Twitch has been under fire as of late after the company revealed that it was splitting subscription revenue 50-50 with content creators. Twitch even denied going 70-30 for the majority of streamers, which left streamers even more frustrated. As a solution, Twitch suggested streamers run more ads to make up for the loss of profit and to help keep the site running.
In response, many streamers have pushed back and declared they won’t be running more ads on their streams. This didn’t sit right with star Ben “DrLupo” Lupo, who called out streamers for this decision.
On Oct. 21, DrLupo decided to talk Twitch ad incentives on his stream. He told his chat Twitch is a business and businesses just want to be profitable.
If Twitch isn’t profitable—via ads and other sources—it will shut down.
DrLupo added it’s common sense for Twitch to try to “stay alive” by making more money.
“So you see streamers that are posting these big numbers that are life ‘I’m not gonna run ads because I care about my community.’ It’s a weird flex to say look at this money I could’ve had and I’m not doing it because I love you. You’re at your job. Part of your job is to try and help keep your platform alive too,” he said.
DrLupo felt that trying to screw over Twitch would also just mess with their own income in the long run. If Twitch can’t make a good profit off ads, maybe they will consider a higher revenue split in their favor, he added.
DrLupo was actually one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, with 4.6 million followers, until he traded Amazon’s platform for a YouTube streaming deal in 2021. He is good friends with other top influencers on the platform like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. DrLupo is still quite popular on YouTube, where he has another 1.87 million subscribers.
DrLupo has risen in popularity due to his gameplay and no-nonsense personality. He is known for sharing his opinion on popular topics and his opinion is often respected.