Twitch is one of the biggest venues for live streaming. More than 7 million content creators broadcast on the Amazon platform every month. But who was the very first Twitch streamer? It’s not an easy question to answer, and that’s because of how the platform came about.
How did it all start? Twitch emerged from the now-defunct Justin.tv website. It was founded in 2007 by then 23-year-old Yale graduate Justin Kan and his friends Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt.
On March 19, 2007, Kan began broadcasting his life live 24/7. He used a webcam attached to a baseball cap. There were only breaks for using the bathroom.
The novelty of the concept caused a lot of media attention. The reactions of the viewers were mixed: many could not do anything with the “reality” format, but were very interested in creating their own streams.
In the summer of that year, Kan stopped what he called “lifecasting,” and Justin.tv eventually became a platform where anyone could create their own channel and perform in front of viewers.
How did Justin.tv become Twitch? There were several categories on Justin.tv, of which “Gaming” quickly established itself as the most popular section. Finally, in 2011, Justin.tv’s gaming category became its own website: Twitch.
At the time Twitch was created, thousands of content creators had already streamed on the predecessor Justin.tv. It is not known who was the first to broadcast on the new platform.
So is Justin Kan the first Twitch streamer? In a way, yes, as he first streamed on the platform that later became Twitch. But strictly speaking it was Justin.tv and not Twitch. Who then is entitled to the title?
One candidate is the American Sean “Day[9]” Plot: He was the first Twitch streamer to get a subscribe button. He is also featured in our video of the first successful streamers:
Twitch: Who were the first successful streamers?
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From StarCraft player to full-time streamer
What streamer is this? Plott started out as a pro gamer and commentator for the SF strategy game StarCraft: Brood War. He represented the USA at the 2004 World Cyber Games (WGC) Grand Finals where he placed 12th. In 2005, the following year, he won the WCG USA.
With the release of StarCraft II in 2010, Plott shifted from active gaming to commenting. On his show “The Day[9] Daily,” he analyzed and commented on high-profile matches in StarCraft II. His channel on Twitch, or Justin.tv, was created on December 9, 2010, according to analytics site TwitchTracker, but began live streaming in late 2009.
One of the first games Plott showed alongside the StarCraft franchise was the survival horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, just in time for Halloween 2011. 10 years later, he responded to his own playthrough and decided to listen to himself , is probably worse than the horror in the scary game (via YouTube).
How did he get the subscribe button? On Twitch, it was initially not intended that streamers could earn money through paid subscriptions. Plott helped develop the subscription program and eventually achieved partner status in May 2011.
Former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear wrote on Reddit in 2016:
We made the feature in collaboration with him [Day9] developed. For a while it was the only channel with a sub button because we hardcoded a lot.
via Reddit
What is he doing today? Plott is still active as a streamer on Twitch and is therefore the longest-standing Twitch partner (via twitchstats).
It airs four times a week on average, featuring games like Magic: The Gathering, DOTA 2, and current games like Elden Ring, Marvel Snap, Terra Nile, and Rim World. Day streams[9] reached an average of over 1,700 viewers last year (via sullygnome).
He also plays on his YouTube channel and runs his own website Day[9]tv
On October 22, 2019, he celebrated Day’s 10th birthday[9]tv He explained on Twitter that he has streamed almost 200 shows a year since then and is looking forward to the next 10 years:
Plott has been married privately since October 2020. The couple has two cats: Sheriff and Desperado (via Top twitch Streamers).
Is Day[9] So now the first Twitch streamer? Plott may not have been the first streamer to broadcast on the new Twitch platform, but he was at least one of the first and helped shape the platform. As the first streamer with a subscribe button, he also pioneered content creators as we know them today.
What actually became of the other first streamer? Justin Kan left Justin.tv shortly after launching Twitch as a standalone streaming site to develop new startup ideas. In 2021 he launched the website Fractal, a marketplace for the hot new trend at the time: NFTs.
Twitch founder opens NFT page, scammers rip off €132,000 – thanks hacker