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 过激的；狂热的。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，许多人被困在了家里。与此同时，直播——实时播放用户制作的视频——迅速兴起了。Twitch、Caffeine、YouTube Live 以及脸书等平台都涌入了数量空前的主播和观众。

2从历史上看，直播一直是游戏的代名词。Twitch 和Mixer 这两个平台之所以出名，是因为它们把像泰勒·布莱文斯（网名：忍者）这样的职业玩家都变成了家喻户晓的名字。然而，最近出现了一个新的流媒体受众群体，他们渴望非游戏内容。比如，在过去的两年里，Twitch 上一个被称为“聊聊天”的频道增长迅度，几乎是Twitch 整体的四倍，观众可以在该频道与主播实时聊天。随着Caffeine 等平台推出娱乐节目和流行文化直播，这一趋势正在整个行业蔓延。直播有种独一无二的魅力，能让大众痴狂，能让人快速赚到钱，正因如此，直播正在成为现场视频娱乐的未来，并在这个过程中超越其游戏的本源。

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 认为与己无关的；毫不关心的，心不在焉的。viewer.

直播和互动背后的态势

3见证一个新的网红阶层——生活类主播——的兴起吧。这类人的兴趣范围很广，从旅游到健身再到理财。加入这个名流群的人越来越多，包括德雷克，他在Caffeine 上主持格斗说唱节目；环保人士马娅·比嘉，在Twitch 上展示驯鹰术和濒危动物；厨师博比·帕里什，在Youtube Live 平台教观众制作生酮饮食；还有扮装艺术家凯特琳·西拉古萨（网名：Amouranth），她无论吃饭、锻炼还是睡觉都要直播，140万粉丝实时跟她聊天或连麦。

4这些直播的一个共同点就是对人的关注，而不是对活动本身的关注。没有了游戏来占据屏幕上的视觉（和认知）空间，主播的个性就成了主要焦点。为什么观众会急切地想了解直播中那些完全陌生的人的生活方式呢？答案很简单：寂寞。最优秀的生活类主播会与粉丝积极互动，让他们感觉自己像是某个亲密社区的积极参与者，而不是一个旁观者。

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生活类主播常常与他们的追随者关系密切，太密切了，以至于他们许多人能叫出铁粉的名字，并在安排日常直播时采纳粉丝们的建议。

6因此，相对于线性视频和游戏直播，社区归属感是生活类直播成长背后的真正动力。今天，对于数百万的人们来说，观看他们最喜欢的生活类直播并与主播交谈要比被动地观看奈飞更有吸引力，尤其是在旷日持久的居家避疫令实施期间。

生活类直播解锁更高级的赚钱模式

7生活类直播的出现还为创作者们提供了一个很有前途的办法来解决目前面临的最严峻挑战之一：赚钱。例如，从历史上看，Twitch 上排名前1.2%的主播赚取了该平台的大部分收益。据报道，“忍者”等超级明星每月收入超过50 万美元。相比之下，该平台的15万名“联盟推广计划”创作者（粉丝数量少一些）月收入不到250 美元。在Twitch 的200万创作者中，其余的人赚钱很少，甚至一分钱也赚不到。

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《守望先锋》的职业玩家，目前Twitch 平台上人气最高的主播之一。xQc 是其网名xQcOW 的简称。, 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传统来讲，主播的主要收入来源是：

1. 订阅

2. 广告

3. 捐款

4. 赞助

9主播与粉丝建立了更深层次的关系，还能就某些类型的直播内容实时回应观众，这意味着其大部分收入来自捐款。

10生活类主播往往比游戏类主播更能留住粉丝：前者靠的是个性魅力，而后者可能会在某款游戏人气下降时失去粉丝。生活类主播的个性区分度高、丰富多彩，是极具吸引力的赞助目标。

11但除了现有的赚钱模式外，生活类主播还有能力在平台内外挖掘新的收入来源。举几个例子:

社会认同

122019 年排名第一的“聊聊天”主播菲利克斯·伦吉尔（网名：xQc）在“媒体分享星期一”上的时薪约为1188 美元。“媒体分享星期一”是一个持续一整天的活动，他会观看粉丝亲手挑选的YouTube 视频。xQcOW 的230 万粉丝花每秒钟33 美分观看他对他们自己最喜欢视频的反应。作为观众的榜样和时尚引领者，他在有效地推销社会认同。

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 Patreon5一个供创作者进行众筹的平台。, 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 Discord6一款语音聊天软件。or group Hangouts7内置于Gmail 的文字、视频和语音聊天应用，已于2022 年11 月关闭。.

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 Fiverr8一个在线技能服务交易平台，成立于2010 年，总部位于以色列耶路撒冷。,streamers offer coaching on subjects ranging from fitness to photography to personal finance.

私人会员群

13许多生活类主播能够通过封闭付费会员群从他们最狂热的粉丝身上赚钱。例如，扮装主播Amouranth 在她的Patreon账号上有近1000 名订阅者，她在那里发布自己各种装扮的独家照片，每月收费在20 美元到850 美元之间。最高订阅等级的用户可以在任何时候直接给Amouranth 发短信，而较低订阅等级的用户只能使用Discord 或谷歌环聊。

陪伴/辅导

14同样地，许多生活类主播直接向观众有偿提供陪伴服务，要么与粉丝一起玩游戏，要么让粉丝预订平台外的时间。例如，一个名叫Stream Captain 的工作室设计了一款名为Stream Raiders 的游戏，在游戏中，观众可充当主播麾下的小分队。初创公司Legionfarm为主播和电竞专业人士与普通玩家配对，让他们成为游戏伙伴，平均每小时收费14 美元。在像Fiverr这样的交易平台上，主播提供从健身、摄影到个人理财等方面的辅导。

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.

商务

15最后，直播商务是一个新兴的收入渠道，其增长时机已经成熟。许多主播被视为时尚引领者，他们向观众推荐产品以换取佣金。钱斯·莫里斯（网名：Sodapoppin）设计并销售一系列精心策划的金属版画以及他自己的生活服饰产品。像Chrono.gg 这样的初创企业则更进一步，他们让创作者开设自己的电子商务商店，直接向粉丝销售产品。

16这些新的收入渠道比传统的广告驱动模式有着更大的盈利潜力。生活类主播可用的工具多种多样，可以灵活地选择最适合其特定品牌的盈利模式。

直播的下一代

17随 着Twitch、Caffeine 和Youtube Live 等平台上非游戏内容的增长，我们正在见证下一代生活类主播的兴起。对他们来说，个性就是王道，游戏只是吸引粉丝的众多方式之一。

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.

18一直以来，直播作为一种媒体的独特吸引力就在于它能够将大众广播的覆盖面与小群体的社区归属感结合起来。随着人们在疫情期间越来越远离传统的社区归属感来源，生活类直播将填补这一空白。