The Streamer Awards doesn’t get the industry buzz of the Streamy Awards, the Webby Awards, or the Shorty Awards.

But they should.

The world of live streaming on Twitch is like public-access television on drugs (a lot of drugs) if those public-access stars had millions of dollars, access to celebrities, and the ability to sell out stadiums.

And it’s edgy. Much edgier than the other awards show.

This Caseoh gif (who also won ‘Best Variety Streamer’ this year) sums up how I felt after almost every joke.

And I don’t even blame the show! It’s a big part of this culture. And I’ll break down the good, the bad, the ugly, and why I think the edgelord era is almost over.

Also in this edition:

🦾 Zuck Finally Realizes He Won’t Build the Metaverse

🎵 Spotify Wrapped Goes Viral (Again)

🇷🇺 Russia Bans Snapchat

⏰ YouTube Shorts Prefers Recent Videos

💪🏼 Jobs from COY Creator, Bucketsquad, and Fox Entertainment

🎭 …and a dank meme from yours truly!

Let’s get into it.

TLDR:

My apologies to my LinkedIn followers. Some of this will be a repeat from my Streamer Awards recap post.

But unlike most creator award shows that feel like they could be renamed the ‘Well Duh Awards’ (MrBeast is creator of the year again!? NOOO!), this year’s Streamer Awards was eye opening for multiple reasons.

Let’s break it down by The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

Kai Cenat and iShowSpeed have given the streaming universe the template for success: long streams, big personalities, and tons of spectacle.

I was sitting amongst the fans and, unlike The Streamer Awards 5 years ago, I wasn’t surrounded by core gamers.

I was surrounded by a diverse group of ‘the cool kids’ in streetwear fashion who couldn’t care less about the gaming categories, but lost their mind every time Kai Cenat won (he won four, btw).

And the biggest pop of the night was when IReallyLovePuzzles won the ‘Hidden Gem Award’. She’s a kindly grandma who puzzles on stream, who gave a genuinely touching speech about how streaming changed her life.

Don’t get me wrong: gamers still got plenty of attention. But the tide of Twitch is changing.

It’s now cross-genre, more diverse than the top creator makeup of other platforms, and tends towards how much fans like the people, not the game (as we’ve seen so often in the past when creators change platforms and the audience doesn’t follow).

And every single person who was there to see IRL streamers lived their life on this platform. They knew every reference, inside joke, and relationship.

And a bit of a side note: but when Zohran Mamdani showed up on screen during the 2025 recap he got a huge pop from the audience. Definitely notable in the Twitch world, which has historically leaned to the right.

The Bad

There were empty seats.

The Wiltern isn’t so big that there should have been empty seats, and the event wasn’t so expensive that fans couldn’t go (we got our’s last-second for $40 each).

And for those who were in the fan area, people started leaving about one hour in during every break.

Some of that may have been due to the content (we’ll talk about that later), but I have a feeling many people thought the event would involve a lot more interaction with stars.

The fans were kept so far away from the streaming areas that they either had to look down at the creator lobby from a large hole on the second floor (the fans were standing 5 deep) or wait until they’re on stage from 50 yards away.

But I have a feeling it’s because it felt like it was an event for streamers to talk to and celebrate each other, not their fans.

This is the exact opposite of what a live streaming award show should be.

I don’t believe there was a single moment any viewers were acknowledged, even though screens with the live comments were literally on the stage.

And I think this speaks to something bigger about the streaming community: once you get to a certain size and the comments stream by so quickly that you can’t read them, the audience no longer seems to have a role.

I would argue that big YouTubers feel more accessible than big Twitch streamers.

Are we just returning to the kind of fandom historically reserved for Hollywood stars?

The Ugly

The toxicity of the 2010’s Xbox Live era of racism, sexism, and constant shade was alive and well.

It’s very normal for award shows to gently (or not so gently) tease the nominees in the opening monologue. But when the jokes are casually making jokes about race that feel like a 90’s radio zoo crew, making fun of streamers’ inability to get laid, alcohol abuse, and troubling relationships with their fans.

There was even a crowd moment when one irate streamer told the interviewer with a dead-serious face, “If you’re going to make fun of people, you have to be funny.” Very awkward.

I won’t say who said what about whom, but in the audience section, people around me were saying, “Oof…” more than laughing.

But the audience doesn’t get a pass either. There was one particularly loud cheering fan who, at one point, someone yelled, “Shut up, b*tch!” leading everyone to laugh.

When she loudly cheered again, many others yelled “Shut up, b*tch!” too like a Greek chorus of pricks.

As a gamer and a child of the internet I can say authoritatively: Twitch as a community often takes on the worst parts of internet culture.

It’s Elon Musk-style immaturity: believing whomever is most offensive is the funniest, and whomever is funniest is the coolest.

Those of us who live in the real world and talk to real people know how insufferable those types of people are, but that echo chamber has had issues breaking free from that logic.

But let’s end positively! Those IRL fans I spoke about earlier were notably not like that.

They were full of good vibes. Kai Cenat’s speeches were heartfelt and interesting. They genuinely loved Speed.

And as more IRL stars permeate Twitch, they can hopefully move the Overton window on cruelty within the streaming community.

What creators, brands, governments, and platforms are making waves this week in the name of fortune, fame, and fun?

🦾 Meta changed its name to align with its CEO’s metaverse ambitions. And now, after burning tens of billions of dollars on a vision no consumer ever got close to understanding, they’re finally cutting 30% of the budget against the metaverse. And, of course, that led stocks to rise. Another one to file under, “Actually talk to your customers and you could have cured world hunger with that budget instead.” (BTW, I’m not being hyperbolic as some estimates say $7b could cure world hunger)

🎵 Spotify Wrapped, the yearly roundup of statistics for Spotify users, had its biggest year ever with 200m+ users on its first day. They also added your ‘listening age’ (mine is 48…) and, if your top song was Golden from the K-pop Demon Hunters soundtrack (like me… I swear it’s from my daughter), you got a special video from HUNTR/X thanking you.

🇷🇺 Russia banned Snapchat, claiming the app was used by terrorists to coordinate with each other. They also banned FaceTime, which is mainly used for grandparents to coordinate with grandchildren.

⏰ Tubefilter has reported that YouTube Shorts appears to have updated its algorithm to prefer newer uploads. Seems like an odd move when the content pool seems to be endless and most content feels evergreen, but I’m sure they have data I don’t have access to (note: I only know what I see in my FYP)

Creator Evangelist, COY Creator

If you haven’t checked out COY Creator yet, it’s time. They’re helping creators build reliable monetization from their fan community in a way that keeps the creator’s brand front-and-center. This role would give you not only the opportunity to interface with a lot amazing creators, but learn the most important skill for the future of the creator economy: community-building.

Lead Creative, Bucketsquad

Jesser has built an incredible brand as a creator in Bucketsquad, and anyone who wants to learn about creator entrepreneurship from the inside-out would get a lot out of this role. Oh, and you should probably like basketball too.

Head of Creator Studio, Fox Entertainment

The big networks are finally, finally starting to properly resource their creator departments. And Fox would surely not only be crazy high-volume, but allow you to work cross-functionally with multiple teams, have plenty of resources at your disposal, and have access to storied brands.