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Mixer’s Poaching of Twitch’s Big Names Just Doesn’t Move the Needle
First it was Ninja. Now it’s Shroud. Mixer is trying to build momentum by buying big names — but can it translate to views?
It’s been a big year for single-name personalities and platforms. Months after Mixer, the Microsoft-owned streaming platform, managed to woo Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, at the time pretty much Twitch’s only streamer with mainstream appeal, they’ve done it again with another big name: Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek.
The deal Mixer has brokered to poach Shroud from Amazon-owned Twitch is billboard news: 20 minutes after it was announced on Shroud’s Twitter feed, the video was watched 400,000 times, and industry watchers and insiders rippled with excitement. But there’s little evidence from Mixer’s previous big-name signing that the deal to nab Shroud will do much to build a long-term audience.
The number of hours watched on Mixer didn’t increase significantly after signing Ninja, according to data compiled by live streaming…
