Twitch Finally Pays Fairly, DLive Shutdown, TikTok Loses Live Viewership + MrBeast Streamer Event
Hello and welcome to the newsletter! Last week, we received new streaming data from Q1 (January to March) that truly shocked me: according to Stream Charts, TikTok lost about 12% of its LIVE viewership. It's surprising because Q1 tends to be the most-viewed quarter of the year in the streaming space (Santa Claus Bump + New Year's Resolutions), so a 12% drop suggests some big changes at TikTok. It could be that the content itself is overly financialized (too many aimless gift-hunting streams or Live Battles), that the Live content is low-effort and low-value for viewers, or that the sale to Oracle could play a role (if their goal is profit, live content is a net-negative). Or, some combination of all of that has driven TikTok itself to reduce the amount of Live content that appears on users' For You pages. Or Stream Charts' data may be incorrect.
Whatever it is, that's a BIG change from what has historically (and compared to its competitors, Twitch +4.46%, Kick +1.79%, YouTube -0.24%) been a great time of the year for streaming. If TikTok is pivoting away from live, the knock-on effects could be dramatic for live creators and viewers. We'll have to see if that number goes back up in the months ahead, suggesting it was just a blip... But if you're a creator, it's a good idea to redouble your efforts to encourage your TikTok viewers to follow you on Purple/Red/Green/Yellow/Blue apps. Don't leave it to chance - this is a big swing.
Are you following Ashray? He's the Head of Streamlabs and routinely offers insight into the streaming space from the perspective of one of the best tools for creators. Check out his thread on Multistreaming, or this one on Competition.
And if you haven't tried Streamlabs in a while, it may be a good time to revisit their service and see if it can help improve your content and livestreaming career! (It's simplified my streaming workflow a lot!)
And with that, let's get into it!
🟪 TWITCH
- For the first time, Twitch ran a sponsorship campaign with reasonable rates. The Minecraft x Twitch "Tiny Takeover" offered roughly (or above) the $1/CCV/HR industry standard. And for the first time, affiliates were also eligible for the sponsorship.
- New Badges: BAFTA 2026 (Watch Time), 67 Badge ($)
- Amazon Luna (formerly Prime Gaming) no longer supports game purchases.
- Twitch is sponsoring the Frames Festival in France.
- Twitch CEO Dan Clancy would prefer you not call them "lurkers," as that carries a negative connotation, and instead say "non-chatters." I'm assuming this is advertisers' concern about the term 'lurkers'... Clancy has also told advertisers that he doesn't use the term 'gamer', but instead says 'people who game.'
🟥 YOUTUBE
- YouTube has updated the Creator Media Kits with exclusive insights, including Family Status, Household Income, Audience Watch Time, and Shopping Interests.
- YouTube is testing a feature called Auto-Speed that automatically adjusts video playback rates to save time without losing comprehension.
- YouTube plans to add live chat and gifting to the TV app.
- YouTubers are suing Amazon for using their content to train their AI.
- YouTube is increasing the price of Premium between $1 to $4, depending on the plan in the USA.
🟦 OTHER STREAMERS
- DLive, a crypto streaming platform launched in 2017, has announced it will shut down at the end of April.
- Kick now has 100M registered users.
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