Ludwig has again chimed in on the streaming war between Twitch and YouTube following some movement by creators from Twitch to YouTube at the end of the summer.
In a 13-minute video he used a picker wheel to name, Ludwig discussed how “YouTube is killing Twitch” by signing more of its creators to exclusive deals.
In recent weeks, the platform has added FaZe Swagg and Fuslie, and some have speculated that a recent stunt by the popular Fortnite player Ninja could signal he is on the move as well.
Related: All high-profile streamers to leave Twitch or YouTube Gaming
In discussing those who have come over, Ludwig suspected that YouTube’s strategy thus far has been to get people who are “in the same ecosystem” so that viewers don’t stop watching someone who previously streamed on Twitch, in favor of their friend who might still be a Twitch streamer. This especially pertains to streamers like LilyPichu, Sykkuno, and Fuslie all joining at around the same time.
“Communities are moving over,” he said. “Rather than what seems to happen when large creators leave, is they all just go to the next biggest creator in the group.”
Diving into the matter, Ludwig listed what he believes are the three main complaints viewers have of streamers who leave Twitch for YouTube.
- You are going to fall off on YouTube.
- You are switching to YouTube for the bag, not for the community.
- YouTube is a worse livestreaming experience.
Of the three topics, perhaps the most provocative comments Ludwig had involved the perception that YouTubers “fall off.” Conceding that live viewership on YouTube is more difficult to sustain, Ludwig noted that being a content creator is about a lot more than just live viewership.
In fact, Ludwig went as far as to downplay the idea that live viewership matters at all.
“I don’t know why people watch livestreams to be honest,” he said. “I love streaming, but videos are so goated, man. They’re so good. … What I’ve realized is live viewership doesn’t matter at all … The only way it matters is it’s generally a metric that can correlate to how much money you’ll make because of the subscriber count and sponsorship money.”
Ludwig noted that in his switch to YouTube, the number of viewers he gets on his uploaded videos has increased significantly, despite his live viewership remaining relatively stagnant.
He added that there are strong examples of creators with less-than-spectacular live viewership who consistently upload YouTube videos and make money through reeling in massive numbers. Among the streamers he mentioned were DisguisedToast, during his time on Facebook, and SypherPK.
As one might expect, Ludwig is more confident in YouTube’s ability to outlast Twitch, but he finished his comments by mentioning that YouTube won’t be able to do that until it can begin to attract streamers to swap platforms without having to sign them.
“I don’t think we’re going to see that change for a couple of years,” Ludwig said.
