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Update: Shortly after publishing, Ninja announced that he would begin his first stream on YouTube.
Well known Fortnite streamer Ninja may begin streaming after the recent cancellation of Mixer, this time on YouTube. This comes after a “test stream” was discovered on Ninja’s YouTube account, possibly unintentionally made public.
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Ninja and the end of Mixer
It wasn’t that long ago that the Mixer streaming platform was ended, recently sold to Facebook and soon to be combined with Facebook Gaming as a new streaming platform. Ninja had previously signed an exclusive contract with Mixer to the tune of $30 million, but when the sale of the platform happened his contract was voided.
Facebook offered to purchase Ninja’s mixer contract for 2-3 times as much as Mixer offered, but Ninja declined and forced Mixer to buy out the contract instead. Although there hasn't been a confirmed reason why, it may be related to a lack of Fortnite fans who watched on other platforms.
Fortnite Streamer moves to YouTube?
Though now acting as a free agent, it was always assumed that Ninja would eventually find a new platform to enter into a contract with, and rumors are circulating that it might be YouTube. There has not been any public announcement of it so far, but YouTube would make sense as a platform to sign an exclusive contract with.
Twitch is often seen as the default platform for streamers, and it’s easy to see why. Twitch already has many of the features streamers have come to expect from a streaming platform coupled with the largest streaming community available, both of streamers and fans. It is pretty easy to see why Fortnite streamers are often found on Twitch first, with only a few moving to other platforms and usually with the incentive of a large contract.
YouTube’s edge over Twitch
YouTube does have one significant advantage over Twitch, and that is the sheer variety of reasons people go to YouTube. In much the same way that Twitch is seen as the default platform for streamers, YouTube is seen as the default platform for video content. Competitors to YouTube, such as Vimeo, never reach the same level of public consciousness that the video giant has. However, the Fortnite community on YouTube has grown to an enormous size.
For Fortnite streamers like Ninja this can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you get access to the massive community YouTube already has. On the other hand, you also have to deal with the mysterious ways of “the algorithm” that governs so much of YouTube’s creators’ success.
It is unclear whether this means Ninja will be expected to be more cautious of his content, in order to appeal to YouTube’s vast advertisement network and avoid getting demonetized, but if he signed a contract then that may simply not be a concern for the Fortnite pro.
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