The Rise of Lifestyle Streamers

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As the shelter-in-place restrictions have tethered many people to their homes, livestreaming—broadcasting user-created video in real time—has skyrocketed. Platforms like Twitch,Caffeine, YouTube Live, and Facebook have all been flooded with record numbers of streamers and spectators.

2Historically, livestreaming has been synonymous with gaming. Twitch and Mixer, for example, are known for turning professional gamers like Tyler “Ninja”Blevins into household names. More recently, however, a new streaming audience has emerged, one hungry for nongaming content. Over the past two years,for example, a category on Twitch dubbed“Just Chatting”—in which streamers chat with their viewers in real time—has grown nearly four times as quickly as Twitch overall. And as platforms like Caffeine launch entertainment shows and pop culture streams, that trend is playing out across the industry. Through its unique ability to drive both rabid1rabid 過激的；狂熱的。engagement and instant monetization, livestreaming is becoming the future of live video entertainment—and stretching beyond its gaming roots in the process.

由于居家避疫令的限制，許多人被困在了家里。與此同時，直播——實時播放用戶制作的視頻——迅速興起了。Twitch、Caffeine、YouTube Live 以及臉書等平臺都涌入了數量空前的主播和觀眾。

2從歷史上看，直播一直是游戲的代名詞。Twitch 和Mixer 這兩個平臺之所以出名，是因為它們把像泰勒·布萊文斯（網名：忍者）這樣的職業玩家都變成了家喻戶曉的名字。然而，最近出現了一個新的流媒體受眾群體，他們渴望非游戲內容。比如，在過去的兩年里，Twitch 上一個被稱為“聊聊天”的頻道增長迅度，幾乎是Twitch 整體的四倍，觀眾可以在該頻道與主播實時聊天。隨著Caffeine 等平臺推出娛樂節目和流行文化直播，這一趨勢正在整個行業蔓延。直播有種獨一無二的魅力，能讓大眾癡狂，能讓人快速賺到錢，正因如此，直播正在成為現場視頻娛樂的未來，并在這個過程中超越其游戲的本源。

The dynamics behind livestreaming and engagement

3Witness the rise of a new class of influencer: the lifestyle streamer. This category encompasses a broad variety of interests, from travel to fitness to finance. The growing pantheon includes celebrities like Drake, who hosts battle rap shows on Caffeine; environmental conservationist Maya Higa, who showcases falconry and endangered animals on Twitch; chef Bobby Parrish, who teaches viewers how to prepare keto meals on Youtube Live; and cosplay artist Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa,who eats, works out, and even sleeps on stream as her 1.4 million followers chat with (or at) her in real time.

4The common thread that runs through these streams is the focus on the person, not necessarily the activity. Without a game taking up visual(and cognitive) space on the screen,the streamer’s personality becomes the main focus. Why would viewers find it compelling to get to know the lifestyle of complete strangers on stream? The short answer: loneliness. The best lifestyle streamers engage fans and make them feel like an active participant in an intimate community, rather than a detached2detached 認為與己無關的；毫不關心的，心不在焉的。viewer.

直播和互動背后的態勢

3見證一個新的網紅階層——生活類主播——的興起吧。這類人的興趣范圍很廣，從旅游到健身再到理財。加入這個名流群的人越來越多，包括德雷克，他在Caffeine 上主持格斗說唱節目；環保人士馬婭·比嘉，在Twitch 上展示馴鷹術和瀕危動物；廚師博比·帕里什，在Youtube Live 平臺教觀眾制作生酮飲食；還有扮裝藝術家凱特琳·西拉古薩（網名：Amouranth），她無論吃飯、鍛煉還是睡覺都要直播，140萬粉絲實時跟她聊天或連麥。

4這些直播的一個共同點就是對人的關注，而不是對活動本身的關注。沒有了游戲來占據屏幕上的視覺（和認知）空間，主播的個性就成了主要焦點。為什么觀眾會急切地想了解直播中那些完全陌生的人的生活方式呢？答案很簡單：寂寞。最優秀的生活類主播會與粉絲積極互動，讓他們感覺自己像是某個親密社區的積極參與者，而不是一個旁觀者。

5Lifestyle streamers are often intimately acquainted with their followers—so much so, that many greet returning fans by name and take suggestions for their daily agenda.

6Thus, community is the true driver behind the growth of lifestyle streaming, relative to both linear video and game streaming. For millions of people today, watching and conversing with their favorite lifestyle streamer is much more engaging than passively watching Netflix, particularly amid prolonged shelter-in-place orders.

Lifestyle streams unlock superior monetization models

7The move to lifestyle streaming also offers a promising solution to one of the toughest challenges facing creators these days: making money. Historically, the top 1.2 percent of streamers on Twitch, for example, earned the majority of the revenue on the platform. Superstars like Ninja reportedly pulled in more than $500,000 a month.By comparison, most of the platform’s 150,000 “Affiliate”3 creators, those with smaller followings, earn less than $250 a month. The remaining segment of Twitch’s 2 million creators made little to no money at all.

5生活類主播常常與他們的追隨者關系密切，太密切了，以至于他們許多人能叫出鐵粉的名字，并在安排日常直播時采納粉絲們的建議。

6因此，相對于線性視頻和游戲直播，社區歸屬感是生活類直播成長背后的真正動力。今天，對于數百萬的人們來說，觀看他們最喜歡的生活類直播并與主播交談要比被動地觀看奈飛更有吸引力，尤其是在曠日持久的居家避疫令實施期間。

生活類直播解鎖更高級的賺錢模式

7生活類直播的出現還為創作者們提供了一個很有前途的辦法來解決目前面臨的最嚴峻挑戰之一：賺錢。例如，從歷史上看，Twitch 上排名前1.2%的主播賺取了該平臺的大部分收益。據報道，“忍者”等超級明星每月收入超過50 萬美元。相比之下，該平臺的15萬名“聯盟推廣計劃”創作者（粉絲數量少一些）月收入不到250 美元。在Twitch 的200萬創作者中，其余的人賺錢很少，甚至一分錢也賺不到。

8The top revenue sources for livestreamers have traditionally been:

1. Subscriptions

2. Advertising

3. Donations

4. Sponsorships

9A deeper relationship with fans, as well as the ability to respond to an audience in real-time for certain types of content, means the majority of income comes from donations.

10Lifestyle streamers tend to retain fans better than gaming streamers:whereas the former trades on personality, the latter may lose fans when a particular game wanes in popularity. And with their highly differentiated, colorful personalities, lifestyle streamers make attractive sponsorship targets.

11But beyond existing monetization models, lifestyle streamers also have the ability to tap into new revenue pools, both on and off platform. A few examples:

Social validation

12The top Just Chatting streamer of 2019, Félix “xQc” Lengyel4前《守望先鋒》的職業玩家，目前Twitch 平臺上人氣最高的主播之一。xQc 是其網名xQcOW 的簡稱。, makes roughly $1,188 an hour on “Media Share Mondays,” an all-day event in which he watches YouTube videos hand-selected by his fans. xQcOW’s 2.3 million followers pay 33 cents per second to watch his reactions to their favorite videos. As a role model and tastemaker for his audience, he’s effectively selling social validation.

8傳統來講，主播的主要收入來源是：

1. 訂閱

2. 廣告

3. 捐款

4. 贊助

9主播與粉絲建立了更深層次的關系，還能就某些類型的直播內容實時回應觀眾，這意味著其大部分收入來自捐款。

10生活類主播往往比游戲類主播更能留住粉絲：前者靠的是個性魅力，而后者可能會在某款游戲人氣下降時失去粉絲。生活類主播的個性區分度高、豐富多彩，是極具吸引力的贊助目標。

11但除了現有的賺錢模式外，生活類主播還有能力在平臺內外挖掘新的收入來源。舉幾個例子:

社會認同

122019 年排名第一的“聊聊天”主播菲利克斯·倫吉爾（網名：xQc）在“媒體分享星期一”上的時薪約為1188 美元。“媒體分享星期一”是一個持續一整天的活動，他會觀看粉絲親手挑選的YouTube 視頻。xQcOW 的230 萬粉絲花每秒鐘33 美分觀看他對他們自己最喜歡視頻的反應。作為觀眾的榜樣和時尚引領者，他在有效地推銷社會認同。

Private membership groups

13Many lifestyle streamers have been able to monetize their most ardent fans via paid, closed membership groups.For example, cosplay streamer Amouranth maintains close to 1,000 subscribers on her Patreon5一個供創作者進行眾籌的平臺。, where she provides exclusive photographs of herself in costume for between $20 and $850 a month. For the very highest subscription tier, patrons unlock the ability to text message Amouranth directly at any time, whereas lower tiers are restricted to Discord6一款語音聊天軟件。or group Hangouts7內置于Gmail 的文字、視頻和語音聊天應用，已于2022 年11 月關閉。.

Companionship / Coaching

14Similarly, many lifestyle streamers sell companionship directly to their audience, either by playing games with fans or booking time off-platform. The studio Stream Captain, for example, has designed a game called Stream Raiders where viewers serve as individual units in a streamer’s army. The start-up Legionfarm matches streamers and esports pros with regular players to serve as game companions, at an average rate of $14 per hour. And on marketplaces like Fiverr8一個在線技能服務交易平臺，成立于2010 年，總部位于以色列耶路撒冷。,streamers offer coaching on subjects ranging from fitness to photography to personal finance.

私人會員群

13許多生活類主播能夠通過封閉付費會員群從他們最狂熱的粉絲身上賺錢。例如，扮裝主播Amouranth 在她的Patreon賬號上有近1000 名訂閱者，她在那里發布自己各種裝扮的獨家照片，每月收費在20 美元到850 美元之間。最高訂閱等級的用戶可以在任何時候直接給Amouranth 發短信，而較低訂閱等級的用戶只能使用Discord 或谷歌環聊。

陪伴/輔導

14同樣地，許多生活類主播直接向觀眾有償提供陪伴服務，要么與粉絲一起玩游戲，要么讓粉絲預訂平臺外的時間。例如，一個名叫Stream Captain 的工作室設計了一款名為Stream Raiders 的游戲，在游戲中，觀眾可充當主播麾下的小分隊。初創公司Legionfarm為主播和電競專業人士與普通玩家配對，讓他們成為游戲伙伴，平均每小時收費14 美元。在像Fiverr這樣的交易平臺上，主播提供從健身、攝影到個人理財等方面的輔導。

Commerce

15Finally, livestreaming commerce is an emerging revenue channel that is ripe for growth. Many streamers are viewed as tastemakers and recommend products to their audience in exchange for commissions. Chance “Sodapoppin”Morris designs and sells a collection of curated metal prints, as well as his own line of lifestyle apparel. Start-ups such as Chrono.gg go a step further, enabling creators to set up their own ecommerce stores to sell products directly to fans.

16These new revenue channels offer far greater monetization potential than traditional, ad-driven models. Lifestyle streamers have a broad toolkit at their disposal and the flexibility to choose a monetization model that best complements their particular brand.

The next generation of livestreaming

17With the growth of non-gaming content on platforms like Twitch, Caffeine,and Youtube Live, we are witnessing the rise of the next generation of lifestyle streamers. For them, personality is king—gaming is just one of many ways to engage fans.

商務

15最后，直播商務是一個新興的收入渠道，其增長時機已經成熟。許多主播被視為時尚引領者，他們向觀眾推薦產品以換取傭金。錢斯·莫里斯（網名：Sodapoppin）設計并銷售一系列精心策劃的金屬版畫以及他自己的生活服飾產品。像Chrono.gg 這樣的初創企業則更進一步，他們讓創作者開設自己的電子商務商店，直接向粉絲銷售產品。

16這些新的收入渠道比傳統的廣告驅動模式有著更大的盈利潛力。生活類主播可用的工具多種多樣，可以靈活地選擇最適合其特定品牌的盈利模式。

直播的下一代

17隨 著Twitch、Caffeine 和Youtube Live 等平臺上非游戲內容的增長，我們正在見證下一代生活類主播的興起。對他們來說，個性就是王道，游戲只是吸引粉絲的眾多方式之一。

18What has always made livestreaming as a medium uniquely compelling is the ability to combine the reach of a public broadcast with the community of a small group. As people become increasingly removed from traditional sources of community during the pandemic, lifestyle streamers are going live to help fill that void.

18一直以來，直播作為一種媒體的獨特吸引力就在于它能夠將大眾廣播的覆蓋面與小群體的社區歸屬感結合起來。隨著人們在疫情期間越來越遠離傳統的社區歸屬感來源，生活類直播將填補這一空白。