XQc Faces Temporary Twitch Ban: What Will His Viewers Do?
Famous Twitch personality xQc has recently been hit with a temporary ban on the streaming platform. This is not the first time he has faced a suspension, and based on his reputation, it may not be the last either.
Despite frequent run-ins with Twitch’s terms of service, xQc has managed to become one of the most prominent figures on the platform. Now that he’s not streaming, many wonder how his audience will spend their time.
Over the past year, xQc has dominated Twitch in terms of viewership. He has accumulated a whopping 132,443,699 hours watched, putting him nearly 20 million hours ahead of the second-place streamer, Portuguese CS:GO player Gaules, according to Twitch stats website SullyGnome.
While xQc’s recent ban, due to breaking stream-sniping rules during a Twitch Rivals Fall Guys tournament at GlitchCon, is only for seven days, there are few streamers on the platform who consistently attract the same level of audience.
Nick Polom, a friend and fellow Twitch partner of xQc, described Twitch’s decision to ban him as unleashing a swarm of bees.
Polom is referring to the chaotic and spam-filled nature of xQc’s chat room. xQc’s audience, while embodying Twitch culture, often brings chaos and spamming to a new level.
With xQc absent from Twitch for the past few days, it is unlikely that his viewers simply took a break from the platform. While his stream and audience are a caricature of Twitch culture, they still represent much of what the platform has created over the years.
In his final two streams before the ban, xQc had an average viewership of over 50,000 for more than 20 hours of airtime.
Given the sheer number of hours watched on Twitch each week, it is impossible to say whether xQc’s absence has resulted in a decline in viewers. In fact, the platform has seen an increase in viewership over the past three days compared to the preceding three days. To find xQc’s viewers, we must examine individual channels.
Determining where exactly xQc’s viewers have gone is challenging, but viewership statistics indicate that content creators like Mizkif may be housing his fans. Mizkif, another variety streamer, has experienced a surge in viewership, particularly during special events.
Over the weekend, Mizkif’s Just Chatting streams focused on a grassroots esports organization called One True King (OTK) garnered over double his average viewership during the work week.
Although the unique nature of these streams may be the primary reason for Mizkif’s weekend success, the absence of xQc could also be a contributing factor. Over the past month, xQc and Mizkif have shared common interests on Twitch, including Just Chatting and Minecraft.
Meanwhile, other top personalities like NICKMERCS, TimTheTatman, and Asmongold have not experienced a significant increase in viewership over the past week.
Although it is difficult to determine exactly where xQc’s viewers have gone, it is highly likely that at least some of them have found solace in Mizkif’s streams.