An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience.
An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience.
Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could upload videos of themselves in the form of vlogs or Let's Plays. While not all content featured a live audience, users were still able to gain a sizable following and make a living off of their content. Other sites like Twitch increased this popularity by offering innovations such as video clippings and pay-for-play. [1] Due to the potential for high earnings from multiple income streams (e.g., ad revenue sharing, endorsements/partnerships, subscriptions), streaming has become a much-yearned-for career option. [2]
Let's Players have been the most popular streamers by far since the beginning of live streaming. Today, the majority of streamers make their living from doing Let's Plays, live speedruns, and walkthroughs of video games. The biggest video game streamers are PewDiePie and Ninja who make millions of dollars each year just from streaming. [3] [4]
While the majority of professional and part-time streamers play video games, many often do IRL (in real life) streams where they broadcast their daily life. At first, many streaming sites prohibited non-gaming live streams as they thought it would harm the quality of the content on their sites but the demand for non-gaming content grew. [5] Topics include answering questions in front of a computer, streaming from their phone while walking outside, or even doing tutorials. IRL streams are alternatives to viewers who do not necessarily like to play video games. [6]
Virtual avatars, commonly known as VTubers, are a branch of streaming in which virtual avatars, occasionally paired with voice changers, are used instead of the streamer's face. There are multiple companies focused on the promotion, support and merchandising of VTuber talent, including Nijisanji and Hololive Production. In 2020 alone, there were more than 10,000 active VTubers. [7]
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Pornographic streams are a way to directly communicate with porn stars. Camgirls and camboys broadcast while nude or performing sexual acts often on demand from viewers. Sites like Plexstorm have created a niche by streaming video gamers performing or showing sexual content including pornographic games. [8]
Asia has become a big marketplace, especially in South Korea and China.[ citation needed ] For example:
In South Korea, a streamer is called a broadcast jockey or BJ. Broadcast jockeys have become popular over the years in Korea thanks in part to many of them being more relatable to viewers than some celebrities and becoming famous enough to appear on TV shows. While it is common for broadcast jockeys to become national stars, there has been a recent rise in the number of famous Korean idols and celebrities becoming broadcast jockeys either as a way to supplement their career or full-time as they make more money streaming than they would acting or singing. [9] [10] The number of famous stars becoming full-time broadcast jockeys has outpaced the number of part-timers as many prefer freedom over professional offers. [11] Politicians have streaming channels. [12] Korean sites include AfreecaTV, Naver TV, and KakaoTV in addition to worldwide streaming sites like Twitch, YouTube, and Bigo Live.
Mukbang originated in South Korea, as the live-streaming of eating a meal. Global sites like Twitch offer "Social Eating". [13]
China has become the largest marketplace for live streaming. A large number of streamers make $10,000–$100,000 a month without having to be a big name on the Internet. [14] This is due to the large population and the ubiquity of smartphones, where many Chinese citizens prefer to consume their entertainment. The live streaming market grew 180% in 2016 and has grown even more since then. [15] Chinese streaming sites may be restricted to Chinese content and audiences due to the strict Internet rules in the country and the difficulty of cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party. Many Chinese streamers average 100,000 viewers per stream and earn $29,000 per month just by partnering with an agency. [16]
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Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as streaming, the real time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other forms of streamed media, such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos.
Twitch is an American video live-streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to offering music broadcasts, creative content, and "in real life" streams. Twitch is operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon. It was introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand. The games shown on Twitch's current homepage are listed according to audience preference and include genres such as real-time strategy games (RTS), fighting games, racing games, and first-person shooters.
Thomas George Cassell, known online as Syndicate, is an English YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Regarded as one of the earlier known gaming personalities, his videography consists of Let's Play videos on Call of Duty and Minecraft. Born in Manchester, Cassell had passion for a career in the gaming industry, which he started by purchasing gaming equipment using his money from McDonald's. On 3 September 2010, Cassell registered his gaming channel "TheSyndicateProject", where he found success and an online community. His prominence online was recognized by Call of Duty publisher Activision and multi-channel network (MCN) Machinima, where he signed to the network to monetize his content. Cassell's channel achieved substantial growth, passing one million subscribers in June 2012 and one billion views in late 2013. He further expanded his career into livestreaming on Twitch, hosting the same commentary over his gameplays. His Twitch channel became the first to reach one million followers in August 2014.
Mia Malkova is an American pornographic actress and media personality. She has won several awards, including the 2014 AVN Award for the Best New Starlet and the 2017 XBIZ Award for the Best Actress. Malkova has also acted in an Indian pornographic short monologue documentary and an Indian erotic thriller film, both directed by Ram Gopal Varma. By 2022, she had mostly retired from pornography in favor of video game livestreaming on Twitch. Malkova has been described as one of the most popular pornographic actresses in the world.
A mukbang or meokbang, also known as an eating show, is an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. The genre became popular in South Korea in the early 2010s, and has become a global trend since the mid-2010s. Varieties of foods ranging from pizza to noodles are consumed in front of a camera. The purpose of mukbang is also sometimes educational, introducing viewers to regional specialties or gourmet spots.
The live streaming of video games is an activity where people broadcast themselves playing games to a live audience online. The practice became popular in the mid-2010s on the US-based site Twitch, before growing to YouTube, Facebook, China-based sites Huya Live, DouYu, and Bilibili, and other services. By 2014, Twitch streams had more traffic than HBO's online streaming service, HBO Go. Professional streamers often combine high-level play and entertaining commentary, and earn income from sponsors, subscriptions, ad revenue, and donations.
Paul Michael Joseph Denino, better known as Ice Poseidon, is an American Internet personality, and live streamer, primarily of the video game Old School RuneScape and the IRLTooltip Real life genre. His peak prominence came in 2017 when his IRL streams became popular. He is best known for his IRL streams, which he describes as "life streaming". Rolling Stone named Denino as a "pioneer 'life streamer'".
Thomas Jefferson "Chance" Morris IV, known professionally as Sodapoppin, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He has one of the largest followings on Twitch, with over 8.7 million followers and over 398.3 million views as of August 15, 2022; he also has over 1.11 million subscribers and over 444.5 million views on YouTube. According to Social Blade, Morris sits at the number 10 spot for the most followers on Twitch; he also ranks number 15 for the largest total number of views on the platform. He is a co-owner of and content creator for gaming organization One True King.
Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, is a Moroccan-Canadian internet personality.
OfflineTV is an online social entertainment group of content creators based in Los Angeles, California. They produce a wide range of content, from prank videos to vlogs to the housemates playing games together. The group maintains a large following on their social media platforms.
A VTuber or virtual YouTuber is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often—but not always—used to capture movement. The digital trend originated in Japan in the mid-2010s, and has become an international online phenomenon in the 2020s. A majority of VTubers are English and Japanese-speaking YouTubers or live streamers who use avatar designs. By 2020, there were more than 10,000 active VTubers. Although the term is an allusion to the video platform YouTube, they also use websites such as Niconico, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, and Bilibili.
Projekt Melody, or more commonly known as Melody for short, is a 3D anime-styled live streamer, or VTuber, and pornographic actress. She first appeared when her Twitter account opened in July 2019, and she has live streamed on Chaturbate and Twitch since early 2020. During her first three days of Chaturbate streaming, Melody's Twitter followers rose from 700 to over 20,000, and her sudden rise in popularity had mixed reactions. In late 2020, Melody became a founding member of VShojo, one of the first VTuber talent agencies based in the Western world. She describes herself as an artificial intelligence, although she is performed by a real person.
VShojo is an American talent agency that focuses on promoting VTuber content creators based in San Francisco, California. VShojo bills itself as a "talent first" agency, oriented towards providing resources to its talent.
Youna Kang, better known by her online 3D Virtual YouTuber persona CodeMiko and alias The Technician, is a South Korean-American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. Kang is best known for her live streams on Twitch, for interviewing other streamers, content creators, and internet personalities as her alter ego persona CodeMiko, and for pushing the envelope with regards to interactivity in VTuber technology.
Crab Game is a free-to-play video game developed and published by Norwegian indie developer Daniel Sooman, also known as Dani. The game was initially released for Linux and macOS on Itch.io and for Windows on Steam on 29 October 2021; the Linux and macOS editions were later released on Steam on 16 November. Based on the Netflix series Squid Game, players compete with each other in minigames in order to be the last one alive.
Jeremy Elbertson, known online as Jerma985 or Jerma, is an American live streamer, YouTuber, and voice actor known for his elaborate and "borderline surreal" livestreams on Twitch.
Ironmouse is a Puerto Rican-American VTuber, singer, and Twitch streamer. Active since 2017, she is a founding member of the VTuber group VShojo launched in 2020. With over one million followers on Twitch, she is the most-followed English language VTuber on the platform. She also has the record for most subscribed female streamer on Twitch.
The Jerma985 Dollhouse was a livestreamed event created by American streamer Jerma985 that ran between August 18 and 21, 2021. The event took place between three separate livestreams, broadcast on Jerma's Twitch page. The event was modeled after life simulation game franchise The Sims. In the event, the stream viewers were given control over what Jerma does, through the ability to make decisions using a stream extension. The event used status bars—a mechanic from The Sims—that displayed Jerma's needs, such as hygiene and energy. The status bars affected the outcomes of the decisions made by the viewers. Viewers could also choose the location for new furniture additions to the Dollhouse.
Yoo Yoon-jin, known professionally as Jinnytty, is a South Korean online streamer. Jinny is best known for her IRL livestreams on Twitch where she has garnered more than 1,000,000 followers as of March 15th, 2024.
Neuro-sama is a chatbot styled after a female VTuber that hosts livestreams on her creator's Twitch channel "vedal987". Her speech and personality are generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) system which utilizes a large language model, allowing her to communicate with viewers in a live chat. She was created by a computer programmer and AI-developer named Vedal, who decided to build upon the concept of an AI VTuber by combining interactions between AI gameplay and a computer-generated avatar. She debuted on Twitch on 19 December 2022 after four years of development.
