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If you want to understand the power of online live streamers, you only need to look at how Gen Alpha mega-influencer North West spent her 11th birthday. As the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, the recent Interview Magazine cover star could have had anything she wanted. So what did she decide? To hang out with her favourite streamer Kai Cenat in New York.
Cenat, who won Streamer of the Year at the 2024 Streamer Awards, is arguably the most popular of a new generation of live streamers, and regularly broadcasts unfiltered, real-time videos to millions of users. Known for his comedy and prank videos, the 22-year-old streamer started out on YouTube in 2018, migrating to Twitch in 2021, where he has amassed over 13.5 million followers. Cenat’s videos have featured celebrities including 21 Savage, Nicki Minaj and Kevin Hart. The internet even credits him with popularising the now-ubiquitous internet term ‘rizz’ (which means charisma). Whether it’s gaming, chatting, or lifestyle content through platforms like Twitch, YouTube and Instagram, streamers like Cenat broadcast for hours at a time, building loyal audiences by providing unscripted experiences that allow for direct interaction with viewers.
While brands have started to recognise the power of streaming, it’s gaming that’s previously been the focus. In 2021, Gucci created a capsule collection in collaboration with esports organisation and clothing label 100 Thieves. The following year, they launched the Gucci Gaming Academy to sponsor emerging esports talent, while earlier this year, 100 Thieves co-founder and streamer Valkyrae sat front row at the Gucci Autumn/Winter 2024 show. Similarly, Louis Vuitton partnered with Fortnite superstar streamer Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins as early as 2019.
But in recent years, brands have been harnessing the influence of non-gaming streamers like Cenat, too. In 2022, Adidas dropped a limited-edition sneaker in collaboration with British streamer-turned-boxer and musician KSI. The Forum Hi KSI trainer sold out immediately, with his 13 million Instagram and 24.4 million YouTube followers hailing it a “must-have item”. Then, in February 2024, Cenat made headlines by signing a groundbreaking deal with Nike, becoming the brand’s first-ever streamer ambassador. It was a historic moment for the space. With endorsement deals of this kind usually reserved for athletes and musicians, it spoke to the increasing power of those in the streaming world.
It’s a sign of the times. Since the mid-2010s onwards, streaming has become a force in digital entertainment. Data from Gen Z and millennial market research agency YPulse shows that nearly a third (32 per cent) of 13 to 39-year-olds watch live-stream content weekly, with online influencers topping the list of public figures they trust.
Gaming streams are one thing. But with the explosive rise of lifestyle, comedy and prank streaming, comes a murky world of unchecked behaviour, controversy and risk — for both creators and the brands that partner with them. Much of the content is unregulated and real-time, meaning the boundaries of what is acceptable are constantly being pushed. Especially as more entrants make it harder to sustain captive audiences for long stretches at a time, leading to more extreme, risky, and sometimes controversial, stunts and opinions.
What’s the appeal for brands?
The live nature of streaming creates a level of intimacy and authenticity that traditional influencers often struggle to replicate, says MaryLeigh Bliss, chief content officer at YPulse. Younger generations are becoming increasingly wary of mega-influencers, who can seem out of touch or overly polished. YPulse research reveals that 83 per cent of Gen Zs and millennials are more likely to trust someone who feels relatable and “like them”. Streamers, often broadcasting from their bedrooms or gaming setups, embody that relatability, continues Bliss.
“Brands are eager to work with streamers because they are reaching an audience that is not as interested in traditional marketing,” she says. “Young consumers are spending more and more time on social platforms (over four hours a day according to their own estimations), and gaming. It’s harder than ever for marketers to get their attention — they’re certainly not seeing commercials on satellite [TV] (they’re on streaming platforms and looking at their phones) and they’re most often skipping over the ads they see online.”
Additionally, streaming offers unique opportunities for creative brand integration. Joe Gagliese, co-founder and co-CEO of social-first agency Viral Nation, notes that streamers typically broadcast six to eight hours a day, five or six times a week, providing ample room for sponsorships to be woven into content in creative ways — whether through ad reads, unboxings, or interactive gaming widgets that seamlessly embed a brand’s logo and track live sales. This QVC-like dynamic, where products are showcased live to an audience that can interact in real time, creates a compelling proposition for marketers.
“For brands, there is a QVC dynamic that is highly appealing — you can track exact viewership at any given moment in time with the added benefit that the stream is always posted afterwards, gaining even more viewership. And considering how often a professional streamer streams, there’s more bandwidth for partnerships to be integrated in various ways at various points,” he continues. “Streaming platforms allow for more creative integrations — such as broadcast overlays, widgets that can creatively embed logos and track live sales, or interactive integrations added throughout a gamer’s gameplay — so converting a viewer into a consumer is a seamless experience,” he adds.
The unfiltered extreme content might be a draw for audiences, but it’s a fine line, says Letty Cole, creative strategist at youth and internet culture agency Mørning. “In the same way that algorithms rely on extreme content to win our attention, streamers appeal to their audience’s most intense emotions to sustain views,” she says. “This can manifest in both extreme, right-wing content that speaks to the disillusionment of much of their young male audience, as well as problematic spectacle-making stunts to drive views.”
Last year, Cenat faced charges of inciting a riot after a fan giveaway in New York descended into chaos. The event, meant to give back to fans through items like PS5 consoles, PCs and gift cards, led to overcrowding and disorder in Manhattan’s Union Square. The charges were later dropped after Cenat issued a public apology and paid $55,000 in restitution, stating that the mayhem was unintended. “I don’t condone any of the things that went on that day,” he clarified in a statement released via his streamer group AMP (Any Means Possible). Despite this setback, Cenat signed a landmark deal with Nike in February.
There are some darker examples, too. In 2017, popular streamer Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg, who has over 20 million followers on Instagram and 1.8 million followers on TikTok, faced backlash for making anti-Semitic jokes and saying racial slurs during live streams, leading Disney’s Maker Studios and YouTube to sever their ties. He later apologised for offending people and said his comments had been taken out of context. More recently, streamer Adin Ross, who has previously worked with Grandtheft Auto and the NBA, came under fire for launching the $70,000 Hurricane Milton “survival challenge”. Here, he encouraged his 4.5 million YouTube subscribers and 1.5 million Kick followers to chase the second most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded into mandatory evacuation zones for a financial reward. It resulted in one of his followers getting arrested.
Perhaps most disturbingly, earlier this month, popular streamer and internet personality Yung Filly was arrested in Australia on rape allegations and charges, a development that has shocked his fans and cast a dark shadow over the world of online live streaming. He has already been dropped by Footlocker, while previous collaboration partners like Asos have taken down any historical campaign imagery from their site.
Brands need to be proactive, not reactive
To succeed, brands need to approach streaming partnerships with both caution and creativity — plus plenty of preparation. Still, there’s only so much brands can anticipate, which begs the question: when does the risk outweigh the reward?
Seventy-one per cent of consumers say they expect a brand to take a position on issues that matter to them, according to Julian Payne, global chair of crisis and risk at global communications firm Edelman. “That’s why it is really important in that instance that you are aligning with individuals who help you demonstrate your values as a brand.”
For Payne, a strong brand-creator partnership that starts with thorough vetting and an alignment of values. “It is unlikely that you will find anybody in this space who is absolutely entirely aligned with every single aspect of your brand. You have to decide how much overlap is enough,” he says. “It’s important that you understand the individual and what they stand for. If you don’t spend time with those individuals and understand who they are and what makes them tick, you leave yourself vulnerable to connecting with individuals who won’t be great ambassadors for you throughout the lifetime of your partnership.”
The worst thing you can do is take deeply strategic decisions in the heat of crisis management, cautions Payne. However, a lot of brands are currently stuck in reactive crisis management because they lack the proper strategy and technology to mitigate risk in the first place. This is especially the case with streaming, where there is significantly more content to wade through to pick up on any potential harmful beliefs or past statements. Meanwhile, the fragmentation of audiences across different platforms that may be unfamiliar with a brand’s social media team is another flag for Payne.
Viral Nation has recently been working on innovative tech software Secure to combat this issue. “Equipping social experts who understand the terrain of content creation with a powerful AI-powered tool that allows for creator vetting at speed and scale, is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s a must-have for brands,” says Gagliese. This deeper level of vetting helps ensure that the creators brands partner with are a good fit from the outset, reducing the likelihood of crises down the line.
Ultimately, the key is to remember that a brand is separate from the individual. While creators can bring attention and elevate a brand’s profile, brands have the right to step away when a creator’s actions no longer align with their values, Payne says. “As long as the brand explains its position calmly and clearly, and takes swift, thoughtful action, consumers are intelligent enough to see that the creator’s remarks do not necessarily define the brand itself.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
Correction: This article was updated to correct the spelling of Joe Gagliese of Viral Nation. (30/10/24)
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