Yesterday, Ninja accidentally posted a test stream on YouTube, and minutes later, it was made private. This hints at the possibility of him moving permanently to Google's video-sharing platform and is testing its service.
According to Jessica Blevins, Ninja’s wife, and also manager, an official announcement will come this week. There are speculations that this might be about Ninja’s exclusive streaming deal.
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In an interview with Business Insider in October last year, Ninja said his contract with Twitch was too restrictive, which prevents his reach outside of the gaming field.
This deal with Ninja may set YouTube back big time. According to CNN, Microsoft paid him between $20 million (Rs 2 crore) and $30 million (Rs 3 crore) to stream on its platform Mixer.
YouTube has already had deals with a handful of famous streamers like Valkyrae and CouRage of 100 Thieves. YouTube’s presence in the gaming field is being reinforced. In 2019, it announced the merger of YouTube Gaming and the main YouTube app, which has nearly doubled viewership for the category.
Between Q1 and Q4 of 2019, the gaming arm of the world's largest video platform saw an increase of 46% in viewership. The change could be felt after the third quarter when the app was merged with the main site. Facebook Gaming’s viewing hours also grow but it still has a hard time competing with YouTube, which has around 2 billion users each month.
It is true most of the viewership on the platform comes from non-gaming and on-demand videos, but it doesn’t mean the platform has no standing in gaming. YouTube creators do more than just duplicate what makes them successful on Twitch. They are now exploring the on-demand culture of the platform to diversify their content.
Last fall, YouTube held its first summit dedicated to streamers and introduced moderation tools to tackle harassment, including the AutoMod feature, which leverages AI to identify suspect messages.