Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek is one of Twitch’s biggest names. Consistently in the top 10 streamers by total hours watched, the former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player has largely made his name on Twitch by playing a single game: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). In 2017, roughly 83.3% of his 42.9M total hours watched were accrued while playing this battle royale title.

Grzesiek’s channel was Twitch’s fifth most-watched channel in 2017, yet his playthroughs of PUBG only began in August, more than four months after the game’s initial release in March of that year. His sudden viewership growth demonstrates how a streamer can become a prime target for sponsorship by combining high-level gameplay, an entertaining personality and, of course, a game that remains consistently popular with the majority of the streaming viewership market.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Grzesiek also shows how a streamer’s popularity should not be limited to a single game.[/perfectpullquote]

However, Grzesiek also shows how a streamer’s popularity should not be limited to a single game. In 2018 so far, Grzesiek’s total hours watched have already increased by 73.1% from last year’s total, at 74.3M at the time of publication. His channel is also currently the third most-watched of the year so far, behind Riot Games and Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. However, despite being on track to double his hours watched year-over-year (YoY), only 67% of those hours has come from his time streaming PUBG. It seems that, rather than relying on a single game to bolster his viewership numbers, Grzesiek is experimenting with playing other games. And so far, it’s worked.

As discussed in The Esports Observer’s Top 10 Twitch streamers list for Sept. 24-30, Grzesiek has been experimenting with jumping over to Fortnite, going so far as to take lessons from some of the best players in that game. He had rarely played Epic Game’s take on the battle royale genre, instead sticking to his guns with PUBG, so the change implied that he was potentially looking to expand his horizons. Fortnite is currently the most watched game of the year so far by total hours watched, with a 31.7% higher average concurrent viewership (avg CCV) than PUBG.

In the last week, Grzesiek has taken his biggest departure from his standard schedule, eschewing his normal focus on competitive multiplayer titles to play the latest single-player release from publisher Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. It’s common for newly released single-player, high-budget videogames to become the most watched titles, even if only for a week or two. Streamers want to spend time playing the game from beginning to end (or as far as they can get), and viewers want to see them do so.

From Oct. 1-7, Grzesiek spent 71% of his airtime playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and that was reflected in his hours watched numbers.



Grzesiek has streamed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for 56 hours so far, making it far and away his most-streamed single-player title in 2018 (for comparison, he streamed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for just over 21 hours this year).

Despite playing a game entirely out of his normal comfort zone, Grzesiek saw a minimal dip last week over the week before, when he was playing esports titles. For the week of Sept. 24-30, he earned 1.95M hours watched, with an average concurrent viewership (avg CCV) of 27K. From Oct. 1-7, he drew in 1.85M hours watched with an avg CCV of 25.5K—all the while playing a single-player title.

Traditional Twitch knowledge states that the biggest streamers tend to focus on a single-player game shortly after release for good reason. Viewers can expect certain titles to be played by the most popular streamers, and when those personalities experiment with other titles on stream, numbers can drop. It’s somewhat rare that streamers occupying spots on the Top 10 lists jump from game to game without taking a hit to their numbers.

As a result, the fact that Grzesiek was able to successfully play a game without dropping too much in viewership is a testament to the strength of his personal brand.

Credit: Ubisoft

Granted, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the latest in a very popular, long-running franchise, and was doing well on Twitch, going so far as to hit the No. 4 spot on the Top 10 Twitch Content list last week. But the fact that Grzesiek’s stream accounted for nearly 18% of Odyssey‘s hours watched last week implies that his success had just as much to do with him as an entertainer as it did with the game’s popularity.

For brands looking for a streamer to partner with, consistency is key. Having the knowledge that Grzesiek will be able to draw eyes to logos and activations no matter what game he is playing is a boon for companies like HyperX, Madrinas Coffee, and Postmates that have partnerships already in place.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]A consistent level of viewership, week after week, is one of the most important factors that sponsors should be looking at.[/perfectpullquote]

When examining potential partnerships with streamers, a consistent level of viewership, week after week, is one of the most important factors that sponsors should be looking at. There’s a reason why the most popular Twitch streamer in the world, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, was able to secure partnerships with Samsung, Uber Eats, and Red Bull.

However, equally important is the ability of a streamer to continue to earn viewers, no matter how the tides of popularity turn. If Fortnite suddenly dropped in popularity, where would that leave many of the Twitch streamers topping the lists every week? Some may stick around by streaming other games, but many more could fall off the radar entirely, losing their ability to find an audience.

Grzesiek has shown that he has the potential to be flexible. He can jump from game to game or genre to genre, and still retain his viewership numbers. That is very promising for any future partners, and a standard which any top Twitch personality should aim for.