Big streamers are currently watching series on Twitch, but one warns of catastrophic consequences
Big streamers like xQc, Myth or Disguised Toast have repeatedly watched TV series on Twitch over the past few weeks and reacted to them live. The YouTube streamer Ludwig does not think the trend is fundamentally bad, but warns of the consequences – not for the streamers themselves.
What’s happening on Twitch right now? The well-known streamer Félix “xQc” Lengyel has been watching MasterChef, a cooking show with Gordon Ramsay, on Twitch for a few weeks. He lets this run in the stream and then reacts live to what is happening.
A new kind of “Twitch meta” has now emerged from this. More and more streamers are watching live TV series with their viewers:
Showing such series is actually not allowed on Twitch according to the Terms of Service. There it says that only things may be shown for which you yourself have the rights.
In the past, this has already led to discussions about the use of copyrighted music in live streams. Some streamers lived in fear of being banned. Because during the corona pandemic, the music industry began sending massive amounts of copyright complaints (DMCA strikes) to Twitch.
There is now a somewhat half-hearted and gray area deal between Twitch and the music industry:
Twitch reaches half-hearted deal with music industry – that’s changing for music
However, this deal does not apply to showing series.
Ludwig warns of consequences for everyone because series are shown on Twitch
Who’s speaking? Ludwig was one of the most famous and influential streamers on Twitch in 2021. He attracted attention with a major sub-marathon and even broke a record set by Ninja in 2018.
In December 2021, however, he switched to YouTube, where he was immediately banned three times for using copyrighted content. In addition, he was deleted from Twitch’s annual review due to the change.
What exactly does Ludwig say? In an 11-minute long video, Ludwig sharply criticized watching series. In his opinion, the reaction streams “got out of hand” and he calls for a “course correction before everything collapses”.
Unlike previous problems with music, the streamers couldn’t argue that they were adding artistic value themselves, says Ludwig. He sees the risk of bans for the streamers themselves, but also a general problem for Twitch:
I think this is an issue that will not only bite the asses of the people who do this, but everyone on Twitch if the streamers don’t calm down. Many people who watch TV shows and movies don’t even delete their VODs. You get a little too complacent. You get a little too risky.
I think the result isn’t just that these people get a pat on the hand. It could be a lot more disastrous.
Ludwig goes on to say that there have been large companies that have perished in copyright lawsuits.
He believes that if a “mega company” should take action against Twitch for copyright infringement at some point, Amazon will simply drop the streamers who violated the rules instead of risking a major lawsuit.
Asmongold expects more celebrity and react content in the future
What are other streamers saying on the subject? As early as December 2021, we reported that the MMO streamer Asmongold had made negative comments about the development of Twitch.
He himself expects that the content will move further and further away from gaming content and more and more in the direction of react and celebrity content.
Asmongold explains why Twitch’s future is cooking shows and reality
Reference-mein-mmo.de