Many Streamers Saw the Benefits of Ninja's Mixer Move on Christmas
This year saw a massive shift in both content creators and viewers for gaming content online, as Microsoft's Mixer signed exclusive contracts with top streamers in order to compete with Amazon's Twitch. As a result, the life of many streamers has changed, thanks to these contracts and the way they have affected viewership of both sites.
Some of the highest level streamers have taken contracts that give them a little more freedom over how they run their channel, and others gaining new attention due to the loss of some of Twitch's heaviest hitters. It's been nearly a net win for most of the content creators involved, with one of the biggest perks of the deals becoming clearly apparent on Christmas this year.
One of the biggest name, if not the biggest, to make the move from Twitch to Mixer is Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, the top Fortnite streamer on Twitch before moving to Mixer. As a result of the exclusive contract that Ninja signed, he's been given some freedom when it comes to running his streams that he didn't have as an independent partner on Twitch. This freedom can be seen on Ninja's Mixer channel where his channel is displaying "Streams resume in 2020. Happy New Year Ninjas <3", which means that after his last stream on December 28th, he will be taking a break for days through a holiday.
This is the kind of vacation that would regularly be impossible for an unsigned streamer, since holidays would have a massive impact on a streamer's income thanks to donations and subscriptions earned during a high viewership period. However, many of the contracts that Mixer has signed with streamers means that since they have an additional income aside from the donations of fans, the streamers are free to take a break during holidays for once. Although, this clearly isn't always the case, and there are other reasons why a streamer may decide to go live on everyone else's day off.
As mentioned before, holidays are an incredibly lucrative time for streamers looking to advance their growth or earn a nice bonus for the holidays. That bonus generally comes in the form of donations from fans and viewers, via either Bits on Twitch, Sparks on Mixer, or just direct donations through whatever means the streamer might have set up. Additionally, fans can pay to subscribe to channels on either site for a fee that is then split between the site and the streamer, and gives the subscriber access to special abilities, like emotes and chat access.
Holidays in particular are such a good source of this income for streamers thanks to the fact that they get more viewers on those holidays, a trend that some streamers take advantage of during the season to raise money for charity. Streamers generally have to find the best time of day to go live for most of the year, often choosing evenings and weekends to be the best times to get online since more viewers will be available to watch at those times. However, on holidays, less people are at work and therefore have more time to spend watching their favorite stream, which means more viewers, donations, and subscriptions for the streamer.
If a streamer is working independently as a partner as opposed to being under contract with a negotiated salary, they might need that extra money earned on a big holiday like Christmas in order to level out the year. However, if a streamer is under contract, then they have a steady income thanks to their contract, and as a result, donations and subscriptions are a lower priority than simply fulfilling the duties of the agreement. This is how a streamer like Ninja can get confidently celebrate Christmas and New Years offline without worrying about what it might mean for his bottom line, thanks to his contract and official endorsements.
It should be noted that while Ninja has been the primary focus of conversation here, he is far from the only one to take a break on Christmas day. Many of Mixer's top featured partners also took the day of on December 25th, likely looking to spend time with family and friends for the first time since joining their online communities. Some of the big names that went offline on Christmas include Qwerdy, KingGothalion, and Spartakus, some of the most popular content creators on the platform in general.
Aside from Ninja, one of the other biggest streamers to leave Twitch for Mixer this year was Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek, an ex-professional Counter Strike: Global Offensive player who now streams a variety of FPS games. Shroud similarly made headlines when he made signed on with Mixer and instantly becoming one of the most popular content creators on the site. However, even though Shroud signed a similar contract as Ninja and should have been able to comfortably step back on Christmas day, he still decided to go live.
Since the specifics of Shroud's contract are confidential, it can't be stated for fact that he had the option to not stream that day, but considering how other signed streamers took Christmas off, it's easy to speculate that he was free to do so as well. That being said, Shroud's Christmas stream would have earned him some extra views, donation, and subscriptions, and with other streamers taking the day off, he would have an advantage for the high-traffic day.
The question still remains of whether or not this pattern of big name streamers taking the holidays off will continue in the future. For those that can afford to miss a day that promises so many views and so much attention, this might be the new trend with big name streamers. While there will always be outliers like Shroud, many streamers who feel they need to consistently stream every day may find it freeing to be able to take days off to spend with family and friends.
This could also mean a boon for smaller streamers on these days, as a wider viewing audience will be appearing to engage with a more varied set of streamers. Additionally, some streamers might be more inclined to start signing on with Mixer now that they see what the stability of a contract can do for days they may want to take off. However, it is fairly common among Twitch and Mixer communities for streamers to want tospend celebratory days with their fans. Although, that is often more of the case with smaller communities than the ones gathered around Ninja and Shroud than small-time streamers.
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