Twitch sensation Pokimane recently shared the reasons behind her decision to decline a “life-changing” opportunity to stream exclusively on YouTube during an episode of the Sweet ‘n’ Sour podcast alongside LilyPichu.
Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys has established herself as one of the leading female streamers for nearly a decade, primarily streaming on Twitch since she embarked on her streaming career in 2016.
However, her exclusive commitment to Twitch almost changed when she revealed that YouTube made a significant offer to recruit her during early negotiations for an exclusivity contract with Twitch.
“It was a big offer,” she recalled. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to see money like that in my life. My agent then approached Twitch and asked ‘Hey, would you like to counter this offer?’ and Twitch returned with a counter offer that was about half of what YouTube proposed.”
“I communicated to my agent that they were essentially forcing my hand. I couldn’t turn down such life-changing money, especially since Twitch’s counteroffer was not competitive,” she explained.
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Desiring to continue her journey on Twitch, Pokimane asked her manager to obtain the contact details of a C-level executive at the company. During their discussion, the executive agreed to match YouTube’s offer to her.
“After some negotiation, they literally asked, ‘What’s your number?’ I didn’t expect to get that far. I just initiated a call with an executive, hoping they’d hear me out, and fortunately, they did,” she mentioned.
“I was unfamiliar with business negotiations at that point, so I simply said, ‘Well, if you could match YouTube’s offer… that would be really cool.’ And they matched it,” she added.
After notifying YouTube of her decision to accept Twitch’s offer, the Google-owned platform increased their financial proposal. “I might have been somewhat naive because I insisted, ‘No, no, no. I can’t. I’ve given them my word.’ I felt very strongly about honesty and ended up passing on a significant amount of money simply because I wanted to keep my word,” she reflected.
However, Pokimane is no longer exclusively streaming on Twitch, having announced her shift back in January 2024. She criticized the “messy” platform in a video, stating that she no longer wished to be “emotionally invested” in Twitch.
She wasn’t alone in her journey on Twitch; other notable streamers such as TimTheTatman, Dr Lupo, and FaZe Swagg also signed exclusive contracts with YouTube in 2021, but made their way back to Twitch in September 2024.
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