The Twitch Adpocalypse is Here: Over 10 Big Companies Rumored to Flee Platform As Hasan Piker and Allies Try to Shift Blame

Twitch creators woke up to a surprise this past week, as they discovered that advertising revenue generated by their channels was significantly lower than expected, with some reporting decreases as high as 95%. It has now been revealed by Richard Lewis that more than 10 companies have opted out of advertising on Twitch, dealing a major blow to the platform and CEO Dan Clancy, himself in hot water over perceived favoritism in his handling of Hasan Piker’s comments and frequent rule breaking.

As Kneon on the ClownfishTV podcast points out, the fourth quarter is typically the largest revenue period in terms of advertising. “A lot of advertisers are fleeing from the platform. Weirdly enough, a lot of advertisers that thought X was toxic 6 months ago, they’re all going back to X. They’re giving Elon Musk their money cause they know people are there, and I think there’s probably more going on behind the scenes at Twitch than the general public is aware of.”

“I cannot see Amazon keeping this alive much longer.”

Twitch has largely become a platform where the politically connected are able to skirt the rules and do whatever they want without punishment from the platform. As Mark Kern aka Grummz points out on X, DenimsTV placed a $30,000 bounty on him and Twitch’s response was to ignore it. “Denims, HasanAbi, and Crew say even more extreme things. Twitch does nothing.”

With Twitch having ignored the problem of its well-connected creators blatantly violating the Terms of Service with impunity for so long, it was inevitable that one or more of them would go too far. Twitch has now been forced to change its policy on handling political content in the wake of numerous controversies surrounding Hasan Piker and his political allies on the platform.

In addition to bringing a Houthi terrorist on stream for an interview and playing terrorist propaganda live, Hasan Piker has claimed that the United States “deserved 9/11” and, in a discussion with U.S. House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, blamed former and soon-to-be President Donald Trump for the terrorist attack in southern Israel last year that kicked off the Israel-Gaza War. Earlier this year, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy sang Happy Birthday to Hasan alongside other members of the Twitch staff.

Hasan, whose rise into the public consciousness can be traced back to being promoted on The Young Turks by his uncle Cenk Uygur, has used nepotism and apparent favoritism to skirt bans for activities and statements that would have seen other creators immediately suspended from the platform. Some believe the platform has taken a side by seemingly protecting the left-wing media darling.

While many others involved in the debate over the Israel-Gaza War received suspensions, with Asmongold serving a temporary ban on his unmonetized “zackrawrr” channel, and Frogan receiving a month long ban on October 21st, Hasan Piker has yet to receive a suspension, be penalized, or otherwise punished for his comments and blatant Terms of Service violations in the same timeframe.

Asmongold was suspended for 14 days on Twitch for his statements on Hamas and Palestine, referring to the Palestinians as coming from “an inferior culture” and justifying Israel’s invasion and subsequent use of military force by claiming he is not going to “cry a f—ing river when people who have genocide baked into their laws are getting genocided.”

This did not stop Hasan from blaming Asmongold specifically for the Twitch Adpocalypse. “When Asmongold is making threats like this, this is the result, okay? When you partner up with cynical f—ing assholes who just simply want to see the f—ing world burn.”

Asmongold responded by saying that everyone is to blame. “You’re defending something that is unreasonable. And I think the current ad situation on Twitch is a result of a lot of hand waving, a lot of intellectual dishonesty, that I think people have just become tired of, and now you see people bringing it up all the time, because there’s nothing else they can do.”

In a follow up post on X, Asmongold writes, “The Twitch adpocalypse situation is the result of years of preferential treatment and selective moderation reaching a boiling point in the community. Twitch are the ones who set the tone and rules for the website and in turn are the ones responsible for this happening”

Zach Bussey on X compiled a thread of Twitch creators complaining about the massive decrease in advertising revenue. In a clip posted by Bussey, TheStockGuyTV complained that he saw a decrease in advertising revenue of 95%. “I make about 8 grand a month on average, and sometimes 9 right? So it’s about 40, 50 percent of my income. I’m averaging about $15 in ad revenue. $15 f—ing dollars.”

Twitch creator and FaZe clan member Lacy went into a viral meltdown rant about the decrease in his advertising revenue. “My ad revenue went down from $10,000 plus, at some points, a day, to now like $2,000 a day. So from someone who was making upwards of five figures a day, now only making $2,000 a day off ad revenue, something’s wrong. Something’s going on where my ad revenue is not correct, and it’s not what it should be.”

“If I want to make $2,000 a day, I’ll go be a f—ing mailman.”

According to Payscale.com, the average postal worker in the United States makes around $65,000 a year.

Richard Lewis on Substack broke the news that 11 “significant companies” have ceased advertising on Twitch in the wake of the political controversy. “According to sources familiar with the business dealings of Twitch a number of significant companies have paused their advertising spending with the streaming platform.”

“The meetings were said to come as a direct result of allegations of anti-Semitism and featured representatives of the concerned companies, Twitch executives and Amazon executives.”

The companies were upset by Twitch’s apparent handling of the meeting, with some telling Lewis that they believed Twitch deliberately attempted to downplay the situation and that even executives of parent company Amazon were alarmed by Dan Clancy’s lack of seriousness on the matter.

Of the 11 companies, Chevron was named specifically in the report. Lewis alleges that Chevron was specifically incensed by a panel at TwitchCon in September, where members of the panel ranked other Twitch creators in what is being called a “racial tier list” with the top being “Arab” and the lowest list being labeled “Loves Sabra,” a brand of hummus owned jointly by PepsiCo and Israeli company Strauss Group.

Chevron’s logo could be seen prominently as an advertiser in the background of the panel. Following the Asmongold and Hasan Piker debate over the Israel-Gaza War and the increased scrutiny of Twitch, all members of the panel, including Frogan, would receive a suspension from the platform. Journalists rushed to the defense of the panel, including serial internet lolcow Alyssa Mercante.

According to Lewis’ source, companies want to see a major change out of Twitch before they return to advertising on the platform. “Some see it as covering up the problem rather than addressing it, and so they’re not coming back to the platform until something more direct happens.”

Kneon of ClownfishTV ultimately believes the advertising model is unsustainable. “I think the next phase for the Creator economy is you’re going to have to have direct support. You’re going to have to be able to sell stuff. You’re probably going to have to paywall. You cannot depend on advertising always being there on these platforms”

This could not have come at a worse time for the Jeff Bezos owned company, which already struggles and fails to turn a profit, and as a result, fired 500 staff members to begin the year. With Twitch’s advertising being on life support, it may only be a matter of time before creators, even larger ones, are forced off platform and to other services to find greener pastures. Green as in dollars.

What do you think? Are you Team Asmongold, Team Hasan or neither? Become a paid member to leave a comment below.

By Gator Gamer

Gator is an English language Vtuber and the host of the Anime Boomers Podcast with Cody Baier of Anime Outsiders, and Spooky Weebtrash. You can also find him on X as @TheGatorGamer.

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