Streamer Strike Affects Viewership On Twitch

Streamers on Twitch are on strike which reduces viewership. (photo: ella don/unsplash)

JAKARTA – Twitch streamers took a big “take off” on September 1 to pay attention to the constant hate attacks that have plagued the platform in recent weeks.

While skeptics highlighted the idea, suggesting that strike participants were not influential enough to effect a significant traffic change. According to data compiled by Gamesight, a game analytics company, Twitch did see a drop in viewership.

In a chart shared with The Verge, Gamesight measures the number of active channels (meaning the number of live channels) and hours watched each day for the last nine days of Pacific Time.

According to Gamesight data, the number of active channels and broadcast hours at 12 pm PT on September 1 was the lowest compared to the previous eight days.

Looking at the raw numbers, it's easy to see the decline. If you compare September 1 data with the previous Wednesday, that day had almost 1 million hours less watched and over 14,000 fewer live channels than the previous week.

But there are additional factors that could have contributed to the decline. DrLupo and TimTheTatman, two popular streamers, announced that they are leaving Twitch for an exclusive streaming deal with YouTube Gaming.

US schools are back in their learning sessions, and Gamescom likely raised the numbers last week. Another streamer data analytics team, CreatorHype, considered all those parameters and is still reporting that Twitch views are down.

“Based on the data, #ADayOffTwitch has an impact on the number of streamers and views on the platform,” wrote Zach Bussey of CreatorHype. “Depending on how you qualify that data, the impact may be as low as 5 percent or potentially as high as 15 percent.”

The hashtag #ADayOffTwitch was one of the top 10 trending hashtags for the day, which is quite an achievement considering the trending events like Hurricane Ida that hit New York, Joe Rogan's COVID-19 diagnosis, and the abortion battle in Texas. The show has also attracted the attention of big streamers like Hasan Abi and press outlets like Forbes and USA Today.

Twitch is currently working on the hate attack issue, but there is no deadline for when a solution will be available.

Meanwhile, streamers and third-party companies have created their own tools to fight back. Streamlabs, makers of some of the most popular stream management tools, used the day to announce it was creating Safe Mode. This is a free program that can basically stop ongoing hate attacks.

Apart from the data, the streamer responsible for creating and organizing the strike was happy with what they had done. “Seeing how much impact this has on me is amazing,” said ShineyPen, the streamer who started #ADayOffTwitch.

The strike was designed to bring greater attention to the harassment disproportionately suffered by marginalized streamers and to agitate Twitch's proactive protection. It seemed, at least in part, that they had achieved their goal.

“Honestly it was amazing to watch,” said RekitRaven, creator of the #TwitchDoBetter movement. "It feels like an incredible moment, especially when there are so many who doubt (and still doubt) what we are trying to do in this space."

Organizers also know that one day of protest is not enough.

"While we may not hit Twitch it has a significant financial impact," said Lucia Everblack, another strike organizer. “Our absence is really felt.”