Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter is one of YouTube Gaming’s biggest streamers, but she has revealed that her contract with the platform means the number of viewers she gets doesn’t actually matter.
Signing a contract in January 2021 to stream exclusively on YouTube, Valkyrae‘s channel almost immediately blew up. Coinciding with the rise of Among Us, her sub count has risen from 1.1 million in September to just shy of 3.5 million at the time of writing.
She’s since expanded her portfolio and become involved with other ventures, such as acquiring an ownership stake in esports org 100 Thieves and starring in music videos with artists like Corpse Husband and Bella Poarch.
And Valkyrae since has revealed how the “security” of her contract with YouTube means she no longer has to pay attention to the number of viewers she gets.
In an interview with Twitch vtuber CodeMiko, Rae explained how her contract with YouTube helped take pressure off her when creating content, and aided her development as she became a mainstream star.
“[Becoming successful] was very unexpected,” she said. “I think obviously Among Us had a lot to do with that, but it was very, very unexpected.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“It felt like extra credit, because when I switched over obviously I signed a contract so I was like ‘Ok, this is for stability, I can do what I want and not have to worry about numbers and stuff, if I have one viewer I’ll be fine.”
While the finer details of Valkyrae’s contract are not known to the public, it’s clear that the stability her deal with Youtube provides has enabled her to be more experimental with her content.
And stats from the first quarter of 2021 show that she is still by far the most-watched female streamer, beyond other popular content creators like Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys and Rumay ‘Hafu’ Wang.
The Queen of YouTube is a big example of where a move to another platform has clearly benefitted the content creator, and it will be fascinating to see what lies ahead in the future.
