Hearthstone

Free real estate up for grabs on Mixer

The hot topic on every streamer’s lips right now is streamer royalty Ninja’s unprecedented move from Twitch to Mixer in what is no doubt an incredibly lucrative exclusive broadcasting rights deal.

There are so many questions swirling around on the internet at the moment about the move and what it means for the streaming ecosystem – will this force Twitch to address discoverability and community standards? Does this make it easier for streamers on both platforms to be seen? Should broadcasters follow suit and make the switch? Will people stick with Mixer once Ninja’s contract expires?

So many questions, no real answers.

I myself took a look at Mixer earlier this year. I will admit, the platform was more lively than I expected, with quite a few channels in the high thousands. Hearthstone however was dead, as were most games that aren’t Fortnite. I thought to myself back then, ‘Oooh, free real estate!” but obviously, I never acted on it because the next time I went live it was on my usual Twitch channel.

It turns out not much has changed, at least not for Hearthstone:

So does this mean we should all jump ship?

Sure, go claim your username (You should be doing that on any new platform anyhow, just in case) and definitely experiment with it, but don’t throw your Twitch community in the bin just yet.

Personally, I don’t think someone like Ninja will suddenly bring hordes of Hearthstone viewers to the platform. This is purely hypothetical, but I suspect that there is pretty much zero crossover between the Hearthstone and Fortnite playerbases.

The only way I can see Hearthstone viewership on Mixer spiking is if someone like Thijs or Kripp are also bribed with truckloads of cash to make the switch.

Twitch is a behemoth that can be credited for making streaming as accessible as it is today. There are people who have been on the platform for almost a decade now – even my pathetic little account is seven years old. That is a lot of history, especially for the bigger streamers. What is the payoff for veteran streamers and viewers alike to switch?

Only time will tell.

One final note, as I’ve seen a lot of people say that Ninja’s insane sub count on Mixer “doesn’t count” because they are free. There are now 360,000 people that probably didn’t have Mixer accounts before who are now all set up, and a whole bunch of Twitch subs who don’t feel like they lost value in this the switch (Imagine how pissed you’d be if your Ninja sub renewed yesterday!), which creates more good will toward the platform. It’s a brilliant marketing move by Mixer that was definitely factored into whatever mammoth budget they have set aside for this power play.

Will this move by Mixer make you reconsider what platform you use?

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