Many people today are already familiar with the presence of streamers on entertainment shows, Facebook, or YouTube with thousands of viewers watching at the same time. They are public figures whose influence today rivals that of any A-list star in the showbiz world. And you’ve surely heard of PewDiePie, the streamer with over 100 million subscribers on YouTube, more than anyone else in the world.
In Vietnam, although it is quite late, the streaming industry has made what can be described as a “miraculous” development, placing Vietnam on the list of countries with the most streaming hours globally, with 400,000 hours per day (According to Appota). This has helped many people, from being “unknown” to becoming famous, allowing passionate gamers to live their true dreams.
A lifeline for players to live off their passion
The term “player” has perhaps only appeared in recent years as eSports has developed strongly in Vietnam, with League of Legends leading the charge through its tournaments. At that time, many people passionate about this game invested a lot of time and money to form teams and compete for prizes.
Notable teams like Saigon Joker, Full Louis, Xgame, Boba Marines… helped put Vietnam on the international map when Saigon Joker first participated in the World Championship in season two in the USA. However, none of this could help players live off their passion when the prize money was negligible compared to the expenses incurred training at a Gaming House.
Many players in previous years bitterly admitted: “Passion cannot sustain oneself if it doesn’t earn money.” They gradually left the competitive scene, becoming “farmers” outside the law or even leaving the gaming industry entirely to make a living in other jobs. While they may no longer have their “passion”, at least they could earn money to support themselves and their families.
And then, a lifeline named “streamer” emerged when playing games could be easily streamed live on platforms like Facebook Gaming, YouTube, or other smaller platforms starting to expand in the Vietnamese market. Instead of earning money through illegal farming or selling… chicken jerky or fruits on their stream, players now have contracts worth thousands of USD.
Since then, the lives of players/streamers have changed dramatically. No longer having to stream all night worrying about meals, they now have extra money to buy houses, cars, or invest in projects, open stores… It cannot be denied that their success largely comes from livestreaming platforms, with advertising contracts as streamers officially became a profession that is considered “money-making”.
Being a streamer can earn a lot of money, that’s a fact. But is it easy?
I have written personal PR articles for many streamers on Facebook Gaming in Vietnam, and many of them revealed that their revenue depends on the number of live viewers reaching tens, or even hundreds of millions VND each month. This includes some young students, still in school.
While their peers are still begging their parents for money to go to school, they are earning tens of millions each month just by sitting in front of a computer playing games, sending money home to build houses, invest… After hearing this, I really wanted to… quit my job and become a streamer instead of writing when my salary sometimes doesn’t even compare to the pocket change of those younger than my nieces and nephews.
Thanks to the growth of the streaming industry, a plethora of management companies for “KOLs, Idols…” have sprung up and started to dominate the market, collaborating with many livestreaming platforms to create new generations of streamers who are young, talented, and extremely professional. Many of them were previously just ordinary players, a student, or a poor student from the countryside coming to the city looking for work… Suddenly they became “players”, “hot girls” thanks to effective media machinery.
Management companies for “KOLs, Idols…” have also quickly profited from this. Some of my friends work in this field, and within a short time, they have bought houses and several cars, despite just a few years ago having to farm, sell game accounts, and phone cards… That’s enough to understand how lucrative the streaming business is.
However, anyone who has ever been a streamer understands that making money is not easy at all, especially for those who do not have a talent for gaming. The truth is that most streamers earn money and attract viewers thanks to their talents; if not exceptional gaming skills, they must know how to communicate skillfully, charmingly, or be beautiful and attractive.
If you don’t meet those criteria, I genuinely advise you to give up on the dream of earning thousands of USD from being a streamer. I know this because I have tried being a streamer myself, even livestreaming on a fan page with over 1 million followers. However, the results were not what I expected. If you play poorly, people won’t even bother to insult you; they’ll just turn it off.
And if you play well? Then you still need to see how you interact, talk to the audience. And if you’re focusing on that, you can’t concentrate on playing. So, being able to talk while playing well is extremely difficult and requires you to be top-tier in that game. Not to mention that the requirements are to stream three times a day, each session for three hours, leading to sore mouths, aching backs, and stiff arms being common.
Overreaching can lead to a crisis in the streamer market
As mentioned above, it is quite normal for streamers to earn thousands of USD in Vietnam. This has led to issues of fraud that could affect the entire system, causing many to lose their “bowl of rice” in the future. The most notable example is the situation of hacking Facebook accounts, creating fake accounts to “hack likes”, and creating false interactions to earn money from Facebook.
Currently, Facebook Gaming pays livestream participants based on the number of concurrent viewers (views). Each threshold from 200, 500 to tens of thousands corresponds to significant sums of money that streamers receive each month. So what would happen if Facebook discovered that most of these viewers were fake, or worse, 100% were fake? They would have to reassess the entire system and the Vietnamese market, inadvertently affecting the legitimate streamers.
Recently, many have likely noticed the issue of being logged out of Facebook accounts on the PC version; logging back in seems normal. This isn’t a malfunction but possibly the first move to eliminate hundreds of thousands of fake accounts from the system. According to various confidential reports, Facebook Gaming may soon withdraw from Vietnam or significantly limit many smaller channels, only retaining larger channels with direct support from them.
This significantly impacts those making a living through livestreaming when revenues drop due to “squeezing” interactions; worse, smaller channels may have their contracts terminated, forcing them to fend for themselves without support from Facebook Gaming. This scenario hasn’t arrived yet, but it will surely happen soon if the fraud among streamers in Vietnam continues.
Streamers also need to be more responsible to themselves and society
In any profession, whether selling goods or technology, there are always those who engage in unfair competition. Seeing others succeeding, they want to sabotage through cheating. These individuals are known as streamers, but do they ever think about the consequences that the entire Vietnamese market might have to bear?
The thrill and passion of any game diminish when money becomes too important. Since when did livestreaming turn from playing games and interacting with the audience to solely focusing on view counts to determine monthly earnings? Do the untalented who still wish to get rich through cheating ever feel what the audience behind the screen thinks of them?
Let’s live and work more responsibly; don’t let your wrongdoings affect others. Many smaller streamers have families to support, carrying a heavy burden behind each click. Not every streamer is wealthy, driving luxury cars, or vacationing lavishly as you see on television. That number is very small, and they are also those who have sacrificed many things to achieve what they have today.
Therefore, if possible, let’s livestream honestly and stop all fraudulent activities before it’s too late. If you truly have talent, the audience will definitely not let you down. Every effort will be rewarded appropriately if we continuously strive for our work.
Source: Fanpage Tô Đức Quỳnh