After ten years of streaming on Twitch, Pokimane has moved over to YouTube.
At least, for now.
Pokimane, who’s long been one of Twitch’s most-followed (to the tune of 9.3 million people) and most-watched female streamers, dropped an abrupt announcement Jan. 30 that she was leaving the platform.
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“the end of an era,” she tweeted. “twitch has been my home for a decade..but it’s time to say thank you for all the memories and love during my League, Fortnite, & Among us days.”
Speculation ran rampant after the tweet, with many people wondering if she’d been poached by Kick, which has signed multimillion-dollar, nonexclusive deals with some of Twitch’s big names, including Amouranth and xQc. Others wondered if she’d follow Valkyrae, Sykkuno, LilyPichu, and more to secure an exclusive deal with YouTube.
Turns out it’s none of the above. Pokimane later revealed that she’d be hosting a debut stream on her YouTube channel, where she has 6.6 million subscribers from posting VODs, on Feb. 1.
But, during that broadcast, she clarified that she has no streaming deal with YouTube, or Kick, or anyone else. She left Twitch because her contract expired, and now wants to be more in control of where, when, and what she’s streaming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hbWtxVigXU
She did say, though, that Kick’s PR team had been “working overtime” since she announced she was leaving Twitch. “They were like, ‘Wait a second. Wait a second. I see opportunity,'” she said. But despite their apparent interest, “I would like to stream nonexclusively,” she said. “I’ll be able to stream anywhere else and not feel restricted, and just do what I find is enjoyable.”
She plans to stream only on YouTube for now, “but in the future, I am likely to try some other things, potentially,” she said.
She did hint at some things that may have played a part in her leaving Twitch. When one chat member mentioned that they prefer YouTube streams to Twitch streams because “Twitch has too many ads,” Pokimane effusively agreed.
“That was one thing that was kind of exciting about my contract ending,” she said. “No more forced ads!”
Her first stream lasted four hours, and at press time has just over 200,000 views.
