Some streamers wanted to make a statement against hate raids on Twitch on September 1 and called for a strike under the hashtag “#ADayOffTwitch.” Only a few of the big streamers showed solidarity with the smaller ones. The lives of the high earners on Twitch revolve around signing big, new contracts.
This is #ADayoffTwitch:
- Some streamers called for a strike against Twitch for a day and not to stream. They wanted to draw attention to “hate raids” that particularly impact small streamers and individuals from marginalized groups.
- It quickly became apparent that some of the big streamers would not support this protest.
- Now we know some of the results.
Twitch was missing about 7-13% of viewers
Did the strike work? Well, there was at least a noticeable impact. September 1 was a “weak day” for Twitch in terms of viewership, but not a catastrophic one. The difference in viewership from last Wednesday to the strike day only increased throughout the day as the hashtag spread:
- At the peak of the day on September 1 at 10 PM, Twitch had about 3.5 million viewers
- At the peak of the day last Wednesday, Twitch had about 4.5 million viewers
- 5 hours earlier, the difference had only been 370,000 viewers (2.55 million vs. 2.92 million)
Twitch was missing about 7-12% of viewers compared to previous weeks, as calculated by a journalist.
Zach Busey included further factors in his calculation, such as the departure of some streamers and the Gamescom boost.
2 big Twitch streamers switch to YouTube for a lot of money
What was going on with the big streamers? A significant twist of the day was that 2 big Twitch streamers announced on August 31 and September 1 that they would no longer stream on Twitch: DrLupo and TimTheTatman are switching to YouTube. They signed exclusive contracts there. It is said to be “money that will change lives.”
Just by not streaming, Twitch was missing about 50,000 viewers on Wednesday, September 1.
Big Spanish streamers go on strike
Did any big streamers participate in the strike? Yes, at least the outspoken left-wing streamer and homeowner Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker (34,000 average viewers) did not stream on September 1 in solidarity.
Kaceytron (500 average viewers, featured image) explicitly expressed solidarity with #ADayOffTwitch and took a break from streaming. Shooter specialist shroud (20,000 average viewers) was also not seen on Twitch.
The biggest Spanish-speaking streamers, ibai and auronplay, who usually always stream, did not go live on Twitch on September 1. Auronplay explicitly showed solidarity with the hashtag.
Just the two Spaniards together have about 250,000 average viewers. Their absence likely made up a large portion of the difference.
Some streamers known for having a strong sense of social responsibility, like Pokimane or Myth, are currently streaming less and were also not on air on September 1.
The currently largest streamer on Twitch, xQc, streamed his 11 hours on Twitch. His colleague Trainwreck started a 37-hour stream on August 31 and streamed through September 1. Big earners like Tfue, Ninja, and summi1g were also on air. For the largest German streamer, MontanaBlack, September 1 was just another day — Trymacs and Papaplatte were also streaming on Twitch.
WoW streamer Asmongold took it even further. While he did not stream on September 1, he found the strike to be silly overall. He said: “Nobody gives a crap if you take a day off. Nobody knows who you are.”
He would only participate if all the big streamers joined in, but if a few “Andys” do it, nobody cares.
As usual, charming.
This is the discussion in the German Twitch bubble: There is a wide variety of tweets on the subject in German. The tone is very different:
- For many, #ADayOffTwitch is a serious issue. They want to draw attention to the hate that members of marginalized groups often face — not just on Twitch, but everywhere.
- Others take the hashtag lightly. They say they show solidarity with #ADayOffTwitch, but never streamed on Wednesday anyway, or they took the chance to slack off.
- Others, on the other hand, said they did not want streamers to be criticized just because they streamed on September 1. Then those people are no better than the haters they criticize.
- Time and again, one read about conscious decisions not to join the strike. Because Twitch is already doing something and has already acknowledged the movement — therefore, the strike is useless.
- Others said: Whoever thinks the strike is useless only proves that he speaks from a privileged position and has clearly never been a victim of such hate raids.
In advance, the hashtag was controversially discussed. Some said they simply could not afford to be off Twitch for a day.
Others added that one day off from Twitch was exactly what the haters wanted: The haters had driven streamers away from Twitch. Thus, this could not be a solution.
For the streamers behind the hashtag, the strike day was a way to hit Twitch where it hurts: in the wallet. They hope that Twitch will now take action against hate raids.
Hate comments often hit the small streamers who are defenseless against them because they do not have a large network of moderators. However, one of the largest female streamers on Twitch also came under fire, apparently primarily because she is a woman:
Big Twitch streamer faces a lot of hate, is now taking a break
