Professional Gamer Ninja Switched Streaming Platform

Winston Fairchild

2019-08-06

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Just imagine! The most followed gamer known as Ninja (his full name is Tyler Blevins) has managed to bring one million active subscribers to a free video-game streaming website Mixer. He has made a new streaming dwelling of this platform instead of Twitch. Announcement of this decision became a kind of a signal for his followers to take up the lead.

What about the platform?

Microsoft launches this service as an analog of Twitch and YouTube, but it is not the same. Although up to now a number of its users was not as large as the audience of other two, Mixer has been gaining popularity thick and fast since 2016. Mostly, it is meant for gaming providing the content and conditions both for amateurs and professional gamers. Even game creators show their interest in it.

Probably, its key competitive advantage is integration with Xbox One and Windows 10 dashboards. Such virtues allow subscribers using these platforms to stream. In addition, here, you will get efficient and comprehensive monetization options for streamers.

The inner currency Sparks can be earned if you view streams and those points can be transferred into real money. There are also various useful tools including Embers allowing to purchase digital emotes and donate them. But YouTube and Twitch have much more solid viewership base, and the difference is really big. This options can be vital for the duration of high Blevins’ viewership. Let’s wait and see.

Power of Authority

It was highly questionable as to Blevins’ fans. Last week the streaming community kept an eye on this event wondering whether all subscribers of Ninja would follow him in switching from a more reputable Amazon platform Twitch, for smaller Mixer. Just in five days, one million subscribers joined another streaming client together with their cult-figure. As you understand, this is a prove of Ninja’s popularity. Here the personal brand turns to be more critically important compared to the benefits of the web service. But, if the features disappoint the users, it is quite possible that they will refuse their choice and return to Twitch. We’ll find out the final result of this action in a couple of months. Indeed, Mixer is a sound service, but it needs more big names to attract attention. Perhaps, this case will be a precedent, and we can expect some other efforts to leave Twitch soon.

Incredible support or a clever promotion?

Well, this headline event has a reverse of the coin. Mixer suggested two free months of subscriptions to a Blevins’ channel – a kind of promotion attracting new users. After the free period is over, the price will be as usual, and we’ll see how many subscribers agree on it.

We are waiting for a battle: personal brand vs. the benefits of the platform. As an example in favor of Blevins, we can remember that this gamer attracted over 3 million subscribers on YouTube in a month after his success in playing Fortnite last year. And now he can boast of 22 million fans.

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