Over the weekend, Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg announced plans to start streaming content on Twitch for the very first time.
The most successful YouTube celebrity on the planet already has representation on the platform but the channel has been empty for a long while. Rather than pick up the pieces, PewDiePie went through to create a new Twitch channel called NetGlow.
At the time of writing, the channel already boasts 88,695 followers. In addition, a countdown confirms that PewDiePie will be officially begin streaming content next week on April 16.
According to TubeFilter, PewDiePie is interested in hosting charity streams on Twitch in similar manner to how Jacksepticeye, Markiplier, and Emma Blackery did so in the past to raise roughly $1.3 million for (RED).
In addition, PewDiePie will be using his massive following to promote fellow creators in light of recent plummeting revenues.
“The reason why people love YouTube is because it’s free and it’s open and you can say whatever you want,” he said. “It seems like YouTube is being forced to turn into television at this point, and that’s gonna be bad for everyone.”
Unfortunately, the original announcement video was taken down from his YouTube channel shortly after going live. Hence, we have little knowledge of whether PewDiePie has other plans besides conducting charity and promotional campaigns. It is also unknown if he is planning to shift entirely to Twitch, or at least focus more on the platform by taking a break from his nearly 55 million subscribers on YouTube.
The announcement of NetGlow arrives in the wake of a series of controversies that affected his business relationships with YouTube and other advertisement partners. That being said, he has reportedly stated that the move to Twitch has nothing to do with the recent issues.
In February, PewDiePie had to take a lot of flak for publishing a video where he paid two men to hold a sign with an anti-Semitic message. In his defense, he stated that the move was to prove how anyone can do anything for money. The result was him being dropped by the Disney-owned Maker Studios and YouTube’s YouTube Red program.
