Since the "feud" between Pewdiepie and mainstream media popped up in February, YouTube's biggest star hasn't stirred up much controversy. Now, Pewdiepie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, is taking his newest online video endeavor to another outlet: Twitch. He announced at the end of a recent video that he started a Twitch channel called Netglow and will produce a weekly live show entitled Best Club every Sunday at 11am EST. The first episode aired this past weekend.
According to Pewdiepie, Netglow has been in the works since before the controversy over his anti-Semitic jokes. "I decided this before, before anything, so don't read it the wrong way," he said. "But I wanted to start doing streams on Twitch." Netlgow was his original name idea for Revelmode, the digital network he helped create with Disney's Maker Studios. Disney cut ties with Pewdiepie after The Wall Street Journal reported on his offensive jokes. Google also responded to those reports by removing him from their preferred advertising network for "family-friendly" creators and cancelling the second season of his YouTube Red show.
It appears Pewdiepie may want Netglow to produce content like Revelmode does, but it's unclear if Pewdiepie will be the main content creator or if he'll bring on other creators to start their own shows. Pewdiepie said he will still be making videos on YouTube, even though a large portion of his videos have been demonetized (the first upload of his video where he announces Netglow got demonetized as well, forcing him to upload a second version). It's not uncommon for YouTube stars to also stream on Twitch, whether they are gaming creators or not. Not only does it let them reach a different audience, but Twitch's livestreaming features are more advanced than YouTube's. While Pewdiepie may have had this idea before his battle with the media and YouTube, it could also be seen as a response to YouTube cracking down on what it sees as offensive content.
However, Twitch also has a code of conduct and terms of service that Pewdiepie will have to follow if he wants to make big money from that outlet. Currently, Netglow is a crowdsourced channel that accepts donations from Twitch viewers—on the first episode of Best Club, Pewdiepie and his guest, YouTuber Brad Smith of World of Orange, briefly explained that they have "no budget" for the show and that it's currently not funded by anyone.
As it stands now, Netglow won't even meet the necessary requirements to be a Twitch Partner. These partners can make money a few different ways, but one of the biggest is having a "subscribe" button on their page where dedicated viewers can pay $4.99 per month to follow that channel and access special features. Half of that money goes to Twitch and the other half goes to the channel. But to be a Twitch Partner, the channel must have a steady and growing chat audience; produce content that abides by Twitch's code of conduct, terms of service, and DMCA guidelines; and broadcast at least three times per week. The first episode of Best Club appeared to have a big chat audience and it wasn't too outrageous in its content, but the weekly show is currently the only show planned for the channel. Pewdiepie and his team are hoping their crowdsourced funds will help them produce more than just Best Club on Netglow in the future.
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