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YouTube signs Twitch video-game streamer Dr Lupo

Getty Images Dr LupoGetty Images

YouTube has poached one of Twitch's top video-game streamers.

Ben "Dr" Lupo, who reportedly signed a multi-million dollar exclusivity deal with Twitch in 2019, will now stream exclusively on YouTube.

The American, 34, known for playing Fortnite, Destiny, Escape from Tarkov and Among Us, has the 26th most followers on Twitch, at 4.5 million.

Twitch said it wished him "nothing but the best in everything that comes next".

He made the announcement in a glossy promotional video complete with computer graphics and welling orchestral music.

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Like many popular Twitch streamers, Dr Lupo already uploads archives of live broadcasts and highlight reels to YouTube, where he has 1.75 million subscribers.

But changing platforms, or even games, can lead to a large loss of followers.

In 2019, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins signed an exclusive deal reportedly worth millions of dollars with Microsoft's streaming service Mixer.

Less than a year later, Microsoft announced Mixer was shutting down and encouraged its partners to move to Facebook Gaming.

But, like YouTube Gaming, Facebook Gaming is comparatively small in the livestreaming space compared with Amazon-owned Twitch, which dominates.

And Ninja - as well as streaming on YouTube - returned to Twitch, along with Shroud, another top streamer signed by Microsoft.

In April, Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet estimated, of the total hours watched in the first quarter of 2021:

  • Twitch had had 72%
  • YouTube Gaming more than 15%
  • Facebook 12%

Second-quarter figures, however, suggest YouTube's pandemic viewership bump may be over, with hours spent watching streams down 4%.