Viewing rates plummeted this week as thousands of protestors took “A Day Off Twitch” amid ongoing issues with hate raids.
Hate raids have steadily become a serious issues for Twitch Streamers. Typically aimed at BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ streamers, hate raids will see homophobic and racist comments fill the chat. With streaming already being a daunting process, chats filled with hateful speech are turning many streamers away from the platform.
However, on September 1st streamers and viewers banded together to take “A Day Off Twitch”. And while many doubted how many would participate, Twitch numbers saw a 10-15% reduction in numbers.
Streamers And Viewers Banding Together
According to Zach Bussey, live reports on the day indicated that around 12,000 less streamers went online on September 1st. This brought the number of streamers down to 119,000. This of course also resulted in a drop of viewers, which Bussey claimed fell by around 500,000 compared to the previous two weeks. You can read Bussey’s full report here.
Many Twitch users felt that Twitch weren’t doing enough to counter the issue of hate raid. The aim of the protest, were to financial coerce Twitch into taking action. And going by the numbers, it seems as if protesters might have succeeeded. Twitch analytical sight Sully Knome reported that the dip gave September 1st the third lowest figures of the year. Only July 28th and New Year’s Day beat it out.
While, there has been a clear dip in result of the protest, they weren’t the only factor at play. Both Dr. Lupo and TimTheTatman signed exclusive deals with YouTube Gaming this week. The moves mean a collective 11.5 million followers may have been moving to YouTube for their favourite streamers. Lupo and TimTheTatman will be joining the like Jack “CouRage” Dunlop and Dr. DisRespect. DisRespect was in fact banned from Twitch, and recently announced he will be suing the platform.
With the numbers indicating that the protests was a success, hopefully Twitch will make some meaningful change. However, even Streamlabs have beat Twitch by announcing Safe Mode, which protects streamers from harassment. It seems likely that more options like Safe Mode will become readily available as time goes on.
Did you take A Day Off Twitch? Let us know over on our social channels!
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Featured Image Credit: Twitch