- Sources reveal that there is now a bidding war to sign Ninja to an exclusive streaming deal.
- YouTube, Facebook Gaming, Twitch are all reportedly in the race.
- The news comes after Ninja held a hugely successful stream on YouTube, despite him not having signed a deal with the company.
Sources speaking to esports journalist Adam Stern have revealed that there are now three companies trying to sign Tyler Blevins aka Ninja to an exclusive streaming deal. Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming are all trying to get the streamer’s signature.
This news follows Ninja’s surprise YouTube stream this week, where he received hundreds of thousands of views. It prompted speculation that the streamer was about to confirm a deal with YouTube and reveal plans for his future streams. In truth, no deal has been struck, but sources say that “a deal should be wrapped up by end of summer”.
All three companies in the race to sign a deal with Ninja have the money. When the streaming megastar signed an exclusive deal with Mixer, the contract reportedly netted him between $20-30 million.
The fact that Mixer was unsuccessful and shut down despite Belvin’s presence may make streaming platforms unwilling to hand out a massive contrast. Ninja’s presence can boost the popularity of a platform, but he’s no miracle worker.
Why YouTube is the Likely Destination
The odds-on favorite to win this three-horse race is YouTube, and not just because of Ninja’s hugely successful stream. The streamer has more than 20 million YouTube subscribers and more than two billion channel views, confirming that users love his content. There’s little risk for YouTube and Ninja, who won’t want to be part of another failing enterprise.
The chips are also stacked against Facebook Gaming as the streamer has turned the platform down once before. After the Mixer shutdown was announced, Facebook Gaming offered streamers huge amounts of money to move to the platform.
Facebook Gaming also offered to honor Ninja’s Mixer deal but he reportedly chose to take a payout from Mixer, ending the contract prematurely. This could have been part of a very clever renegotiation plan, seeing Facebook Gaming pay to create a new deal with Belvins, but it seems unlikely.
Ninja and Twitch’s Bad Blood Runs Deep
Ninja also has previous with Twitch. His wife and manager, Jessica Blevins, has confirmed that the streamer left Twitch because he couldn’t grow his brand. While they tried to work around this, Twitch wouldn’t budge.
When Ninja left for Mixer, Twitch broadcasted pornography on his old Twitch channel. Ninja has also been highly critical of Twitch’s decision not to ban Alinity following allegations of animal abuse last summer. A Twitter beef between him and Alinity just last week broke out last week.
With so much bad blood between Ninja and Twitch, it’s difficult to see how any amount of money could make that right. Stranger things have happened but it does seem like YouTube is the frontrunner here.
Last modified: July 11, 2020 2:12 PM UTC