(2020-04-08) The Rise Of Lifestyle Streamers

Jonathan Lai and Andrew Chen: The Rise of Lifestyle Streamers. Historically, livestreaming has been synonymous with gaming. Twitch and Mixer.

Over the past two years, for example, a category on Twitch dubbed “Just Chatting”—in which streamers chat with their viewers in real time—has grown nearly four times as quickly as Twitch overall (Still only 1/10 the usage, though.)

Witness the rise of a new class of influencer: the lifestyle streamer. This category encompasses a broad variety of interests, from travel to fitness to finance.

The best lifestyle streamers engage fans and make them feel like an active participant in an intimate community, rather than a detached viewer.

In contrast, while top game streamers can draw massive audiences, the cognitive load required for gaming means relatively less time to engage viewers.

The top revenue sources for livestreamers have traditionally been:
Subscriptions
Advertising
Donations
Sponsorships

A deeper relationship with fans, as well as the ability to respond to an audience in real-time for certain types of content, means the majority of income comes from donations. (patronage)

The top Just Chatting streamer of 2019, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, makes roughly $1,188 an hour on “Media Share Mondays,” an all-day event in which he watches YouTube videos hand-selected by his fans

Similarly, many lifestyle streamers sell companionship directly to their audience, either by playing games with fans or booking time off-platform.

on marketplaces like Fiverr, streamers offer coaching on subjects ranging from fitness to photography to personal finance.

Livestreaming commerce is an emerging revenue channel that is ripe for growth. Previously, my partners have called ecommerce the “killer app” for video platforms; similarly, it’s a growing source of income for livestreamers. Many streamers are viewed as tastemakers and recommend products to their audience in exchange for commissions