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Data leaked this week on the streaming platform Twitch Interactive revealed that some people can earn six-figure monthly earnings by playing video games in front of a live online audience.
A user of the 4chan online discussion board claimed to have access to payment information, and several people who called themselves Twitch streamers said many numbers matched what they earned. Others said the numbers didn’t give a full picture of their earnings, in part because they didn’t seem to factor in what they earned while streaming as a member of a group or of third parties.
Twitch streamers’ income and other company information allegedly seen was made public on Wednesday. The 4chan user posted the information there to harm the Amazon.com Inc. unit business, the user wrote.
Twitch confirmed a data leak but declined to comment on the information it viewed.
This data was not disclosed by Twitch, which was founded in 2011 and acquired by Amazon in 2014 for $ 970 million in cash. While the platform is best known for its video game streamers, there are many others that are streaming through playing tabletop games and music, doing crafts, exercising and more. One of its most popular categories is called Just Chatting, where streamers chat about all kinds of topics.
Last month, people spent 1.7 billion hours watching Twitch, an increase of more than 20% from the previous year, according to StreamElements, a provider of tools and services for the creators of. contents.
The leak announced on 4chan identifies monthly revenue sharing payments for Twitch streamers since August 2019. Last month alone, a video game streamer in Canada made around $ 705,000 from the platform, while a group of Dungeons & Dragons players grossed around $ 311,000.
Twitch streamers typically generate revenue through paid subscriptions to their channels and through the platform’s ad sharing program, which requires certain viewer metrics. For the most popular streamers, Twitch may enter into special offers to prevent them from streaming on competing services.
Separately, some Twitch streamers earn income from viewer tips through third-party services as well as sponsorship deals with brands like State Farm Insurance. And major video game publishers, including Electronic Arts Inc. and Activision Blizzard Inc., pay popular Twitch streamers tens of thousands of dollars apiece to play their latest releases on launch day.
Tanya DePass, a 48-year-old Twitch streamer in Chicago who is sponsored by video game accessory maker Logitech G, said the data leak was “extremely inaccurate” for these reasons. Additionally, she said her Twitch earnings vary significantly from month to month. In June 2020, his channel exploded in popularity, which saw him receive his biggest paycheck from Twitch a month later.
Ms DePass, who is black, attributed the jump to viewers’ sudden interest in black banners in response to the murder of George Floyd, a black man whose death in 2020 in police custody was captured on a video that went viral. “The anger over the murder of George Floyd mobilized people to realize that we exist,” she said.
Ms. DePass streams herself playing video games and table games for 10 to 25 hours a week under the name Cypheroftyr. She said she was frustrated with the leak because she thinks it gives people the false impression that streaming is an easy way to make a lot of money. In fact, she said it takes a lot of work to promote her channel, keep viewers constantly engaged, and handle the paperwork. Ms DePass has also faced racist and sexist taunts. “It’s just exhausting,” she said.
The 4chan user who allegedly posted the data to Twitch called it “part one”, suggesting there may be more to come.
—Kevin Poulsen contributed to this article.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at [email protected]
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