The Official WTF Thread

[Vidor]

Yeah, the watch-other-people-play-video-games thing is really astounding.

[Maclowery]

I've watched plenty of twitch videos for a few minutes at a time, to see how a certain thing is done - a competitive rush in Counter Strike or a high powered character in Diablo 3, for instance. But I agree that it's really weird to sit and watch it for an extended period, and even weirder to pay the dude. In games like Diablo, though, being one of those pledge dudes or whatever can get you hand-me-downs or help from the dude playing, so I guess there's that. Still, agreed. Weird.

[Jocephus]

twitch isn't that strange to me, in the sense that i grew up in a household that didn't have video games, thus i would have to go to friends, who often only had 1 controller, thus i would watch a lot anyways.

i'd also suggest that very FEW people actually don't have jobs and just "live off" twitch monies. also, the 4.99 subscriber option is being middle manned by twitch so they barely see any of that. that said, i've seen several $1,000 donations dropped.

one could make the argument, if so inclined, that its another form of entertainment and if you enjoy it, then you'll pay money for it. though i do think twitch is gonna engulf itself at some point.

[Bo Hart]

I've watched plenty of twitch videos for a few minutes at a time, to see how a certain thing is done - a competitive rush in Counter Strike or a high powered character in Diablo 3, for instance. But I agree that it's really weird to sit and watch it for an extended period, and even weirder to pay the dude. In games like Diablo, though, being one of those pledge dudes or whatever can get you hand-me-downs or help from the dude playing, so I guess there's that. Still, agreed. Weird.

Yeah, I mean -- I can understand how the really adept players get viewers. I can appreciate the intricate strategy that video games sometimes require (especially, PvP competitive ones). But something like generic "Let's Play" with commentary? What!? On multiple times perusing through the site, I've seen streamers list donations in the range of $1,500. Who in the right mind thinks to themselves, "hmm, this guy is really entertaining. I'm going to send them $1,500!"?

[Bo Hart]

i'd also suggest that very FEW people actually don't have jobs and just "live off" twitch monies. also, the 4.99 subscriber option is being middle manned by twitch so they barely see any of that. that said, i've seen several $1,000 donations dropped.

Well, YouTube said that "thousands" of channels grossed over $100,000 in ad revenue. That was back in 2012, so that number has undoubtedly grown since then. Twitch is something like the fourth-highest consumer of bandwidth of all United States internet traffic. I'm sure the number of people that live off Twitch numbers in the thousands. I agree that success is rare -- again, I'd compare it to making it big as a movie actor, or starting a band that goes on to become wildly-successful -- but it still blows my mind.

[Jocephus]

eh..i'd still be skeptical. plus i imagine YT takes a lot of that ad revenue for themselves. there may be people "trying" to live off twitch/YT money, but i imagine they ain't doing too well.

its kind of funny 'cause i closed my twitch account within the last couple weeks. just got tired of it but signed up back in...2008, i think, when it was still justin.tv. its certainly grown and gotten bloated. and i always used the extension "better twitch tv" to block the ads, hah.

[Bo Hart]

YouTube splits the ad revenue with you 50/50. The rule of thumb I've heard is that for every million views a video gets, the channel owner will get around $1,000. I've seen people confirm this multiple times (Reddit AMAs, etc). Look at someone ultra popular, like PewDiePie -- he made ~$7 million in 2014. Now, obviously that's an extreme example and most people will never approach his popularity or success. But even making a fraction of that is still very real money.

[Jocephus]

thats an extreme example. id be very surprised if there were 5 others that made 1 million in a year. i definitely could, and probably will, be wrong but i just don't see it.

[Bo Hart]

Of course it's an extreme example. But making 1/100 of $7,000,000 is still $70,000 a year, which is a very comfortable living. Here's the quote from 2012:

People getting rich from posting videos on YouTube isn't news. It's the rate at which it's happening.

"We have thousands of people, now, making six-figure incomes," says Bing Chen, one of the managers of YouTube's Partner Program, which helps amateur video-makers become prosporous. "It's enough for them to create a sustainable business."

A year ago, Chen says, the number of people was just a few hundred. Income earned by YouTube partners, he says, has doubled every year for the past four years. And all kinds of people are cashing in—Pilates instructors, musicians, dog trainers, comedians, chefs and cosmeticians.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/youtube- ... d=17104798

In 2011, hundreds made a six-figure income. In 2012, there were thousands. How many do you think there are today? Some of these channels are likely run by an entity rather than just a single individual (a group of people, or even a business), but still. For the ones that hit it big, it's insane.

[Jocephus]

ok, but that doesn't appear to be solely related to video game streaming and/or twitch. i dont think many of those people are making 70,000. i can only talk about streamers since i have a bit of history on that, i dont know anything about the people who write songs or come up with bits on YT.