A New Generation of Entertainers The rise of Asian American content creators in the streaming world

Josh Kim, or Xell, is relaxed on screen as he greets his viewers. Sitting in a worn out computer chair with anime posters behind him, he begins saying hello to the 200 viewers from across the world who have tuned in to his stream, occasionally addressing them by their screen names.

After 20 minutes of casual banter, he asks his chat room if he should get started. His viewers respond with emoticons and yes-es. He pulls out his deck of tarot cards -- tonight he's doing a tarot card reading for his subscribers.

Kim, 26, is one of millions of streamers on Twitch - a live streaming video platform with over 15 million visitors a day. But he doesn't classify himself as just a streamer - he considers himself a content creator by way of live-streaming.

"I didn't get much content from Hollywood featuring Asian Americans so I gravitated towards [those] streamers."

His definition of content is loose. Occasionally it's gaming, other times it's broadcasting practice with his K-pop dance group. Sometimes, like today, he's doing a "Just Chatting" stream where a Q&A format with his viewers drive the conversation.

By definition, Kim is an entertainer. But he's far from the archetype of a typical Hollywood on-screen entertainer: he's introverted, a self-regarded "closet nerd," and Asian American.

"I get people telling me that seeing an Asian American talk about issues helps them. I think what makes my streaming career what it is is relatability," said Kim.

Kim's assessment seems correct. Keanu Concepcion, 22, has been watching some of his favorite streamers, many of them Asian American, for nearly a decade. He said, "I didn't get much content from Hollywood or public television featuring Asian Americans so I gravitated towards these streamers who have really found a way to entertain."

Asian Americans may not be well represented in mainstream media, but on Twitch, it's a regular sight.

Twitch, originally named Justin.tv, was started by Justin Kan, an Asian American, in 2007. The original intent of the site was to have a 24-7 live feed video of Kan's life and a live chat happening so that viewers could interact with Kan in real time.

Eventually, the platform evolved from an endless surveillance of Kan to becoming a livestream platform for users to broadcast their own content. The platform now hosts over two million broadcasters a day.

The majority of livestreams on the platform is gaming but there has been a slow shift back to Kan's original idea: IRL streaming, or In-Real-Life content. Earlier this month, Twitch released a new filter feature that would enable viewers to seek out livestreams based on categories. While categories are still mainly gaming focused, new filters like "Music Performance" and "Digital Art" allude to an eventual interest in growing streaming content outside of gaming.

In the past 2-3 years of streaming, Kim's content has increasingly shifted into the IRL category. In congruent with this change, Kim has seen an increase in his viewers, from 50 to an average of 200, every time he's live.

The community behind the streamers

Monetizing as a live-streamer relies heavily on an active community of viewers. Watching the live broadcast is free but viewers can pay for a $5 monthly subscription, in which the streamer only keeps half, that unlocks a special badge and chat emoticons called emotes. Viewers are also able to make donations of any amount at any time. Additional income can also come from creating YouTube highlight videos to optimize ad money based on views or, for pro-players, sponsored games.

Making money as a streamer depends on the community they cultivate and whether those viewers decide to pay for a subscription or donate.

Bill Hamilton, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at New Mexico State University, has done extensive research on Twitch's platform and the communities that form through the live-stream experience. He believes that viewers are eager to serve as patrons for these streamers if they're invested in them.

"I think a lot of people understand that live-streaming is actually a job. It takes a lot of time and it's not an emotionally easy thing to do. So there's an appreciation for that and wanting to give back," said Hamilton.

"You need easily over 500 [average] viewers or more to live a comfortable life. Not many people average that. It's tough out there," Kim admitted. He hasn't been able to make the transition into full-time streaming quite yet. But, conveying a personality that viewers can relate to is critical to building that community.

"You build a small friendship with the people who watch you on a consistent basis."

"Viewers stay because of personal identification with the streamer. It motivates them to stick around and build a relationship. The longer people stick around, they build up a shared history, explained Hamilton.

It's not hard to understand that there could be a shared history built when top full-time streamers broadcast themselves for 8-10 hours a day.

"You build a small friendship with the people who watch you on a consistent basis. I hang out with them more than my actual friends," said Kim, who tries to stream five times a week from 8pm-12am once he gets home from his full-time job.

An evolved form of entertainment - one that involves Asians The internet lends itself to helping any individual find the most niche communities. While the Asian American community is not niche, seeing Asian faces in the entertainment industry is. Because of this, Asian American creators have historically turned to new media to create content and their audiences have followed them there. Kane Diep, the director of Uploaded: The Asian American Movement and now video producer at Buzzfeed, has been watching Asian American creatives gravitate towards new media to get their work out since 2011. "When YouTube started, a lot of creators turned towards that platform because there was nothing else; people weren't casting Asian Americans. Many of the first popular YouTubers, like KevJumba and Ryan Higa, were Asian and they found a lot of success through that," said Diep. The shift from game-streaming towards IRL-streaming with Asian content creators seem to be following a similar trend. In the past few years, a new form of entertainment has emerged: Streamer houses. While previous streamer houses have focused on eSports teams, a new generation of streamer houses have come on the scene. Houses like OfflineTV and Just Friends are not centered around gaming, but rather a group of friends, who all happen to be top streamers, living together and broadcasting everything live. In other words, a 2018 version of The Real World. The difference is that the cast is mostly Asian. 7/8 members of Just Friends and 3/6 cast members of OfflineTV are Asian. Each streamer in the house ranges from 2,000 to 10,000 viewers every time they broadcast depending on the size of their fan base. For most of these viewers, they're also Asian. It's my form of entertainment. It's like reality TV but without the editing. Kevin Hung, 25, regularly watches streams from both streamer houses. He's been following some of his favorite streamers for nearly a decade. Every day after work, he'll put on a stream in the background when he's on the computer -- occasionally falling asleep at the desk while the stream is still playing. "It's my form of entertainment, I guess. It's like reality TV but without the editing," he explained. He tunes in daily, not wanting to miss any big moments from the streams. When asked about his most memorable moment, a smile appears on his face as he talks about the time two top streamers, DisguisedToast and xChocobar, who were rumored to be dating, appeared together in-person on a livestream. "It was never confirmed. They would always stream together online, but this was the first time you saw them physically together. It was exciting. The chat went crazy," said Hung. He admitted to loving rom-coms so seeing the real-life love story play out between two streamers he follows was pure entertainment. "I also see myself in them. With DisguisedToast, he's someone who I feel I could be or could be my friend," explained Hung. While AAPI On Television's recent study on Asian American representation revealed that 64% of TV shows across every television platform have no Asian American & Pacific Islander, it seems that Asians have turned to other sources like Twitch to see themselves represented on screen. "Without the gatekeeping that might exist in popular culture, YouTube and Twitch represent a way for people to climb up with their own thing. There's no barrier to keep them down," said Kim. Xell's Twitch Stream When Josh Kim is streaming live, his feed will show up here. You can click through to Twitch to see the chat from viewers as he streams. He normally streams on weekdays between 8pm-12am PT.



The chance to just be Asian American on screen When asked whether popular streamers are incentivized by the possibility of breaking into mainstream media, Hamilton doesn't think so. "They're trying to create their own new media outlet phenomenon and become famous that way," he said. Kim seems to agree. Streaming on Twitch has allowed him to lean into his own niche interests and build a community of people who can relate. In fact, Kim believes being authentically himself has been a key factor in his success. "It's an unadulterated you -- you're just being you," said Kim. "Like, I love anime and K-pop and that's what I talk about. Then I realized there are other people in my community who also really like these things." What Kim and other Asian American streamers like him provide for their audiences are multi-faceted Asian entertainers who are unapologetic about their identity. And in turn, viewers are see themselves represented in ways that doesn't exist in popular media. "I do take pride that I can be someone out there for someone to relate to," Kim said.