Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown left the world trapped inside, forced to find any entertainment available. Because of the limited human interaction, online streaming saw a sharp rise among younger generations, as 42% of Generation Z (Gen Z) Internet users admitted to watching live streams as a preferred source of entertainment. The popular streaming platform, Twitch, received over 2.5 million concurrent viewers at any moment in 2024, standing as the primary site to watch live streams.
With streaming’s growing popularity, several streamers managed to find extreme success through their ability to keep fans entertained. Kai Cenat comes to mind primarily when thinking of famous streamers; Cenat began his online career as a YouTube skit creator, eventually migrating to Twitch and joining the streamer group Any Means Possible (AMP), using his new platform to develop connections with celebrities. Cenat’s rise to stardom inspired youths nationwide to find a career in streaming, unaware of the grit involved in success. A portion of streamers find shortcuts to fame through absurd actions such as harassing bystanders or disrupting public events in front of an audience, finding any popularity as positive popularity. These streamers garner negative attention from the media and even face run-ins with the law.
“I watch live streams a lot, my favorite streamer is Plaqueboymax because he’s always doing something new and it’s always funny. I get why streaming has gotten so popular, but I don’t think it’s a good way to make money, especially since it’s so hard to become a streamer these days. I feel like the need to be entertaining at every second can be hard for a lot of people,” junior Jed Ngungi said.
While static streams secluded in one area manage to gain scores of views such as Cenat’s streams, fans notably prefer real-life (IRL) streams, which involve journeying around the world or taking the viewer through a first-person view of the streamer’s life. A majority of Twitch viewers watch Cenat and prefer his laid-back style of chatting with fans. Cenat’s interactions with his viewer chat and multiple routes of streaming display the versatility of live streaming and how it manages to captivate viewers. As streamers let viewers into their lives, they must find differing ways to keep viewers entertained.
Streamers may utilize program viewer donations to play sounds to incentivize fans into donating in hopes of embarrassing or distracting the streamer. While this route of entertainment proves successful, the ability to play any sound simply to provide money can lead to dangerous outcomes. YouTube streamer Jamahal Harraz, also known as Arab Andy, went under custody of police June 1, 2024, at the University of Washington for threatening to detonate a bomb. Later, authorities found that Harraz did not personally send the threat, but a fan donation linked to a text-to-speech robot and announced to the crowd that a Composition(C4) explosive would detonate in a set time. Arab Andy’s run-in with the law proves how with a reasonable route of fame, the results could inconvenience or outright ruin the streamer’s life.
With IRL streams garnering a main portion of viewership on Twitch, upcoming and prominent streamers attempt to set themselves apart from the pool of options. Some IRL streamers travel around the world, such as IShowSpeed taking a tour through Europe, South America and Asia. With the opportunity to travel around the world in order to gain fame, streamers figure out how to interact with foreign lands to keep viewers attached to their screens. Ramsey Khalid Ismael, known by his username of Johnny Somali, creates IRL streams on Twitch competitor, rumble, where he travels around Asia, primarily South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand. During his tenure in Japan, he gained notoriety for his insulting remarks against Japanese people and their history. Prominently, he poked fun at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, joking about how he would detonate a nuclear bomb at the train station. With his antics, he faced trial under a Japanese court for conspiracy of obstruction of business, paying a ¥200,000 fine and voluntarily returning back to the U.S. While Japan marks one of his run-ins with foreign police, Johnny Somali’s insistence to commit felonies while out of the nation showcases an extremity in searching for fame within the Twitch streaming industry.
“Even though I don’t watch streams that much, I still know about Johnny Somali. I get that you need to be as entertaining as possible to make it as a streamer, but there’s no need to start acting stupid in public just for some likes. I feel like if it’s going to get to that point, you might as well quit streaming for your own sake,” junior Andrew Muyiro said.
While Arab Andy and Johnny Somalis’ situations represent a minute margin of all entertainment in live streaming, the issue of streaming’s unpredictability damages its reputation. With fans constantly searching for new forms of engagement on live streaming, their attention span shortens due to a lack of constant entertainment. While streaming may not hold fault for the shortening of fans’ attention spans, ideas to separate oneself from other streamers may magnify as years pass.