his viewer numbers have increased tremendously. He is now up to 26,000 viewers in the last 7 days. Over the years, Knut had “only” 800 viewers – he has therefore increased his average viewer count by a factor of 30
- For streamers like Mizkif, who were already big before, “Camp Knut” is now another boost: Mizkif now reaches over 50,000 people with his streams
But for the “top” it won’t be enough. Because Mizkif can only keep up this “new hard content” for about 2 hours, then the streams usually end.
Back in the days when he could comfortably sit on his butt and play Mario, he managed marathon streams.
What is the appeal here? Surely it’s what Knut himself says: That “normal people” train under tough conditions and what progress they make is a motivation for many viewers who would actually train a lot more but then got this arrow in the knee and somehow it just doesn’t fit right now:
- Viewers say: It’s really motivating to watch how the streamers work. This makes it easier for them to train and reach their goals.
- For a change, it’s also really “positive and encouraging content”, in a time when much negativity comes out about Twitch and the media.
For the streamers themselves, it’s also a change. Instead of sitting alone at the computer, they spend much more time with others. Some compare it to being back in school.
Mizkif even says (via twitter): Camp Knut saved him. Last year he was stressed every day and drifted further away from his own self. He now feels incredibly proud of his friends and the community.
Somehow viewers like it when streamers suffer:
Twitch streamer finds innovative way to let viewers torture him
