Middle East viewers are financially supporting Twitch creators at rates approaching those in the US, according to the company. This, despite Arabic-language channels attracting comparatively smaller audiences.
Mike Minton, chief product officer at Twitch, says the region performs strongly when the platform compares revenue with measures such as audience size and hours watched.
He says the result reflects viewer willingness to support creators through subscriptions and other paid features. Advertisers and brands are also showing greater interest in larger regional channels.
Minton describes that performance as unusually strong relative to the current size of Twitch’s regional audience and creator base.
But Twitch operates in a crowded market, with creators able to move between platforms including YouTube and Kick. Strong spending per viewer does not necessarily translate into the region’s largest audiences.
The challenge is to convert an engaged audience into a broader and more sustainable community of Arab creators.
The Arab creators building audiences on Twitch
Twitch retains an active Arab creator community, spanning competitive gaming, conversational broadcasts, football and large live events.
Saudi streamer Yazan Alsubhi, known as YZNSA, is among the leading Arabic-language creators on the platform. He built much of his following through high-level Overwatch play, later expanding into titles including Marvel Rivals and Just Chatting streams.
TwitchTracker ranked YZNSA as the leading Arabic-language channel in July, when his broadcasts attracted an average of more than 2,100 concurrent viewers.
Fellow Saudi creator owBRAIN (Abdulaziz Al Mehmadi) has also built an audience around competitive gaming. Egyptian streamer The_Salma (Salma Hassan) takes a more personality-led approach, combining gaming with longer Just Chatting broadcasts, where interaction with viewers can become as important as the game being played.
These channels reflect the increasingly fluid nature of livestreaming. A broadcast can begin with competitive play, move into reactions and finish with the streamer speaking directly to viewers.
Minton says this direct connection has become central to Twitch as it moves beyond its gaming roots. He points to NBA player Jaylen Brown’s appearances and IShowSpeed’s football-related broadcasts as examples of personalities bringing audiences into an experience rather than presenting a finished programme.
“That’s where Twitch has really evolved, from just this place where gamers hang out and publishers are able to activate audiences to now a much bigger thing,” Minton says.
Arab success on Twitch is not limited to Arabic-language creators or those based in the Middle East. Their success also shows how Arab creators can use the platform to reach audiences far beyond the region and across different languages.
Moroccan-Canadian streamer Imane Anys, known as Pokimane, has become one of Twitch’s most recognisable personalities. Her broadcasts combine gaming, conversation and lifestyle content, while her profile has expanded into podcasting, social media and commercial partnerships. With about 9.4 million followers, she is Twitch’s most-followed female streamer.
French streamer AmineMaTue (Mohamed Amine Mahmoud), who is of Algerian heritage, has used Twitch to stage productions closer in scale to television and live sport. His Eleven All Stars football match between French and Spanish internet personalities set a French Twitch audience record in 2022.
He later organised Stream for Humanity, a 48-hour charity broadcast that brought together prominent French-speaking creators and raised money for people affected by conflicts in Palestine, Sudan, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
For creators still trying to expand their reach, one tool available on the platform is Twitch Drops.
Drops reward viewers for watching streams connected to participating games. Most campaigns require people to watch for a set period before unlocking an in-game cosmetic, although rewards can also include currency, gameplay items and Twitch chat badges.
Minton says one publisher told Twitch that a campaign generated tens of thousands of new in-game spenders, 40 per cent of whom had never previously spent money in the title.
The platform hosted more than 7,000 Drops campaigns involving several hundred publishers during the preceding 12 months, according to Minton.
Growth and safety in the Middle East
Minton says esports has been one of Twitch’s main routes into the Middle East, where investment in tournaments, clubs and gaming infrastructure has accelerated.
He says competitions can be particularly effective when the atmosphere of a physical venue is combined with the reach of an online broadcast.
“When people can participate both from an online perspective, as well as potentially have the opportunity to be there in person, it creates interesting opportunities for fandom and interest in these games locally,” he says.
Twitch has placed greater focus on the region over the past three years, and introduced Arabic localisation and right-to-left support.
Greater reach also brings pressure to manage what younger viewers encounter. Minton stresses that Twitch is intended only for people aged 13 and above.
The platform has introduced parental controls for users aged between 13 and 17, while streamers must label broadcasts containing sensitive material such as gambling, profanity, sexual themes, alcohol or drug use.
Viewers can avoid particular categories, and Twitch uses reports and automated systems to identify broadcasts that may be missing labels or violating its guidelines. Minton says advances in language models have improved the company’s ability to assess large volumes of live content.
