Picking Up Gen Z: 3 Questions for Twitch Star Huebi

Why did you start a Twitch account alongside your YouTube channel? What is the advantage of Twitch, what are the special features?

Huebi: Twitch has always been the number one livestreaming platform. YouTube followed much later in terms of livestreams. Twitch therefore has a five to ten-year head start in terms of development. This has allowed Twitch to adapt to the needs of livestreamers and has many more functions available. For example, I think the raids function on Twitch is great. It allows me to send all viewers to another stream at the end of a stream. Influencers cooperate in this way and grow each other's communities. There are also browser plug-ins to expand Twitch's functions, for example with new emojis for the chat. It sounds trivial, but it allows users to interact better. This strengthens cohesion in the colorful chat.

Some of your YouTube videos are summaries of your livestreams on Twitch. Why do you need different content on YouTube?

Huebi: I'm on Twitch to watch a livestream, and I know that a long stream isn't fully entertaining every minute. On YouTube, the culture is different. Viewers always want action, action, action. I don't have any precise insights, but I have the feeling that some of my followers there are different. The chat also tells me a lot about the viewers. Communication on Twitch is much more cultivated.

Once a year, you even stream for 24 hours straight to collect donations. Why does this go down so well with Gen Z – who actually want to be entertained quickly and easily online?

Huebi: I think the event character is crucial. In my opinion, Gen Z has a very strong FOMO, or “fear of missing out”. Because of this fear of missing out, users leave the stream running in the background. Because live streams are unpredictable. There is also an incredible group dynamic that arises during such a live event.