Streamers Leave Twitch For YouTube

The streaming wars are at their peak. Twitch and YouTube are competing for the exclusive broadcasting rights to a number of well-known content creators, some of whom are worth millions of dollars to a platform.

It all started when Ninja decided to leave Twitch in favor of a partnership with Mixer, a now-defunct Microsoft streaming platform. Since then, YouTube has begun to make its own moves. Although YouTube’s early push didn’t include many well-known content creators, broadcasters like CourageJD and Valkyrae have seen enormous growth since joining the platform. YouTube, on the other hand, launched its drive in earnest in the fall of this year, acquiring some of Twitch’s highest-paid content creators, and this, according to YouTube Gaming’s top executive Ryan Wyatt, is just the beginning.

CouRageJD

• While streamers like DrLupo, Lirik, and TimTheTatman were re-signing with Twitch, CourageJD was the first major streamer to make the switch from Twitch to YouTube.

Valkyrae

• Just a few months following Courage’s move to the platform, his fellow 100Thieves member made the move herself. At the time, Valkyrae was among the more popular female content creators on Twitch, but since then she has become one of the biggest gaming streamers overall. She won The Game Award for Content Creator of the Year in 2020, as well as the Adweek Creator Visionary Award for Gaming Creator of the Year in 2021, as a result of her move.

Dr Disrespect

• Dr Disrespect’s move to YouTube was less about a platform battle and more about a problem the Doc had with Twitch. Disrespect was banned from Twitch on June 26, 2020, for reasons that have yet to be revealed, and after a little more than a month, he migrated to YouTube because it was clear he would no longer be allowed on Twitch.

DrLupo

• DrLupo was the first high-profile streamer to move to YouTube in 2021, but he was shortly followed by a pair of content creators who, in the great scheme of things, could prove to be far more influential. DrLupo is recognized for being a family man who routinely utilizes his stream to promote organizations such as St. Jude Children’s Hospital, among other things.

TimTheTatman

• DrLupo’s move to YouTube was swiftly overshadowed by TimTheTatman, who announced his switch to the platform just one day later. Twitch had signed the two for multiyear contracts only a year and a half before. According to payouts revealed in October, TimTheTatman was one of Twitch’s top 10 highest-paid content creators.

Ludwig

• Ludwig left Twitch as one of the most well-paid content creators, earning even more than TimTheTatman, according to leaked payouts. Ludwig was most known for his “Subathon,” which attracted record viewing and subscriber numbers. 

While the addition of a talent like himself would be reason enough for Twitch to be taken seriously, Wyatt stated on Twitter that “we still aren’t done yet,” implying that more signings are on the way.