Twitch is one of the largest destinations for live streaming. More than 7 million content creators stream every month on the Amazon platform. But who was actually the very first Twitch streamer? That question is not so easy to answer and that’s due to how the platform was created.
How did it all begin? Twitch originated from the now-defunct website Justin.tv. It was founded in 2007 by 23-year-old Yale graduate Justin Kan and his friends Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel, and Kyle Vogt.
On March 19, 2007, Kan began streaming his life 24/7. He used a webcam attached to a baseball cap for this purpose. Breaks were only taken for using the bathroom.
The novelty of the concept generated a lot of media attention. Reactions among viewers were mixed: many found the “reality” format unappealing, but were very interested in creating their own streams.
In the summer of that same year, Kan discontinued his so-called “lifecasting,” and Justin.tv eventually became a platform where anyone could create their own channel and perform in front of viewers.
How did Justin.tv become Twitch? On Justin.tv, there were different categories, of which “Gaming” quickly established itself as the most popular section. In 2011, the Gaming category of Justin.tv finally became its own website: Twitch.
By the time of Twitch’s creation, thousands of content creators had already streamed on the predecessor Justin.tv. Who was the very first to go live on the new platform is not known.
Is Justin Kan therefore the first Twitch streamer? In a way, yes, because he was the first to stream on the platform that later became Twitch. But strictly speaking, it was Justin.tv and not Twitch. So who claims the title?
One candidate is the American Sean “Day[9]” Plott: He was the first Twitch streamer to receive a subscription button. He is also featured in our video of the first successful streamers:
From StarCraft Player to Full-Time Streamer
What kind of streamer is he? Plott started as a professional player and commentator for the SF strategy game StarCraft: Brood War. He represented the USA at the World Cyber Games (WGC) Grand Finals in 2004, where he placed 12th. In 2005, the following year, he won the WCG USA.
With the release of StarCraft II in 2010, Plott shifted from active playing to commenting. In his show “The Day[9] Daily,” he analyzed and commented on high-profile matches in StarCraft II. His channel on Twitch or Justin.tv was created according to the analysis website TwitchTracker on December 9, 2010, but he started live streaming as early as late 2009.
One of the first games Plott showcased alongside the StarCraft franchise was the survival horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, just in time for Halloween 2011. 10 years later, he reacted to his own playthrough and concluded that listening to himself was probably worse than the horror in the scare game (via YouTube).
How did he get the subscription button? Initially, it was not intended for streamers to earn money through paid subscriptions on Twitch. Plott was involved in the development of the subscription program and finally received partner status in May 2011.
The former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear wrote about this on Reddit in 2016:
We developed the feature in collaboration with him [Day9]. For a while, he was the only channel with a sub-button because we had hardcoded a lot.
via Reddit
What is he doing today? Plott is still active as a streamer on Twitch and thus the longest-standing Twitch partner (via twitchstats).
On average, he streams four times a week and showcases games such as Magic: The Gathering, DOTA 2, and current games like Elden Ring, Marvel Snap, Terra Nil, and Rim World. Day[9]’s streams averaged over 1,700 viewers last year (via sullygnome).
In addition, he runs his YouTube channel and operates his own website Day[9]TV.
On October 22, 2019, he celebrated the 10th anniversary of Day[9]TV. On Twitter, he explained that he had streamed nearly 200 shows per year since then and looked forward to the next 10 years:
Privately, Plott has been married since October 2020. The couple has two cats: Sheriff and Desperado (via Top twitch Streamers).
Is Day[9] now therefore the first Twitch streamer? Maybe Plott wasn’t the first streamer to send on the new platform Twitch, but he was at least one of the first and helped shape the platform. As the first streamer with a subscription button, he was also a pioneer for content creators as we know them today.
What happened to the other first streamer? Justin Kan left Justin.tv shortly after the launch of Twitch as a standalone streaming site to develop new startup ideas. In 2021, he launched the website Fractal, a marketplace for the hot new trend at that time: NFTs.
Twitch founder launches NFT site, fraudsters scam €132,000 – thanks to hackers
