Pokimane responds to Linus’ “hurtful” comments about her over Twitch issues
Popular streamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys has hit back at the hurtful comments received from tech creator LinusTechTips, after she suggested different advertisement placements on Twitch to make them less intrusive.
In April, a Bloomberg report revealed that new changes are being considered to be introduced this summer that could cut 20% of revenue from the top streamers on Twitch.
Additionally, as the Amazon-owned streaming service continues to push for more profitability, they’ve continued to serve more and more advertisements over the years. Streamers and viewers alike have agreed that they’ve become a lot more intrusive.
Complaints that ads are ruining the live-viewing experience have become a lot more common in recent times, leading to the platform’s top creators suggesting changes. However, Pokimane’s idea wasn’t received well by fellow creator LinusTechTips.
In an April 27 tweet, Pokimane suggested that Twitch should implement advertisements that don’t directly interfere with the content.
She added that she understands ads make the platform profitable but urged that adding them in the sidebar, picture in picture, or in an underlay would make the viewing experience much better.
However, while not naming her directly, LinusTechTips clearly hit out at Pokimane in his recent podcast for her “terrible take,” and mocked her in a female voice. He explained how the idea wouldn’t nearly make as much money, and hence it wouldn’t make any sense.
Understandably, Pokimane was upset by Linus’ “hurtful” comments and hit back. “Hey, just saw a clip where you discussed my tweet on your podcast,” Poki replied in a tweet. “I wanted to let you know that I felt the way you read my tweet in a mocking tone and referred to me as a ‘nameless creator’ albeit also replying to this tweet was odd and hurtful.”
— imane 💜 (@imane) May 4, 2022
Imane continued, breaking down Linus’s comments about the advertisements: “I understand that less aggressive forms of advertising aren’t as profitable, but that doesn’t mean the current system is the best one.
“In my opinion, further interrupting the essence of what makes streaming special, the live interaction is more detrimental to Twitch than the 50/50 split instead of 70/30.”
- Read More: What is the Twitch Research community
The tech star responded, apologizing and admitting that he was “frustrated” knowing how difficult it is to build a sustainable video platform from his first-hand experience. In an attempt to make up, Linus offered to help Pokimane with her newfound multi-platform freedom.
It's not personal, but it *was* rude. I'm sorry about that.
As a way of apologizing, If you're interested in exploring your newfound multi-platform freedom, we had spent considerable development resources on multi-streaming and could help point you and your team in (cont'd)
— Linus LinusMediaGroup (@linusgsebastian) May 5, 2022
Advertisements are certainly getting more intrusive on the streaming site, but as already noted, they’re crucial to the site’s profitability.