Should sleep streams be banned? One platform thinks so.

Kai Cenat was 2024’s most-watched streamer, racking up a whopping 184.5 million hours of tune-in time from viewers. And, thanks to his 24/7, 30-day subathon, a not-insignificant portion of that watch time was earned while he was sleeping.

Cenat brought on celebrity and creator guests to entertain his audience while he snoozed, so the event was still technically ongoing. But Cenat isn’t the only streamer to sleep while live. emilycc, who Cenat spotlighted during his subathon, has been broadcasting nonstop for over three years. When she needs to sleep, the camera is pointed at her bed, and audience members play games like Words on Stream.

Here at Tubefilter, we’ve written about how lately, streamers seem to be upping the ante more and more in an effort to grow their audiences. Sleeping on stream plays into that trend.

One platform, however, isn’t having it. Parti, which launched last month promising it’s “the next big thing in streaming,” has banned sleeping on stream.

“Sleep isn’t meant for Parties! To ensure fairness for streamers earning Parti Points, static streams of all types are banned,” Parti tweeted Dec. 18. “Streamers must interact with their audience to continue streaming and earning Parti Points.”

Parti itself is a bit of an oddball. It’s ostensibly a competitor for Twitch

and Kick, with streaming categories like gaming, chatting, and fitness. But it’s also a crypto project. The “Parti Points” it mentions are an onsite currency that (for some streamers, at least) will convert to as-yet-unspecified “rewards” when the the “Parti Token” launches. The platform is branded with typical cryptosphere “to the moon” promo: both creators and viewers can undertake “missions” like setting up their accounts, getting friends to join, streaming, and interacting with streams; and the development of Parti Token is tracked with stages like “Ignition,” “Liftoff,” and “Interplanetary.”

As for how creators are currently being compensated prior to the token launch, Parti says it’ll give 30 streamers contracts where they’re paid between $1K and $10K per month to go live on its platform. There’s no word on when the token will debut, or if there are any protections in place for creators.

Crypto element aside, Parti is notably the first streaming platform to ban people from sleeping on stream. It’s also the first platform to mandate that creators have to be actively engaged with their audience while they’re live. Twitch, Kick, and YouTube have no such mandates, which has resulted in incidents like reaction streamers pulling up other creators’ videos, pressing play, and leaving the room.

But not banning sleeping has also allowed for uber-long streams, which have become staple content for people like Cenat and Ironmouse—and big moneymakers for Twitch.

We don’t think other platforms will follow in Parti’s footsteps, but this is an interesting moment of discussion. Should snoozing on stream be banned?