I don't watch streamers so I'm not super invested in the advertising/capitalism side, but I'm glad that people are surfacing just how much these people are sometimes getting paid to play their...
I don't watch streamers so I'm not super invested in the advertising/capitalism side, but I'm glad that people are surfacing just how much these people are sometimes getting paid to play their games. When top stars like Ninja stick with a game for a long period of time but never disclose that they are being paid what may be upwards of a million dollars (on-top of the money they already get off people watching their stream), it's a bit deceptive.
Now a game company that has the money to do that is probably selling a good product, but it does raise the barrier to entry for truly fantastic but smaller studio games as at some point they may not be able to afford the streamers as this kind of behavior becomes more mainstream.
One nice thing that I have seen is that many of these streamers already make so much money off their fan base that they have made videos talking about how they approach these deals and why they choose to accept or turn them down.
What I'm most worried about are streamers who haven't quite taken off yet, but have enough of a fan pull to be more easily swayed by large buckets of cash and willing to sell out. Without clear guidelines on these platforms (or through some sort of trade union or driven by top streamers) this could get messy.
It's a really interesting topic. There are all these new internet/social-media-based forms of advertising via "influencers". Some companies have already figured out how to take advantage of it,...
It's a really interesting topic. There are all these new internet/social-media-based forms of advertising via "influencers". Some companies have already figured out how to take advantage of it, but regulations haven't even started catching up, and I think a lot of viewers don't realize how pervasive it is.
I mentioned this a few months ago, but I think we're especially going to start seeing some weird cases when some of the currently famous influencers start having their popularity drop off, because they'll probably be willing to endorse some shady stuff to keep getting paid after the high-end offers dry up.
honestly, i have no clue how regulation in general is gonna handle some of the new models of advertising/fundraising being used by companies. the rise of alternative media and social media...
Some companies have already figured out how to take advantage of it, but regulations haven't even started catching up, and I think a lot of viewers don't realize how pervasive it is.
honestly, i have no clue how regulation in general is gonna handle some of the new models of advertising/fundraising being used by companies. the rise of alternative media and social media combined with the collapse of the traditional advertising model on the internet and the rise of anti-ad sentiments and adblockers has basically created a thunderdome of new throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks-best advertising models that are all over the place and some of which are going to be next to impossible to wrangle in. influencer culture seems to just be the most prominent model of the lot.
Not really surprising. The surprising thing, 10 years ago, was the rise of people watching other people play games on the internet. Nobody expected this, really, despite it making about as much...
Not really surprising. The surprising thing, 10 years ago, was the rise of people watching other people play games on the internet. Nobody expected this, really, despite it making about as much sense as people watching other people play football.
The rest is just advertising. Millions of people watching? Millions of dollars.
I wouldn't be surprised if streamer eyeballs are far more valuable than eyeballs on conventional TV or internet ads. The average consumer isn't likely to buy a game just because they saw an ad for...
I wouldn't be surprised if streamer eyeballs are far more valuable than eyeballs on conventional TV or internet ads. The average consumer isn't likely to buy a game just because they saw an ad for it. I think the average twitch user is extremely likely to buy a game if their favorite streamer is playing it though.
Yeah this is why targeted advertising is king and why there's been so much surveillance in service of ads. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it's a marketer that has to create an ad and target...
Yeah this is why targeted advertising is king and why there's been so much surveillance in service of ads. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it's a marketer that has to create an ad and target it and they do it so so so so badly that they piss away 50+% of their ad budget.
Demoing a game on Twitch for gamers is like the perfect advertisement. It's kind of like certain types of beer being advertised and discounted for sports events. You wouldn't drink wine to watch an NBA game, you'd drink an insert beer brand name here or whatever.
It makes perfect sense when you think of streamers as ad slots. How much would you pay to get an hour advert put in front of 1 million people? $50,000 seems like a bargain.
It makes perfect sense when you think of streamers as ad slots. How much would you pay to get an hour advert put in front of 1 million people? $50,000 seems like a bargain.
Is this similar to someone receiving a game for free and reviewing it? Or is it closer to "here's swag and cash, play our game and give us a good to awesome review"?
Is this similar to someone receiving a game for free and reviewing it? Or is it closer to "here's swag and cash, play our game and give us a good to awesome review"?
I don't watch streamers so I'm not super invested in the advertising/capitalism side, but I'm glad that people are surfacing just how much these people are sometimes getting paid to play their games. When top stars like Ninja stick with a game for a long period of time but never disclose that they are being paid what may be upwards of a million dollars (on-top of the money they already get off people watching their stream), it's a bit deceptive.
Now a game company that has the money to do that is probably selling a good product, but it does raise the barrier to entry for truly fantastic but smaller studio games as at some point they may not be able to afford the streamers as this kind of behavior becomes more mainstream.
One nice thing that I have seen is that many of these streamers already make so much money off their fan base that they have made videos talking about how they approach these deals and why they choose to accept or turn them down.
What I'm most worried about are streamers who haven't quite taken off yet, but have enough of a fan pull to be more easily swayed by large buckets of cash and willing to sell out. Without clear guidelines on these platforms (or through some sort of trade union or driven by top streamers) this could get messy.
It's a really interesting topic. There are all these new internet/social-media-based forms of advertising via "influencers". Some companies have already figured out how to take advantage of it, but regulations haven't even started catching up, and I think a lot of viewers don't realize how pervasive it is.
I mentioned this a few months ago, but I think we're especially going to start seeing some weird cases when some of the currently famous influencers start having their popularity drop off, because they'll probably be willing to endorse some shady stuff to keep getting paid after the high-end offers dry up.
honestly, i have no clue how regulation in general is gonna handle some of the new models of advertising/fundraising being used by companies. the rise of alternative media and social media combined with the collapse of the traditional advertising model on the internet and the rise of anti-ad sentiments and adblockers has basically created a thunderdome of new throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks-best advertising models that are all over the place and some of which are going to be next to impossible to wrangle in. influencer culture seems to just be the most prominent model of the lot.
Not really surprising. The surprising thing, 10 years ago, was the rise of people watching other people play games on the internet. Nobody expected this, really, despite it making about as much sense as people watching other people play football.
The rest is just advertising. Millions of people watching? Millions of dollars.
I wouldn't be surprised if streamer eyeballs are far more valuable than eyeballs on conventional TV or internet ads. The average consumer isn't likely to buy a game just because they saw an ad for it. I think the average twitch user is extremely likely to buy a game if their favorite streamer is playing it though.
I think I'm gonna steal that line in the future, lol.
Yeah this is why targeted advertising is king and why there's been so much surveillance in service of ads. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it's a marketer that has to create an ad and target it and they do it so so so so badly that they piss away 50+% of their ad budget.
Demoing a game on Twitch for gamers is like the perfect advertisement. It's kind of like certain types of beer being advertised and discounted for sports events. You wouldn't drink wine to watch an NBA game, you'd drink an insert beer brand name here or whatever.
It makes perfect sense when you think of streamers as ad slots. How much would you pay to get an hour advert put in front of 1 million people? $50,000 seems like a bargain.
Is this similar to someone receiving a game for free and reviewing it? Or is it closer to "here's swag and cash, play our game and give us a good to awesome review"?