In one of the most historic exclusivity deals signed by a streamer yet, Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg has announced that he will only be streaming on YouTube from now on (or at least until his contract expires or is violated). PewDiePie has long been the Google-owned video platform's most popular independent content creator, and now YouTube will be the only place where his fans can watch his streaming antics.
This is an unprecedented move for either party, with PewDiePie having aired out his qualms with the way that the platform that made his career a possibility rolled out policies to deter online harrassment, prompting him to dramatically take a month-long break from publishing YouTube videos late last year. This latest announcement makes it apparent that Kjellberg's move ultimately made an impression on YouTube. The platform has grown into the single most popular video outlet on the internet, but it's fallen well behind competitor Twitch in the emerging streaming market in recent years.
Today, YouTube Gaming proudly revealed its intentions to make up for streaming viewership shortfalls with Kjellberg's popularity, playfully asking viewers, "Guess who's streaming exclusively on YouTube now?" Accompanying the tweet is a picture of PewDiePie's signature "bro fist" move, a longstanding in-joke between himself and his dozens of millions of YouTube fans. Per YouTube, he joins fellow streamers CouRage, Lachlan, LazarBeam, Muselk, Typical Gamer, and Valkyrae in exclusively streaming on the platform. Kjellberg's official statement on his new career move reads:
“YouTube has been my home for over a decade now and live streaming on the platform feels like a natural fit as I continue to look for new ways to create content and interact with fans worldwide. Live streaming is something I'm focusing a lot on in 2020 and beyond, so to be able to partner with YouTube and be at the forefront of new product features is special and exciting for the future.”
This is even more surprising when putting it into the context of PewDiePie's wider career, which predates streaming's meteoric rise. Once only popular for his goofy, random behavior in Happy Wheels Let's Plays and hamming up his fear of every pixel while playing horror titles like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, it would have been hard to predict that his account would one day be the second ever to hit 100 million subscribers. YouTube's warm embrace of Kjellberg was even harder to predict after he invited a long string of controversies into his life over the past few years, including his infamous racist remarks and anti-semitic actions, his aforementioned butting of heads with common-sense YouTube moderation, and what some claim to be a noticeable increase in radicalization among his viewer base as a result of his content's shift in focus.
Whether or not this is the deal that PewDiePie was actively trying to coax with his temporary hiatus, his partnership with YouTube has now entered a completely new phase with this streaming exclusivity contract. If it's to be as successful as possible for each party, PewDiePie would do well to stick to his refined sense of humor and avoiding further heated gamer moments on-stream, as it would be quite embarrassing for YouTube to once again have to publicly keep its biggest client in line.
Source: YouTube Gaming
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May 05, 2020 at 06:09AM
