There's a lot of money in streaming these days, and some of the most popular creators on Twitch are finding themselves, for example, spending millions on a new house, as in the case of political commentator Hasan Piker. Some observers are asking, if rather skeptically, what drives droves of fans to continue donating money to some of the biggest streamers on the platform, many of whom already receive considerable income in the form of sponsorships, partnerships, and the like.
One major player in the streaming game has offered her own thoughts on the matter, and the root cause might be more psychological than financial. Variety streamer Imane "Pokimane" Anys weighed in during her stream on August 21, answering a question posed by a Reddit user: "Why do people actually donate to Twitch streamers?" The user, FortniteN00BEpicGame, was quick to clarify that they "didn't mean small streamers who sometimes rely on donators," but rather "big streamers who make money off of sponsors and other things."
Pokimane's response on the matter was swift and to the point. In her opinion, "people don't go as far to think 'how much does this person need my money?' People donate because they want someone's attention." Speaking to a deeper point about how people spend their money in general, she went on to point out that "we're not all spending money logically 24/7. We do things for other reasons." In fact, she added, "if anything, the richer someone becomes the more valuable their attention becomes." Presumably, on a platform like Twitch dedicated to monetizing people's attention, that proves doubly true.
It's an interesting observation to make regarding the complex and mercurial relationship that many streamers have with their fans. The most dedicated viewers can often be weaponized and rounded up into a hate mob directed at whoever the streamer currently has beef with, or can turn on a dime at a perceived betrayal and bombard their own former favorites with abuse.
It's a veritable minefield for streamers with big audiences, and has some understandable effects on their wellbeing. Pokimane herself has opened up recently about her feelings of burnout, no doubt following on from sky-high expectations and the understandable stresses of maintaining a streaming persona that has had to ban hundreds of thousands of abusive users from the chat over the years.
At the end of the day, donations are just another way for fans to get something relatively tangible out of the parasocial relationships they develop with their favorite creators. Sometimes this can be a nice way to get a shoutout in a stream, while at other times things can go sour rather dramatically, as in the case of the man who spent his entire savings on Twitch donations. Either way, Pokimane clearly has one thing right: people certainly don't always spend their money logically.