Dr Disrespect has claimed Twitch streamers “have it easy” compared to YouTubers, especially when it comes to ready-made audiences, and suggested if he was allowed back on the Amazon-owned platform he would be cracking at least 100k viewers a day.
There’s absolutely no question Dr Disrespect is one of the biggest streamers on the planet, and up until last year, he ruled Twitch alongside Shroud and Ninja.
The Twitch hierarchy has shuffled rapidly in the past 18 months, in part due to the rise in Just Chatting broadcasts, and the fall of Mixer. The biggest change, however, has been the Doc’s shock shift to YouTube; in mid-June last year, the two-time was permanently barred from streaming on the website.
It was a huge blow for the enigmatic streamer, who had just penned a rich new exclusivity deal with Twitch, and was — at the time — averaging around 40k viewers in each of his Call of Duty, Apex Legends, and PUBG streams.
The biggest hit though, he says, was how “easy” Twitch was.
For the most part, Dr Disrespect has dodged conversations about Twitch, and avoided comparisons with YouTube’s platforms and his old streaming home.
On July 26 though, his frustrations bubbled to the surface.
“It blows my mind… you don’t even have to try on Twitch,” the Doc said, and pointed at long-time friend and ‘frenemy’ streamer TimtheTatman as one example. “Literally, he’s got 50,000 people watching him watching other people’s solo games, and they suck. He’s got like 50k viewers!
“Really, you don’t have to try. They have it easy.
“I’m telling you, right now, I’m telling you if we were still on Twitch, we would have 100,000 people,” he added, before claiming the “maths” of his Arena — the Doc’s name for his gaming palace — meant “100 million” would be watching.
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The YouTube superstar shook his head, before doubling down on his Twitch vs YouTube claims: “I’m telling you, Twitch streamers don’t even have to try!”
The problem, Dr Disrespect explained, is YouTube’s support — or lack thereof — when it comes to many of their livestream stars. Games like Minecraft and Roblox, that have built a bastion of support on the platform, often spike in the website’s promotion algorithms, while other streamers struggle to keep up.
He continued: “On YouTube, when I’m streaming, releasing videos, I’ve got to reach out to my team, I gotta make a whole bunch of calls; [figure out] what’s the algorithm today?
“On top of that, I’ve gotta make sure I’m setting up thumbnails, keywords, YouTube hashtags, and then after all that we still get buried behind games like Minecraft and Roblox. It feels like we’re pushed to the side.
“We’re pushed all the way down, deep down into this wannabe community infrastructure, allegedly livestream-focused infrastructure that YouTube has.”
Dr Disrespect isn’t the first big streaming name to raise similar concerns either. The two-time may have had little choice in his platform switch, but superstar streamer Pokimane actually turned down “big money” to stay on Twitch.
Her reason, Pokimane revealed after inking a bumper Twitch deal in 2020, was the “unmatched” support Twitch gives its top streaming personalities.
On top of that, the platform’s top female streamer saw question marks over stardom and popularity on other sites: “There’s just less recognition outside Twitch,” she explained. “You could have 30k viewers, but people won’t see you as a top streamer because with streaming people think of Twitch.”
Unfortunately for Dr Disrespect, his lifetime Twitch ban means he’s stuck on YouTube for the foreseeable future. He currently averages 249,000 views a day.
