AOC eclipses 300,000 viewers while talking about GameStop, stock trading on Twitch

U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) was at it again on Twitch last night. But unlike her previous appearance on the platform where gaming and socializing came first, last night was all about business. 

Specifically, she came online to discuss the week’s retail stock trading, which has been trending on social media and the news because of volatile price swings in highly-shorted companies like GameStop. 

While the first hour of her stream was plagued with technical issues that forced her to turn off the stream for a period of time, Ocasio-Cortez ended the evening with two hours worth of airtime that averaged more than 200,000 viewers, according to Twitch tracking site SullyGnome.

With more than 600,000 unique views, AOC peaked at 308,422 viewers for the evening. 

To provide a variety of voices on the hot button issue, Ocasio-Cortez effectively played hostess for the broadcast and brought on a few knowledgeable individuals to talk about how stocks work and explain Reddit’s influence in recent events. Among the people she spoke with were financial analyst Alexis Goldstein, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and Twitch streamer TheStockGuy.

Prior to last night, Ocasio-Cortez’s appearances on Twitch involved heavy interaction with popular streamers playing social games like Among Us. Her first stream came right before the general election last year when went on Twitch as a way to tell people to get out and vote.

This time around, the congresswoman took a significantly more direct and dedicated approach in speaking to her audience about a political topic that can’t necessarily be explained in a few posts on Twitter.

It’s no surprise that AOC has been able to gain traction on Twitch as a platform. As the youngest member of the 116th U.S. Congress, she’s shown an acute awareness of how to connect with the country’s youth demographics. 

While other politicians like former President Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders have started Twitch channels, they’ve struggled to use the platform in an organic way that attracts the attention of viewers.