As many readers who frequentYouTubemay know, the company has not always had the best or strongest relationship with one of its biggest creators: PewDiePie. However, the company made a surprising yet welcome move in early May whenYouTube signed an exclusive live-streaming deal with him.
Before this exclusivity deal withYouTube, PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, was in another exclusive deal with the live-streaming platform DLive. Now, it seems that DLive may still be using Kjellberg’s likeness to advertise on the platform after his departure from the site.
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Streaming platforms are plentiful these days, with platforms like YouTube, Mixer, and even Facebook capitalizing on one of the biggest ways for content creators to interact with their communities and earn additional revenue. Streaming has increased in popularity tenfold over the last couple years, with streamers pulling in massive viewer numbers and subscriptions on the various streaming platforms available. What’s more is that these streaming platforms are now starting tosign exclusivity deals with the top streamerson a given platform.
Kjellberg announced his exclusivity deal with DLive more than a year ago in April of 2019. However, now that he’s signed on with YouTube, it seems that DLive is still trying to reap the benefits of having Kjellberg’s name attached to the platform. Should readers head to the PewDiePie channel on DLive, reruns of his past streams are being broadcast to the channel despite Kjellberg being offline. DespitePewDiePie streaming exclusively with YouTubenow, DLive may still have rights to Kjellberg’s past streams.
Now, this could be a move on Kjellberg’s part to generate some additional income on the side, as it is still his channel on the site. However, it may also be a caveat of his previous deal with DLive or just an attempt to hold some of Kjellberg’s more loyal viewers and keep them on the platform. Perhaps part of PewDiePie’s deal with DLive allowed them to use his likeness for a period of time after the deal expired. Regardless, it seems like DLive won’t be pulling the same numbers it used to with PewDiePie compared to thecompetition like Mixer, YouTube and Facebook Gaming.
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