Every day, millions of creators stream on the Amazon-owned streaming platform, Twitch, with additional millions of viewers watching and engaging with their streams. However, Twitch's sheer size and scope make it difficult for new users to be discovered and for established top streamers like Pokimane, HasanAbi, and xQc to remain in the limelight. Because of this, a meta, or popular trend, will develop that becomes the standard for growth on the platform for a short period until the next meta takes over.
There have been countless Twitch metas over the years, with many of them being memorable, positive experiences for users and creators alike. Metas centered around video game content such as Pokemon Go, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Among Us, tend to have more positive reactions from the community. One meta in particular, "Twitch Plays Pokemon," even sees Twitch viewers typing in the stream's chat to control the character in a Pokemon game until the community beats the game in a collaborative effort. However, while most of the gaming-focused metas tend to garner the appeal of its audience, the more controversial and sometimes odd metas will take place under other categories.
IRL and Just Chatting Lead to a Change in Direction
Twitch has had its fair share of ups and downs, with much of its notoriety stemming from controversial topics like sex and gambling. Having been around for over a decade, Twitch started as a platform solely meant for streaming video games. That changed in 2016 when the platform added an IRL category that allowed creators to stream other real-world content outside video games. By this time, Twitch was already solidifying itself as the go-to online streaming platform for video games, and adding the Just Chatting section in 2018 further opened the floodgates for its breadth of content. Many Twitch users believe this is when the reliance on metas was exacerbated, as trends began popping up that would take over the platform to help its top creators maintain relevancy.
One of the most controversial metas to ever exist on the platform was the hot tub streams. These are streams that don't necessarily sound too odd on paper, but they will sometimes contain sexually suggestive content. The trend started when streamers discovered a loophole in Twitch's guidelines where they were able to wear swimwear on stream by simply having an inflatable pool present. Due to the content walking the line of acceptable content in Just Chatting, hot tub streams led to serious conversations within the community on the rules of the platform, ultimately leading to a new category being added for Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches.
Long before hot tub streams existed, another meta shared similar criticism that is still present to this day. ASMR streams have also gathered the attention of those debating the nature of its content and whether it should be allowed on the platform. Not all ASMR streams are sexually suggestive, and in fact, many ASMR creators very intentionally keep it professional. The notoriety and criticism lie with the creators who lean more heavily into a sexual style of ASMR content, leading other creators and viewers to worry that the content tarnishes the Twitch brand in the same way as hot tub streams.
IRL and Just Chatting content have led to many odd trends over the years, yet one of the most recent trends is the TV show meta. This is essentially where popular streamers don't stream video games or IRL content, but instead stream entire episodes and seasons of popular TV shows like Naruto, MasterChef, or Avatar: The Last Airbender. This meta did not last particularly long, though, as it led to DMCA takedowns and further concerns for legal action that could jeopardize react content, which has been popular online for more than a decade.