It may come as no surprise, but Twitch viewership at the tail end of 2019 took a steep nosedive. Despite seeing major growth over the course of the year, quarter four failed to surpass last year’s numbers for total hours watched. Twitch reports 2.3 million hours watched this year, which is some 300,000 hours less than 2018.

What could have been a record-breaking end to the calendar year for Twitch was thwarted by the departure of some of the platform’s biggest names. Among those who left Twitch for rival streaming services during the course of the year are Ninja and Shroud—both leaving to join Microsoft’s Mixer a few months ago.

As two of the biggest names in streaming today, both Ninja and Shroud both attract cult-like followings thanks to their affable on-stream personalities and in-game expertise. Fortnite is the game that helped them, and many others, rise to internet stardom, but it’s their quality content that makes their streams stand out. So ubiquitously watched are their streams, in fact, that both Ninja and Shroud were issued offers from nearly every major streaming platform. Mixer is where they both landed. 

As a result, Twitch was left with a Ninja-shaped hole in their content that few, if any, were equipped to fill. To make matters worse, the likes of Youtube and Facebook Gaming cast their nets around a few other notable Twitch personalities. CouRage, DisguisedToast, and Valkyrae were also among those who ditched Twitch for a competing platform.

Reasons given by the streamers for leaving Twitch vary greatly, but it’s difficult to see anything besides money weighing into a decision like this. It isn’t exactly clear how much money major streamers were offered to jump ship, but it’s speculated that players like Ninja could have received $10-$30 million. Others may not be quite that fortunate, but it’s safe to say anyone who was awarded a contract was compensated handsomely for their newfound allegiance.

Related: Facebook Gaming and Mixer Start Gnawing On Twitch's Lunch

In the wake of this trade war for content creators, Twitch took the biggest hit. Twitch was also the most well off before the conflict, so the news isn’t exactly coming as a shock to anyone that’s followed the streaming community over the past few months.

The inverse effect was seen on other platforms. Many other services are still working to find their footing, but the arrival of new personalities certainly helped get them up and moving. For instance, CouRage JD’s move to YouTube Gaming coincides with a spike in viewership. Although, as TechCrunch suggests, a direct correlation between the CouRage’s arrival and the jump in hours watched may be more easily attributed to new variations in content such as broadcasting esports events.

A similar story is told on all other platforms. While Twitch is still the king of streaming content for the moment, it’s clear that competitors will do anything it takes to get their seat at the table. It may never be a fair match, but at least the market is big enough to share at the moment.

Source: TheVerge

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