[HOT] : Twitch boycott has had an impact on audiences, first data shows

[HOT] : Twitch boycott has had an impact on audiences, first data shows

Here, several Twitch streamers launched a day without a stream to demand more concrete action from society against hate raids and harassment. Now, according to the data, Twitch is experiencing a decline in audience from the days before the boycott.

According to the analysis firm Gamesight, both the number of channels that have streamed and that of viewers from 12pm PT (9pm Paris time) is lower than in the days preceding the #ADayOffTwitch boycott of September 1.

In terms of numbers, there were almost 14,000 fewer online channels between August 31 and September 1, and almost a million fewer hours of content were viewed compared to the previous week.

Analyst Zach Bussey adds context to these figures but confirms that in the end #ADayOffTwitch did have an impact on the general audience of the platform. Z.Bussey put forward a few separate causes of the boycott to explain the drop, including the departure of Dr. Lupo and TimTheTatman, who were linked exclusively to YouTube recently.

Bussey also notes the “back to school” phenomenon for many students.

Despite these possibilities, Zack Bussey notes that as of September 1, the audience decline on Twitch was 5 to 15%.

Streamers are announcing loud and clear that the lack of tools to combat harassment is damaging the platform, especially among smaller streamers. For now, Twitch has publicly announced channel tools like ban bypass detection or other account enhancements, but the community says these changes aren’t happening fast enough.