The change of power in the White House of the USA has just had more influence on the viewer numbers of Amazon’s streaming service Twitch than some new game: Especially two men benefit from it, who stand at opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Who is the big winner on Twitch after the inauguration?
The former MMORPG streamer Asmongold gave up his main channel in December 2022 because the hype around him became too much. Since then, he has been streaming on his second channel zackrawrr. But after 2 years, he has also returned incognito and in exile to have as many viewers as before. Asmongold is, alongside the Brit Caedrel, who benefits from the hype around LoL, the biggest streamer on Twitch in the last two weeks.
Asmongold is now considered “the most important political commentator on the platform” in the eyes of his competitors, as the one with the most reach. The Texan engages daily with the American president Donald Trump and other news of the day.
He uploads clips of his streams through an editor on YouTube, regularly reaching millions of additional viewers.
In the last 14 days, viewer hours for Asmongold have increased by 130%. While he still shows a few hours of gaming, 85% of his content falls under “Just Chatting” – here he has a significantly higher viewer average with 55,000 than when he shows games.
Who else benefits besides Asmongold? The streamer HasanAbi has always engaged with politics. He has primarily benefited financially from the turmoil in the White House. His viewer hours have increased by 25% in the last 14 days. With nearly 53,000 subs, he is now ranked 5th on the leaderboard. He apparently receives a lot of support from his followers.
HasanAbi exclusively shows content under Just Chatting and has an average of 33,000 viewers. In viewer hours, he ranks 6th with 3.7 million hours, just behind BLAST Premier, which broadcasts tournaments in Counter-Strike 2.
There is tension between the two
Do the two have much to do with each other? Not really. Most of the time, HasanAbi and Asmongold stay out of each other’s way. But since Trump took office, there has been some tension between the two.
HasanAbi has accused Asmongold of creating a “safe space for Nazis” with vague statements about the Holocaust. In an attempt to be “edgy”, he would go too far. The English term can be roughly translated as “provocatively different”.
Asmongold has defended himself against the accusations and his editor accused HasanAbi in a compilation of downplaying terrorism and terror organizations.
HasanAbi sees in Asmongold primarily that he is intoxicated by his own significance and relevance.
One comes from MMORPGs, the other from politics
When did this start? HasanAbi has always done on Twitch what he is doing now. The streamer comes from this political direction.
The US election in 2020 already played strongly into his hands and brought growth to his channel. Many younger people in the USA seem to inform themselves directly through HasanAbi and watch his channel instead of or in addition to TV news.
For Asmongold, Trump is like Johnny Depp 2.0
The transformation from gaming streamer to reaction streamer and political commentator happened gradually for Asmongold. Apparently, the trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard awakened the hunger for so-called “drama content” in Asmongold and many other streamers. Even today, years after the trial, the clips about Johnny Depp are the most popular on Asmongold’s channel.
In the meantime, Asmongold had gotten a ban after controversial statements about the Gaza conflict and said he used the time to reflect on himself. He then also said he wanted to change.
Does this also play a role in Germany? No, in Germany, Twitch and politics are still quite apart. Recently, there was only a brief visit from Robert Habeck at HandOfBlood. Ten years ago, LeFloid had to meet Merkel – Now Habeck sits before 50,000 viewers on Twitch at HandOfBlood’s tiled table.
