YouTube Continues Streaming War, Signs Three Popular Content Creators

Mentioned in this article

• YouTube has signed three popular streamers to exclusive deals.
• Between the three they have a reach of over 22M people.
• All three YouTube deals were brokered by representation.

Today, YouTube announced the signing of Lannan “LazarBeam” Eacott, Elliot “Muselk” Watkins, and Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter to a deal that will see the three gaming content creators stream exclusively on the platform. Financial and other details of the agreement were not disclosed.

The three streamers have over 21M subscribers between them: Eacott (12.3M subscribers) who has the eighth-most viewed channel on YouTube with over 2B views in 2019; Watkins (8.15M subscribers) with 7.8M views over the last two years; and Hofstetter who is on the cusp of breaking 1M subs on the platform.

Eacott and Watkins’ deals with YouTube were brokered by WME and Click Management, while Hofstetter was represented by UTA.

Watkins and Hofstetter are looking to kick off their inaugural YouTube live streams today with a 12-hour charity livestream to help combat the Australian bush fire crisis, while Eacott has yet to announce his start.

Eacott, who started creating content for YouTube in 2015,  saw his audience grow after spending a great deal of time playing Fortnite. 

Hofstetter is a popular Fortnite creator and player: She competed in the Fortnite PRO AM tournament at E3 in 2019 and saw major boost in popularity. She was the first woman to join top esports organization 100 Thieves, but beyond her Fortnite success, Hofstetter steams diversified content and collaborates with other content creators. 

“I’m so excited to join YouTube as a streamer,” said Hofstetter. “From day one, the YouTube team has been fully aligned with all of my goals. With the support from YouTube, my family and my fans, I will not only continue to do my best as a streamer, but I will also venture into other areas of content and grow my brand even further! I am so grateful for the opportunities and for all my loyal fans who have stuck with me though all my decisions throughout my career. I can’t wait for the next chapter”

The battle to sign popular streamers will be front and center in 2020 as Twitch, Mixer, Caffeine, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming all search for talent.

YouTube has already signed personality Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, who left Twitch and his 2M followers; while Tyler “Ninja” Blevins left 14M followers at Twitch to join Mixer.