The fastest-growing Twitch channels for September 2019 have been revealed and they suggest that Twitch has a huge bot problem. This bot problem could potentially affect brand deals and how much money streamers can make from them.
Data published by Dexerto reveals that the fastest growing Twitch channel for September 2019 is Animefan_30, which has added more than half a million new followers this month. That puts Anime-fan_30 above the likes of Amouranth, the streamer who was in the news because of a wardrobe mishap and NickEh30 who has gained more than 400,000 new followers after moving to Twitch from YouTube.
In a clip, Animefan_30, who had less than 600 followers before this huge jump, can be heard saying “Oh my god, it’s happening again.” Talking about the bots, the streamer says “They’re doing it. There it goes, they’re doing it again.” In the chat, usernames with strange lines of numbers and letters can be seen, as well as the chatbot thanking them for following.
It’s unclear where the spam is coming from and what, if anything, animefan_30 has done to lead botters to spam their channel in this way. However, this is a problem that Twitch should address as it could affect how money is made and spent on the platform.
It could make brands less likely to work with Twitch streamers as they are unable to confirm if that streamers followers are real or just bots. This could destroy a lucrative business for streamers, who can make between $1,000 to $10,000 per hour spent streaming a game, explains Tubefilter . When Apex Legends was released, a source revealed that EA had paid Ninja $1 million to play the game. Streamers with large numbers of bot followers, whether they paid for them or not, may find themselves unable to get these kinds of deals.