TimTheTatman is latest streamer to ditch Twitch as protests mount

By Emily Morrow September 1, 2021

Tim “TimTheTatman” Betar is the latest high-profile streamer to announce his departure from Twitch. The content creator, who has 7 million followers on the platform, will be relocating to YouTube Gaming. Betar announced the move today with a video shared on his Twitter account that thanks fans for the support they’ve given him so far and expresses his wish for them to follow him to his new home.

His transition to the web’s other large video platform follows those of Ben “DrLupo” Lupo, Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, and Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, all of whom have recently left Twitch to stream exclusively on YouTube.

the futurehttps://t.co/Hz9YZ0m2EA pic.twitter.com/ekGwDreHOL

— timthetatman👑 (@timthetatman) September 1, 2021

It’s likely no coincidence that TimTheTatman and DrLupo chose this week to leave. Their move comes amid today’s A Day Away From Twitch event, which is a 24-hour boycott of Twitch organized by several prominent streamers. The protest aims to raise awareness of hate raids, which have been targeting marginalized streamers and content creators with a barrage of racist, sexist, homophobic, and rude followers and messages.

Streaming software creator Streamlabs has attempted to help the issue with its new Safe Mode, but Twitch itself has yet to address widespread criticism about the way the platform is handling the situation. TimTheTatman’s move also comes amid DrDisrespect’s announcement that he is suing Twitch over his ban, the details of which have yet to be revealed.

Twitch has not issued a response to TimTheTatman’s departure, nor has it said anything substantial about hate raids, prompting widespread frustration within streaming communities. Though these more high-profile streamers are likely moving because of lucrative deals and better treatment at the hands of a large company, there’s no denying that Twitch is struggling — particularly in the realm of public opinion. It remains to be seen whether any other popular streamers follow in their footsteps.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Emily Morrow is a games journalist and narrative designer who has written for a variety of online publications. If she’s…

News

YouTube copies Twitch with feature that lets you tip your favorite stars $2

YouTube TV

Viewers can now "clap" at their favorite YouTube stars as another way for creators to earn money through the Google-owned video platform. The donation feature mirrors one offered by Amazon gaming streaming service Twitch and may be another way for YouTube to lure e-sports streamers from the popular niche platform.

The feature is officially called "viewer applause" on YouTube and rests nest to the Like and Dislike buttons for viewers and can be enabled in a creator's dashboard. However, the feature is in the beta testing phase and only a small number of creators with more than 100,000 subscribers have access to it at this point.

Gaming

Twitch remains king of livestreaming, but YouTube is catching up

twitch tries out commercial free viewing

It's going to take more than a Ninja to take down Twitch. Despite the exodus of top-tier streamers to competing platforms like Mixer and YouTube over the last year, no service comes close to matching Twitch's viewership. But YouTube isn't ready to crown Twitch the king of streaming just yet.

Game content streaming is up 17% compared to January 2019, according to livestream tools provider StreamElements, and viewership increases can be seen across Twitch, YouTube Gaming, Facebook Gaming, and Mixer. Amazon-owned Twitch sits at more than 842 million January hours watched, which is more than twice that of its closest competitor.

Gaming

Fortnite views on Twitch fall, Apex Legends misses top 10 games played

Fortnite Apex Legends Twitch YouTube Facebook Gaming Mixer Stream elements livestreaming views hours

Tracking the ebbs and flows across livestreaming platforms, content creators, and the subjects of those creators’ work are all key to understanding the trajectory of the livestream industry, and StreamElement’s latest report has been enlightening. In the last quarter, Fortnite’s lock on the top spot has weakened, Apex Legends has fallen out of the top 10, and Facebook Gaming has moved up to the top three platforms to stream.

StreamElements' report last quarter was an eye-opener that further established Fortnite’s dominance despite the rise of Apex Legends and showed that Richard “Ninja” Blevins wasn’t the top streamer on Twitch. This time around, Fortnite remains on top but is losing ground to non-gaming streams. Twitch is an accessible platform and content creators are using it for way more than just showing off games to their communities. The “Just Chatting” category grew over 7% in the last quarter while Fortnite and League of Legends, the top two games in the first two quarters, dropped 3.6% and 5.9%, respectively.