Although viewership was down slightly, the hashtag was still trending a day later.
The phrase-turned-hashtag #ADayOffTwitch trended all day on Twitter yesterday as several content creators took a day off from streaming on Twitch to highlight issues such as “hate-raiding” and transparency on the platform.
According to Sully Gnome’s data, 57 million hours were seen on Twitch yesterday, making it difficult to quantify exactly what kind of influence the day off had. In comparison to the previous four Wednesdays, the platform had a somewhat lower audience and broadcast fewer hours. Twitch has between 61 and 65 million hours watched each day throughout the four Wednesdays in August.
“Because the hours seen on Twitch on 9/1 were down approximately 7-14 percent compared to the previous four Wednesdays, it’s difficult to say whether that impact was due to streamers taking the day off or simply a slower day,” StreamElements co-founder Doron Nir explained. “While some questioned whether or not a demonstration would be effective, it is reasonable to say it was based on the bigger discourse it sparked in the news and on social media.”
“Because the hours seen on Twitch on 9/1 were down approximately 7-14 percent compared to the previous four Wednesdays, it’s difficult to say whether that impact was due to streamers taking the day off or simply a slower day,” StreamElements co-founder Doron Nir explained. “While some questioned whether or not a demonstration would be effective, it is reasonable to say it was based on the bigger discourse it sparked in the news and on social media.”
Though the actual decline in viewing and hours streamed yesterday was small, the online discourse that resulted from it was likely the most important aspect of the protest, as #ADayOffTwitch is still trending on Twitter a day after the protest.
The hashtag peaked as the second most popular phrase trending on Twitter in the United States yesterday, trailing only “Texas,” which was trending due to the state’s divisive abortion law. On the platform, the hashtag has received over 100,000 tweets, virtually all of which have occurred in the last two days.
Twitch’s initial reaction to the anti-hate-raid movement came earlier in August. The company stated that it was developing tools to assist in preventing marginalized streams from being targeted. Twitch’s decision came in response to a Twitter campaign by content creators led by the hashtag #TwitchDoBetter.
However, it did not appear to be enough to deter streamers from participating in this week’s effort to compel the platform to move more quickly. Twitch has not yet responded to #ADayOffTwitch.