Mixer has streamed for the last time on July 22nd, as Microsoft announced that its broadcasting platform would be shuttered as part of a newly formed alliance with Facebook Gaming. Existing viewers and content creators will be transitioned to Facebook Gaming, which will honor partner status for any content creators coming from Mixer if they sign new contracts with the company.
Streaming stars like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, Cory “King Gothalion” Michael, and Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek stand to benefit greatly from the deal, as they have been released from their incredibly lucrative, exclusive contracts and are free to pursue streaming on other platforms (and new exclusive deals that could be worth tens of millions).
The bigger question is around where the thousands of other Mixer streamers go – many may feel that Facebook Gaming’s third-place status doesn’t provide enough viewership potential. Moreover, influencers like Ninja could prove pivotal in their platform decisions; Blevins and his wife have given displaced Mixer content creators thousands of dollars and the community may choose to follow him back to Twitch or YouTube. Ninja has already announced participation in a Valorant competition on Twitch and he recently livestreamed on his YouTube channel for the first time, but he has yet to sign a new exclusive deal.
According to Interpret’s New Media Measure®, only 27% of esports viewers watched an esports competition on Facebook in the last three months, compared with 46% for YouTube and 37% for Twitch. Mixer, meanwhile, only saw around 10%. It will be interesting to track Microsoft * Facebook’s success in capturing some of YouTube and Twitch’s viewership market share.
