Fortnite Twitch streamer Ninja is making $500,000 a month

Saw that before. Good for him. Its incredible how much Twitch streaming has taken off in the last few years. People can make pretty good money off of it, as long as they're able to find the right audience.
 
I didn't even know that it costs $4.99 a month to subscribe to a streamers channel...that's crazy...I'm not paying $$ to watch someone's stream when I could do the same thing for free on YouTube or Twitch
 
polonyc2 said:
I didn't even know that it costs $4.99 a month to subscribe to a streamers channel...that's crazy...I'm not paying $$ to watch someone's stream when I could do the same thing for free on YouTube or Twitch
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Generally streamers will give people unique emotes (which are a surprisingly sought after thing), subscribers will generally get to see their username pop up on screen every month they subscribe, if a streamer puts their stream chat into "sub only" mode then only people subbed can chat, some streamers reserve Twitch VODs for subscribers, and so on. If you have your Amazon Prime account linked to Twitch will get a free subscription to any one channel you pick.
 
I don't watch any streams because I'm just opposed to it on principle, but I will rarely watch uploaded clips on Youtube if I'm trying to see if I think a game is worth buying. What always blows me away is when I watch people throw "super chats" or whatever they call them on Twitch, sometimes for $20 or more at a pop. I don't know if Twitch/Youtube/whoever takes a cut of that, but even if they took 50% of it, it's fucking crazy to see how fast people can stuff their wallets because someone is watching them play. I mean whatever, more power to you I guess if that's your thing (watching or streaming) but it just gives me an icky feeling.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
I don't watch any streams because I'm just opposed to it on principle, but I will rarely watch uploaded clips on Youtube if I'm trying to see if I think a game is worth buying. What always blows me away is when I watch people throw "super chats" or whatever they call them on Twitch, sometimes for $20 or more at a pop. I don't know if Twitch/Youtube/whoever takes a cut of that, but even if they took 50% of it, it's fucking crazy to see how fast people can stuff their wallets because someone is watching them play. I mean whatever, more power to you I guess if that's your thing (watching or streaming) but it just gives me an icky feeling.
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For Superchat I believe Youtube takes something like 40% or so. Twitch doesn't take a cut from Paypal donations, but if you buy Bits Twitch gets money from that and takes a cut when they pay out to the streamer. Twitch also takes a 50% cut from subscriptions. So on a $5 sub Twitch will take 2.50. Some streamers also have $10 and $15 level subs, so Twitch will also take half of that.
 
polonyc2 said:
I didn't even know that it costs $4.99 a month to subscribe to a streamers channel...that's crazy...I'm not paying $$ to watch someone's stream when I could do the same thing for free on YouTube or Twitch
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why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
 
Archaea said:
why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
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I sometimes watch quick videos of gameplay before a game comes out to get a sense of the graphics/gameplay...not entire 2-3 hours of streaming
 
Archaea said:
why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
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You can't play every game in the world and sometimes people just don't feel like playing a game when they're relaxing. Or they're doing other stuff while its on. Or any other of a myriad of reasons. I don't see it as any different from watching sports. It's a leisure activity. I tend to enjoy it far more than pretty much anything on TV these days. A lot of times I'll throw something on while I'm playing a game, if its a game that doesn't have a lot of cutscenes or something. Or I'll put it on while I'm in bed and use it to wind down before I get tired enough to sleep.
 
Sometimes I watch speedrunners but that's about it. I don't enjoy games being spoiled for me. Making 500k a month streaming a video game is kind of crazy, good for him though, hopefully he saves his money for when his channel dies off.
 
I've never even heard of this person before.
polonyc2 said:
I didn't even know that it costs $4.99 a month to subscribe to a streamers channel...that's crazy...I'm not paying $$ to watch someone's stream when I could do the same thing for free on YouTube or Twitch
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You don't need to subscribe to watch people. Subscribing just gives you "look at me" perks in the subscribed channel. Hell, you don't even have to be logged in to watch streams.
Lmah2x said:
Sometimes I watch speedrunners but that's about it. I don't enjoy games being spoiled for me. Making 500k a month streaming a video game is kind of crazy, good for him though, hopefully he saves his money for when his channel dies off.
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Same. Only "big" streamer I watched before was Nadeshot, but I got tired of his assholery just like every other streamer out there that gains a large following. I just watch smaller speedrunners these days.
 
I'm a huge fan of Kripparrian and I'm sure that dude is making bank. The reason why I watch him is simply because he's one of the best at what he does. He provides useful insight and is very detailed especially in competitive online gaming.
 
Archaea said:
why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
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Why would anyone watch sports? Get off your ass and go play the game, right? I find watching sports (any sports) incredibly boring and would much rather go play a game of football outside with my friends yet some people love to watch it. I enjoy watching certain youtube streamers because

a) they play games I have no interest in actually spending money on but would like to see it played. RE7 is a good example, I hate playing horror games but I loved watching some of my favorite youtuber groups play it
b) the commentary/banter is just as entertaining as the game itself. For reference one group I like is achievement hunter/Let's Play, its the fact that most times they have 4-6 people playing together with some very good bantering and self made games within a game that makes it fun to watch, not the game they are playing.
c) They play on a level I cant, some streamers are just really REALLY good at what they play, they are at a level I probably wont/dont want to reach but its fun to watch much higher level skill play.
 
Ragenrok said:
Why would anyone watch sports? Get off your ass and go play the game, right? I find watching sports (any sports) incredibly boring and would much rather go play a game of football outside with my friends yet some people love to watch it.
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Well yeah, I guess that's a fair comparison. I dislike watching professional sports as I feel the same way about them as I do about watching games. I like to play sports, not watch them. :)
 
Archaea said:
Well yeah, I guess that's a fair comparison. I dislike watching professional sports as I feel the same way about them as I do about watching games. I like to play sports, not watch them. :)
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ya, again for me I think the biggest reason I like youtube (atleats the channels I sub to) is the commentary of the people in it. I enjoy the games, I love the banter and stupidity of the people playing them lol
 
I think he's making $500k/month on twitch subscriptions alone right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he's over a million dollars a month after the other twitch money, donations and youtube earnings.

But he just recently exploded in popularity so he probably doesn't have a lot of that money. Twitch doesn't even pay out until 60 days after the earnings.
 
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Definitely enjoy watching competitive games played at a high level. This is in response to the why would you watch someone else play crowd.
 
I'm in the wrong business plus old people are hard to market the world revolves around youth and cheesy games.
Twitch Eyeball wars....
 
sharknice said:
I think he's making $500k/month on twitch subscriptions alone right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he's over a million dollars a month after the other twitch money, donations and youtube earnings.

But he just recently exploded in popularity so he probably doesn't have a lot of that money. Twitch doesn't even pay out until 60 days after the earnings.
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Poor guy...
 
polonyc2 said:
I didn't even know that it costs $4.99 a month to subscribe to a streamers channel...that's crazy...I'm not paying $$ to watch someone's stream when I could do the same thing for free on YouTube or Twitch
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It's not that crazy.

Archaea said:
why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
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For a single player game, a lot of people do not want to shell out for a game that may frustrate them or they may not have the time to invest being good in when they can watch someone run through the story for them. This is no different than watching a movie.

For a multi player game, there are only so many of them you can invest time to become good at, so watching someone who is competent play can be enjoyable. This is no different than watching sports.

Me, I was tournament grade at Quake and Street Fighter back in the day but I'm old now. I don't have the reflexes or reaction time I once did, and I don't have the time to invest in ONE fighting game I once did, let alone the six I find highly entertaining. I can however let them stream in the background while at working or while cooking and studying at night and if I matchup I want to see comes on take a break and enjoy it.
 
polonyc2 said:
I didn't even know that it costs $4.99 a month to subscribe to a streamers channel...that's crazy...I'm not paying $$ to watch someone's stream when I could do the same thing for free on YouTube or Twitch
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I'm subbed to several streamers, I like the banter and personality of some of them. To me its more engaging background noise than regular TV, I just put a stream on when I'm relaxing like one might put on the daily news or something. Its also interesting to see very high skill level players and learning by watching them.
 
LigTasm said:
I'm subbed to several streamers, I like the banter and personality of some of them. To me its more engaging background noise than regular TV, I just put a stream on when I'm relaxing like one might put on the daily news or something. Its also interesting to see very high skill level players and learning by watching them.
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nothing wrong with following streamers but my point is you could find similar ones for free on YouTube, Twitch etc...I find that I hate the really popular streamers like PewDiePie but I enjoy listening to smaller, less popular ones like FightinCowboy or Alyce Rocha...I only watch videos for games I already completed as I hate spoilers...it's fun watching people struggle or simply play parts that you found challenging or fun...now that I think of it I usually only watch Dark Souls gameplay videos after I've beaten the game
 
polonyc2 said:
nothing wrong with following streamers but my point is you could find similar ones for free on YouTube, Twitch etc...I find that I hate the really popular streamers like PewDiePie but I enjoy listening to smaller, less popular ones like FightinCowboy or Alyce Rocha...I only watch videos for games I already completed as I hate spoilers...it's fun watching people struggle or simply play parts that you found challenging or fun...now that I think of it I usually only watch Dark Souls gameplay videos after I've beaten the game
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I avoid giving youtube as many of my clicks as possible considering they demonetize and censor the shit out of (or completely remove) many of the channels I once watched. Their extreme-left bias is getting more and more obvious by the day and I won't support that behavior unless I absolutely can't find what I'm looking for elsewhere.
 
Crazy to think we had a few thousand watch my teams bf2 Cal championship eons ago. I thought that was wild. We had announcers and everything. Too bad battlefield isn't one of the popular twitch games.
 
polonyc2 said:
nothing wrong with following streamers but my point is you could find similar ones for free on YouTube, Twitch
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Some people like to support those who give them hours and hours of entertainment, even if there might be free options elsewhere. There are many old school youtubers who used to produce very high quality gaming content but had to stop as they couldn't support themselves financially solely on it. Some of them might still be around if they had a system like twitch subscriptions in place.

LigTasm said:
I avoid giving youtube. Their extreme-left bias is getting more and more obvious by the day and I won't support that behavior unless I absolutely can't find what I'm looking for elsewhere.
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You know it's the advertisers that demanded those changes right? YT is simply doing what their paying customers, the advertisers who pay them millions of dollars, asked them to do else they would pull their money.
 
Drexion said:
You know it's the advertisers that demanded those changes right? YT is simply doing what their paying customers, the advertisers who pay them millions of dollars, asked them to do else they would pull their money.
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You live in a literal fairy tale if you think that. First off, if it was just advertisers then they would simply be demonetized, not censored, blocked, banned, and removed. Second, you might want to do a wee bit of research and find out just who exactly youtube hired to decide which videos are "offensive", its been talked about before on this site. Google owns youtube, and they 100% censor and shape your searches. Why you think their video platform would be different is beyond me.
 
Derangel said:
Generally streamers will give people unique emotes (which are a surprisingly sought after thing), subscribers will generally get to see their username pop up on screen every month they subscribe, if a streamer puts their stream chat into "sub only" mode then only people subbed can chat, some streamers reserve Twitch VODs for subscribers, and so on. If you have your Amazon Prime account linked to Twitch will get a free subscription to any one channel you pick.
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You're talking as if any of those things would justify paying for this to us.
 
Archaea said:
why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
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I'm not a Twitch watcher, nor am I a follower of the streaming community, but this viewpoint is really nonsensical.

Why would I watch a cooking show if I can just go in the kitchen and cook it myself if I've got the time to watch the show?
Why would I read a book if I can just write my own?

The point is entertainment. Some people enjoy watching people play games at expert levels, or because they just enjoy the streamers personality and how they present to their audience. As others have said, not everyone plays every single game that comes out, so maybe they just will tune into their favorite streamer to see what a specific game is about.
 
polonyc2 said:
nothing wrong with following streamers but my point is you could find similar ones for free on YouTube, Twitch etc...I find that I hate the really popular streamers like PewDiePie but I enjoy listening to smaller, less popular ones like FightinCowboy or Alyce Rocha...I only watch videos for games I already completed as I hate spoilers...it's fun watching people struggle or simply play parts that you found challenging or fun...now that I think of it I usually only watch Dark Souls gameplay videos after I've beaten the game
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You may enjoy watching Gopher (YouTube) then.
 
A lot of the great clips and content for your game of choice that pops up on Reddit, forums, or Youtube often gets clipped from streams like this. While I'm not really interested in watching hours of someone else playing a game, I've definitely gotten entertainment, strategy, and information about various games by watching various streamer clips. In general, if it's a competitive game then the good players are going to get a lot of viewers if they stream, and streamers have a lot more time to play; you might as well learn what you can and improve. Sometimes these guys are doing things you simply hadn't thought to do, or hadn't had the play time to reason out or develop; it can help your game immensely.

All that said, Ninja comes off as some sort of adderall-infused bad-mannered jackass from what I've seen of his stream and I don't enjoy watching his videos no matter how good some of his plays might be. TSM_Myth also streams Fortnite is quite enjoyable to watch.
 
Archaea said:
why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
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too much work.

video games are awfull to play. :inpain:

im FREE to do other tasks while twitch is on.
 
Archaea said:
why would you watch anyone play games anyway? I never understood the concept. If I have free time I'M GOING TO PLAY THE GAME --- not watch someone else play the game???
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Old fart says, "Are you watching someone play a video game?"

...

Young person retorts, "Don't you watch someone else play football?"
 
I find some guys who do YouTube play throughs of games incredibly entertaining. It all comes down to the person doing it, not necessarily the game.

For instance, I just finished Subnautica and found it to be one of the best single player experiences ever.

Needs Gaming has a series that's just about finished but their "cast" is incredibly talented and entertaining and they've actually improved the experience by making it like the guy in the game is talking to "mission control" back on Earth the whole time helping him through the experience. It's basically like a episodic TV show just using the game as the base canvas.

So many people just look at it as simply watching other people play video games but it CAN be SO much more than that.
 
There is enough thoughtful professionally produced content to watch on Netflix Amazon prime Hulu and porn hub. No way I’m paying to watch someone else play video games.
 
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