Top Streamers said to earn $ 50,000 per hour while playing new games

Top Twitch broadcasters can earn $ 50,000 per hour in streaming with new video games, the Wall Street newspaper said in a weekend report. Kotaku spoke to industry sources who confirmed the report, adding that $ 50,000 an hour was not even the highest figure they saw.

The report claims that publishers like Activision Blizzard, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts regularly pay big sums to big Twitch streamers, who play and advertise their games for big dedicated fans (Ben "DrLupo" Lupo, referenced in history, counts 3.2 million members at Twitch). When the most popular streamers are viewing new games, it may not be just for personal interest; they often make a lot of money, says the report.

Getting $ 50,000 an hour to play a game and make it cool is a big show. According to two industry sources interviewed by Kotakuthis number may not even be the highest threshold. "We've seen offers well over $ 50,000 an hour, as well as many six- and seven-figure offers for long-term commitments," said Omeed Dariani, CEO of Online Performers, which represents the largest streamers such as Cohh Carnage and Professor Broman. "I can not share specific businesses because the terms of payment are usually confidential. We received an offer from an AAA publisher that was worth $ 60,000 hourly for two hours. The broadcaster refused – and the publisher returned with a "blank check" offer, which was still refused.

The awards are not just about reach, he added: "The larger audiences (usually more than 5,000 viewers) tend to be younger and have less commitment. So you can not just say "1 viewer for 1 hour = 1 dollar". All streamers (and their viewers) do not generate the same results. "

For those who follow the financial trends of the industry, worth $ 43.4 billion, the huge sponsorships should not be a surprise Twitch streamers are part of the pop culture of 2019 and, for the specialists of the savvy marketers, nothing could be more intuitive and economical than taking advantage of the micro-celebrities of this fledgling industry to promote a product. This was a game changer for the survivor shooter Apex Legends, which became the number one game on Twitch after the best streamers broadcast it. Electronic Arts shares increased by almost 10% as a result of this increase.

"Your game on Twitch has a lot of value now," said Adam Lieb, CEO of the Gamesight marketing company. The money invested by Electronic Arts in Twitch's influencers, he said, "they could have spent on Twitch or IGN ads and that would not have had such an impact."

Livestreaming may seem more authentic than traditional advertisements to fans, who trust their favorite streamers to give their honest and candid feedback. But the companies that sponsor these streams may retain some influence over their content. According to Dariani and Lieb, it is common for game publishers to ask streamers to sign non-disparagement clauses.

"Too bad is not the same as the criticism," explained Dariani. "It's more like saying" the developers of this game are morons and should all be fired "rather than" the combat system in this game might require some adjustments. " Other times, according to Lieb, a game publisher might ask a streamer to check their game first to see if they like it. A 2016 Kotaku The report included guidelines from a marketing company regarding the definition of a kosher sponsored video:

MAKE:

• Find something in the game to have a sweet time incorporating gameplay / playability into the video.

DO NOT:

• Curse or use foul language in your video

Celebrity streamers are playing an increasingly important role in publishers' marketing plans, but it's not always clear that they do. A 2019 Reuters According to a report, Electronic Arts would have paid Tyler "Ninja" Blevins $ 1 million to play and tweet Apex Legends. Blevins, along with Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek, both broadcast the game on the day of its launch with "Apex Legends "Partner", but they did not seem to describe what that entailed, reported Kotaku. Arrived at a comment, the EA publisher explained that "EA requires full disclosure and full transparency with every game changer, content activation or paid sponsorship in which we are involved."

In 2017, the Federal Trade Commission issued guidelines on how influencers can approve products legally. Arrived at a comment, a representative of the FTC mentioned Kotaku According to their guidelines: "Viewers can tune in anytime, so they could easily miss a disclosure at the beginning of the stream or at any other point in the stream. If there are several periodic disclosures in the feed, it is likely that people will see them, no matter when they log on. As a precaution, you can obtain continuous, clear and visible disclosure throughout the flow. "

The culture of influence has become an inextricable arm of advertising. As more and more marketing is done behind the curtain, it becomes increasingly difficult to know when we are sold to, and at the same time, more difficult to worry when we like to know who is selling.