PewDiePie is Leaving YouTube for Blockchain
Michael Spencer
A.I. Writer, researcher and curator - full-time Newsletter publication manager.
Top Creators are pivoting to Blockchain and it should terrify YouTube
I love to tell stories about how the world is pivoting to blockchain and in the world of social media there is now a trend of major Creators leaving mainstream platforms for more decentralized content channels.
Blockchain adoption works in mysterious ways.
PewDiePie is ditching YouTube and Twitch streaming for DLive’s blockchain platform. He has nearly 94 million YouTube subscribers. He’s one of the most known video creators on the internet in 2019.
The 29-year-old Swedish content creator, real name Felix Kjellberg, has signed an “exclusive” live streaming deal with the platform, DLive announced in early April, 2019.
Influencer marketing and Blockchain has a Great Future
With the rise of Dapps and new kinds of content, marketing and influencer marketing experiences on decentralized architectures, the world is about to change.
Starting April 14, PewDiePie will stream weekly on DLive, a decentralized community built using the Lino blockchain, according to the announcement. On his official DLive channel, PewDiePie also saidthat he will support content creators on the platform by donating up to $50,000 to a maximum of 100 creators.
In an era of Twitch and gaming revolutions in the form of new platforms related to Apple, Google and Snapchat, it’s an exciting time to be a video creator. DLive is yet another one of these blockchain content experiments.
So here are totally novel incentive ecosystems. Apparently as reported, DLive offers an estimated 90 percent of the profits from every subscription or gift, while the other 10 percent is put into a pool that rewards viewers with in-house Lino Points. Said points are actually cryptocurrency coins existing on the Lino blockchain and may be rewarded to viewers for watching, commenting, sharing, etc.
The intersection of streaming, creators, influencers and blockchain is obviously going to be huge.
Is the YouTube of the Blockchain Coming?
PewDiePie on YouTube is the platform’s ninth biggest earner, taking $15.5 million in 2018. The fact that he would choose to pivot to a new decentralized platform bodes well for the intersection of content and blockchain.
PewDiePie has always been a fierce advocate for the value that creators bring with their hard work, time, and effort, and he believes in DLive’s vision. Our livestreaming platform has the potential to forever change how creators are represented in this industry, and we’re proud to have PewDiePie help us lead this charge. — Lino Network’s co-founder
Lino raised $20 million in February 2018 to build a “YouTube on the blockchain” in a private token sale led by ZhenFund.
The announcement also comes at a time when PewDiePie’s reign as the proverbial King of YouTube may be coming to an end, with Indian record label and film production company T-Series currently battling for the top spot, so he might be ready to try something different.
GenZ is really into YouTube, Twitch and the like, with dozens of new competing platforms that with better incentives could take marketshare away from them eventually highlighting new values of young people who are more crypto friendly and more willing to trust new platforms.
A few years ago this would have been hard to imagine happening. How could a YouTube star give up being in the spotlight to support a blockchain rewards system?
For blockchain adoption in content & marketing this could be a game-changer.
“Personally, I think it’s really cool to have a creator based website actually putting creators first. I’m really excited about DLive and I’m excited to finally be live streaming again,” said PewDiePie.
Unlike other platforms, DLive does not take a cut of fees if a watcher donates to a streamer or subscribes to a stream. YouTube and Twitch can take up to 30–50 percent of the revenue generated by a content creator. Who would you rather support, a platform that puts creators first or platforms that monetize their top influencers?
At the end of the day young people have more decentralized value systems and this could change how blockchain is adopted for mainstream consumption such as video, streaming and micro video content as blockchain architecture platforms begin to mature.
What do you think this means for the future of video creators online? Will they join more ethical platforms that put creators first? What can the likes of LinkedIn and Instagram learn from this?
Mission To Grow 7- 8 Figure Ecom Brands With The Best Team In The Game - Head of Partnerships at Bad Marketing
5 年Wow this is Interesting. I wonder how many other youtubers will make this switch. If the experience and activity is good ya never know if people will move and stay away.
Head of Insights at Equidam, the Startup Valuation platform | Crunchbase contributor
5 年This might mean something if it wasn't just a brand deal. He's being paid to stream there, and will almost certainly stop as soon as the sponsorship ends.?