More People Watched Logan Paul vs. KSI for Free on Twitch than on YouTube
The big boxing match between YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI went down today with the fight [...]
The big boxing match between YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI went down today with the fight unsurprisingly being declared a draw to make room for a rematch, but the real winners were the viewers who bypassed YouTube to watch it for free on Twitch.
To watch the fight, viewers had to pay $10 each in order to witness the whole event through YouTube. Rehosting the stream on other channels was forbidden, so there was only one official way to see it happen live. While many people did just that to watch the YouTube personalities face off, many, many more caught the fight on Twitch at absolutely no cost.
Just as the main event of the fight was about to begin with Paul and KSI facing off against each other right after their brothers fought, we reported that it was watchable through Twitch. Each one of the streams that we visited had several thousands of people watching the clash with some even having several hundreds of thousands. As the numbers climbed, viewers filled into vague categories on Twitch like "Boxing Fight" that wouldn't have a spot anywhere near the top of the list on a normal day but managed to beat Dota 2 and Fortnite, the former of which is in the middle of its big annual event called The International, and the latter a battle royale game that consistently dominates Twitch. Other streamers hosted it under more obscure channels like "Farming Simulator 17."
Esports analyst and reporter Rod "Slasher" Breslau was one of many who brought attention to just how many people were watching it for free on Twitch, bypassing the $10 buy-in fee. He tweeted the screenshot below of the viewer numbers for Twitch that showed the "Boxing Fight" category dominating everything else with over 1 million viewers, and that's not including all the channels hidden under the guise of other games.
Twitch gives absolutely no shits that the KSI Paul fight, streamed exclusively on YouTube and costs $10 to watch (paywall), is being pirate streamed on the platform. 600,000 viewers on Twitch alone, more than Fortnite, almost as much as The International. pic.twitter.com/njU34OG3sc
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 25, 2018
There is now over 2 million concurrent viewers for the KSI Logan Paul fight. 800,000 on the official YouTube stream that cost $10 to watch, and 1.2 million watching for free on Twitch. #KSIvLogan pic.twitter.com/ZZ0FYHLzOn
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 25, 2018
The fight ended in a lackluster draw, though we did at least get to see KSI dressed as Bane. There are also talks of a rematch, though it remains to be seen how many people are going to pay for it after seeing that Twitch is a perfectly viable alternative.