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Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen
Told through the diverse and fascinating careers of nine streamers, this is the definitive story of Twitch and how the livestream platform revolutionized technology, entertainment, business, and pop culture.
With 2.5 million viewers at any given moment, the streaming platform Twitch is in the lead and often well beyond mainstream networks like CNN and Fox during primetime. On Twitch, the Amazon-owned tech behemoth, the biggest personalities, like Kai Cenat, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, and Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker, can earn millions per year by firing up their internet connection and going live.
Veteran technology and gaming journalist Nathan Grayson takes us inside the triumphs and tribulations of Twitch with exclusive access to its biggest content creators who helped make the platform into a billion-dollar global business. From Twitch’s early days of rapid growth to acquisition by Amazon to the defection of creators and rival platforms, Grayson makes the radical argument that many social technology companies are far more dependent on their creators than the creators are on their platforms.
Rivetingly told through nine exceptional Twitch creators whose on-screen personalities helped the company grow into a powerhouse, this is the explosive story of when entertainment meets the internet in the era of social and video content domination.
With 2.5 million viewers at any given moment, the streaming platform Twitch is in the lead and often well beyond mainstream networks like CNN and Fox during primetime. On Twitch, the Amazon-owned tech behemoth, the biggest personalities, like Kai Cenat, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, and Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker, can earn millions per year by firing up their internet connection and going live.
Veteran technology and gaming journalist Nathan Grayson takes us inside the triumphs and tribulations of Twitch with exclusive access to its biggest content creators who helped make the platform into a billion-dollar global business. From Twitch’s early days of rapid growth to acquisition by Amazon to the defection of creators and rival platforms, Grayson makes the radical argument that many social technology companies are far more dependent on their creators than the creators are on their platforms.
Rivetingly told through nine exceptional Twitch creators whose on-screen personalities helped the company grow into a powerhouse, this is the explosive story of when entertainment meets the internet in the era of social and video content domination.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published February 18, 2025
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1811 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 4, 2025
Made it through the dream chapter for the hasan chapter
May 27, 2025
This book is niche of course. You can guess that from the title. I was curious because I tend to watch Twitch everyday and I thought this would give me insight into how they streamers feel about the platform. The stories Grayson highlighted were thorough and I enjoyed most of them. Sadly I got extremely bored the entire last two chapters, but out of nine chapters that’s not too bad. You do get a sense of how Twitch streamers handle their work. Every job has its advantages and disadvantages, but I think one of the important things this book demonstrates is that streaming is an actual job that is hard.
Ultimately, it was a good book and those looking for this topic will like it.
Ultimately, it was a good book and those looking for this topic will like it.
February 8, 2025
Review originally published 8 February 2025 at Falling Letters. I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
My Twitch Experience
I first learnt about Twitch in early 2021. A Youtube viewer since 2007, I had heard about the Dream SMP through some YouTubers. I had no idea what “Dream SMP” meant, or what Twitch was. Turns out the Dream SMP was a multiplayer Minecraft server created by a streamer called Dream, that dozens of creators livestreamed on while roleplaying the perspective of their characters. That was my first foray into Twitch. I’ve been fascinated ever since, and am now a regular viewer (not of anyone who was on DreamSMP prior to 2021, I will note for anyone reading this who knows about it lol).
Streamer & Chat
What initially intrigued me most about Twitch was the dynamic interactivity between streamer and chat (ie viewers), as well as the different ways in which a streamer presents themself online. I imagined it would be much easier to curate your self-representation in edited YouTube videos rather than on a livestream, where you may be responding on the fly to comments from chat. Interaction (or lack thereof) between streamers, their moderators, and chat shapes the viewing and streaming experience. Chat can be considered through many facets: chat as monolith, chat as individuals, chat as comedic partner, chat as collaborator, chat as informer, chat as harasser or nuisance. Back in 2021 I thought, “Someone should really write a book about this.” The Internet is still relatively young with much to come, but Twitch felt like the first truly new enviornment I’d encountered online in some time.
Exploring Community
Nathan Grayson fulfilled my dream by writing Stream Big. He’s not exactly written a dissertation on communication, identity formation, and the language a streamer uses with their chat (the direction I dreamed of going in 😝), but he has done a solid job at exploring and explaining the unique aspects of the Twitch experience by profiling nine streamers and their relationships with their communities, particularly at pivotal moments in their careers. He understands that the story of Twitch is the story of community. It’s not just about watching someone play a video game. So that gets kudos from me.
That is what sets Stream Big apart from some other books about Internet platforms: the focus on creators themselves. They are what make the platform worth reading about. I don’t care much about the historical development of Twitch, except for the moments where it really impacts the creators. (This was my main critique of the YouTube ‘biography’ Like, Comment, Subscribe . Too much focus on corporate, not enough focus on creators. Admittedly, Twitch does not hold the same power or status that YouTube does. Twitch is not mainstream in the same way YouTube is. So it doesn’t have quite the same corporate baggage to tempt focus instead of creators. Anyway. Where was I?) Grayson explores major changes or trends at Twitch through profiles of various streamers majorly affected by them.
The Creators
I was familiar with five of the streamers he focuses on – Kaitlyn Siragusa AKA Amouranth, Clara Sorrenti AKA Keffels, Hasan Piker AKA HasanAbi, Youna Kang AKA Code Miko, and Dream & co of the DreamSMP. (Again, if you know anything about the DreamSMP… interesting reading to see it as presented to outsiders lol. Great consideration of young creators, though.) Other profiles focus on Marcus Graham AKA djWheat, Emme Montgomery AKA Negaoryx, Tana DePass AKA Cypheroftyr, and Ben Cassell AKA CohhCarnage. For the streamers with whom I’m already familiar, I enjoyed learning more about their backgrounds and hearing about their experiences in their own words. For the new-to-me streamers, I enjoyed looking into sides of Twitch that I knew little about.
Will Twitch Ever Improve?
An overarching argument Grayson makes is that Twitch, especially presently, undervalues its creators. There’s no doubt about that, which makes it especially interesting to see several prominent streamrs recently move back to Twitch from YouTube. Twitch remains the dominant platform for livestreaming, despite its shortcomings. Time will tell if Twitch will ever get back to improving the streamer and viewer experience. Considering ✨ capitalism ✨ and Twitch’s Amazon ownership, though, it seems the people who bring Twitch to life will always be left at least somewhat unsatisfied with the platform.
If You Didn’t Know Anything About Twitch Before Reading This Post…
Lastly I want to speak to you, reader who may have never heard of Twitch before! I suspect most people who read my blog don’t interact with Twitch. Should you pick up Stream Big? While I definitely appreciated reading about people whose streams I had seen or Twitch culture pivotal moments that I had seen play out live (so to speak!), Grayson does provide sufficient context for non-viewers to learn plenty from. So if you’re interested in online social interaction or you’ve ever asked “Why watch livestreaming?”, pick up this book.
The Bottom Line 💭 I kind of pre-empted myself with the last line of the previous paragraph, but here we are. If you watch Twitch or wonder what the fuss is about, check out Stream Big
My Twitch Experience
I first learnt about Twitch in early 2021. A Youtube viewer since 2007, I had heard about the Dream SMP through some YouTubers. I had no idea what “Dream SMP” meant, or what Twitch was. Turns out the Dream SMP was a multiplayer Minecraft server created by a streamer called Dream, that dozens of creators livestreamed on while roleplaying the perspective of their characters. That was my first foray into Twitch. I’ve been fascinated ever since, and am now a regular viewer (not of anyone who was on DreamSMP prior to 2021, I will note for anyone reading this who knows about it lol).
Streamer & Chat
What initially intrigued me most about Twitch was the dynamic interactivity between streamer and chat (ie viewers), as well as the different ways in which a streamer presents themself online. I imagined it would be much easier to curate your self-representation in edited YouTube videos rather than on a livestream, where you may be responding on the fly to comments from chat. Interaction (or lack thereof) between streamers, their moderators, and chat shapes the viewing and streaming experience. Chat can be considered through many facets: chat as monolith, chat as individuals, chat as comedic partner, chat as collaborator, chat as informer, chat as harasser or nuisance. Back in 2021 I thought, “Someone should really write a book about this.” The Internet is still relatively young with much to come, but Twitch felt like the first truly new enviornment I’d encountered online in some time.
Exploring Community
Nathan Grayson fulfilled my dream by writing Stream Big. He’s not exactly written a dissertation on communication, identity formation, and the language a streamer uses with their chat (the direction I dreamed of going in 😝), but he has done a solid job at exploring and explaining the unique aspects of the Twitch experience by profiling nine streamers and their relationships with their communities, particularly at pivotal moments in their careers. He understands that the story of Twitch is the story of community. It’s not just about watching someone play a video game. So that gets kudos from me.
That is what sets Stream Big apart from some other books about Internet platforms: the focus on creators themselves. They are what make the platform worth reading about. I don’t care much about the historical development of Twitch, except for the moments where it really impacts the creators. (This was my main critique of the YouTube ‘biography’ Like, Comment, Subscribe . Too much focus on corporate, not enough focus on creators. Admittedly, Twitch does not hold the same power or status that YouTube does. Twitch is not mainstream in the same way YouTube is. So it doesn’t have quite the same corporate baggage to tempt focus instead of creators. Anyway. Where was I?) Grayson explores major changes or trends at Twitch through profiles of various streamers majorly affected by them.
The Creators
I was familiar with five of the streamers he focuses on – Kaitlyn Siragusa AKA Amouranth, Clara Sorrenti AKA Keffels, Hasan Piker AKA HasanAbi, Youna Kang AKA Code Miko, and Dream & co of the DreamSMP. (Again, if you know anything about the DreamSMP… interesting reading to see it as presented to outsiders lol. Great consideration of young creators, though.) Other profiles focus on Marcus Graham AKA djWheat, Emme Montgomery AKA Negaoryx, Tana DePass AKA Cypheroftyr, and Ben Cassell AKA CohhCarnage. For the streamers with whom I’m already familiar, I enjoyed learning more about their backgrounds and hearing about their experiences in their own words. For the new-to-me streamers, I enjoyed looking into sides of Twitch that I knew little about.
Will Twitch Ever Improve?
An overarching argument Grayson makes is that Twitch, especially presently, undervalues its creators. There’s no doubt about that, which makes it especially interesting to see several prominent streamrs recently move back to Twitch from YouTube. Twitch remains the dominant platform for livestreaming, despite its shortcomings. Time will tell if Twitch will ever get back to improving the streamer and viewer experience. Considering ✨ capitalism ✨ and Twitch’s Amazon ownership, though, it seems the people who bring Twitch to life will always be left at least somewhat unsatisfied with the platform.
If You Didn’t Know Anything About Twitch Before Reading This Post…
Lastly I want to speak to you, reader who may have never heard of Twitch before! I suspect most people who read my blog don’t interact with Twitch. Should you pick up Stream Big? While I definitely appreciated reading about people whose streams I had seen or Twitch culture pivotal moments that I had seen play out live (so to speak!), Grayson does provide sufficient context for non-viewers to learn plenty from. So if you’re interested in online social interaction or you’ve ever asked “Why watch livestreaming?”, pick up this book.
The Bottom Line 💭 I kind of pre-empted myself with the last line of the previous paragraph, but here we are. If you watch Twitch or wonder what the fuss is about, check out Stream Big
February 19, 2025
An honest and thorough look at the world of Twitch streamers and the growth of the platform. I enjoyed Grayson's writing throughout this and the story he told from the beginning of Twitch to what it has come to be - the role that the community and the viewer plays in this is something that I saw as an interesting throughline. Although he followed the stories of a number of streamers it was those that watched them that I felt to be one of the key factors of how they each were portrayed. I personally do watch streamers - though I have moved from Twitch to more Youtube streams in a preference of who I watch and the ease of having Youtube on a tv. I was vaguely familiar with some of the streamers covered but I had never sat in any of their streams or watched them before. Having been on the internet since 2020 it would be hard to not know what the DreamSMP was and I really enjoyed the look at parasocial relationships especially within that chapter.
I do think it would have been interesting to have included a streamer without millions of followers or maybe one that was not the biggest names. It would have helped I think contrast some of the very basic ideas of what streaming is and one of the key topics mentioned is that not everyone can be Dream or Amouranth but they still do it.
4/5
I do think it would have been interesting to have included a streamer without millions of followers or maybe one that was not the biggest names. It would have helped I think contrast some of the very basic ideas of what streaming is and one of the key topics mentioned is that not everyone can be Dream or Amouranth but they still do it.
4/5
February 19, 2025
I should start by saying I’ve never known much of anything about Twitch. While I know that I am not the target audience for this book, reading it did set up an opportunity for me to learn something new and I was grateful for that.
While I liked this book (can’t say that I loved it), my main takeaways were that
• I’d still have a hard time articulating what other non-users might want to know about Twitch.
• Very few of the content creators on the platform earn enough to make a living.
• Those that do work incredibly long hours and can be hesitant to walk away even for short breaks for fear of losing their base viewers.
I found the nine stories about on-screen personalities to be interesting, yet frustrating due to the repeated instances of harassment that some of them have taken from viewers. This book will hold your attention. I’d recommend it first and foremost to people who already know a little about Twitch, especially those who might have watched some of the content creators featured.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you to Atria Books and Goodreads for the copy provided. The above opinions are my own.
While I liked this book (can’t say that I loved it), my main takeaways were that
• I’d still have a hard time articulating what other non-users might want to know about Twitch.
• Very few of the content creators on the platform earn enough to make a living.
• Those that do work incredibly long hours and can be hesitant to walk away even for short breaks for fear of losing their base viewers.
I found the nine stories about on-screen personalities to be interesting, yet frustrating due to the repeated instances of harassment that some of them have taken from viewers. This book will hold your attention. I’d recommend it first and foremost to people who already know a little about Twitch, especially those who might have watched some of the content creators featured.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you to Atria Books and Goodreads for the copy provided. The above opinions are my own.
March 30, 2025
I have no experience watching Twitch, but Nathan's book planted a seed of interest in a topic I had never explored. He covers the transitions of the company through deep biographies of a range of diverse Twitch streamers, using their experiences to explore the struggles and successes the platform has had in its tenure. Nathan does a pretty good job of balancing his coverage of each of the central streamers, providing a balanced look at their situations and extrapolating out larger questions without seeming to be explicitly for or against any of them. This is a fascinating look into an area of the Internet and popular culture that I had only cursorily known existed, and Nathan makes a case for giving it more attention (while also highlighting the challenges it may offer).
October 24, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!
This book is a detailed summary of the history of Twitch - similar to other books that have chronicled Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The author goes through the early days of Twitch with high hopes up to the current times after their purchase by Amazon. Each of the nine chapters focuses on a different Twitch creator and tells a small piece of Twitch history along the way.
I found the book to be a good read - describing both the good and the bad of Twitch through its history and I recommend it to anyone who likes reading about the history of recent technology companies.
This book is a detailed summary of the history of Twitch - similar to other books that have chronicled Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The author goes through the early days of Twitch with high hopes up to the current times after their purchase by Amazon. Each of the nine chapters focuses on a different Twitch creator and tells a small piece of Twitch history along the way.
I found the book to be a good read - describing both the good and the bad of Twitch through its history and I recommend it to anyone who likes reading about the history of recent technology companies.
December 30, 2024
Stream Big tells the story of Twitch through profiling 9 of the streaming platforms notable personalities. The streamers featured provide a variety of backgrounds and experiences; showing meteoric rises and downsides to fame and success and the often dire consequences and controversies that many have and continue to experience.
This work is entertaining and is a more effective approach than traditional rise and fall of certain company type books. Through a depth of knowledge on the subject and objective reporting, Grayson painted an intriguing behind the scenes look at Twitch.
This work is entertaining and is a more effective approach than traditional rise and fall of certain company type books. Through a depth of knowledge on the subject and objective reporting, Grayson painted an intriguing behind the scenes look at Twitch.
March 6, 2025
3.5 stars.
This was a fun book. I expected to hear about several of the twitch streamers that the book chose to highlight. There were some new faces that I didn't know, and I didn't particularly enjoy those parts, but it was a very interesting look into twitch and how much it has changed over the years.
This was a fun book. I expected to hear about several of the twitch streamers that the book chose to highlight. There were some new faces that I didn't know, and I didn't particularly enjoy those parts, but it was a very interesting look into twitch and how much it has changed over the years.
Read
October 19, 2025I think if you are a Twitch viewer, this is for you. I liked the format where the author talks to folks who were formative in Twitch's beginnings and where they are today.
I'm not that familiar with Twitch and Twitch history so it was harder to keep my attention since the creator drama plus all the business stuff was not as compelling for me.
I'm not that familiar with Twitch and Twitch history so it was harder to keep my attention since the creator drama plus all the business stuff was not as compelling for me.
January 31, 2025
I received a copy of this one in a goodreads giveaway. 3.5 rounded up. It's a well researched book (though these aren't the streamers I would have picked for this type of research). It was also a bit of a slow read for me (though that may be because these aren't streamers that I follow).
January 25, 2025
It was a good read.
February 24, 2025
Interesting read
March 11, 2025
Great! Loved it!
April 10, 2025
an interesting romp through twitch via the eyes of the creators. i do wish i had a little more perspective from inside the company to see how they changed and reacted to the external influences.
June 8, 2025
exactly what I wanted it to be. The author’s familial knowledge of twitch and its creators make his narration feel almost omniscient
June 26, 2025
I made it to the third chapter, read a little, and then I was done with this garbage excuse for a book.
September 11, 2025
Loved the interviews and stories of all the streamers!
October 31, 2025
pretty chill
March 2, 2025
With Grayson's honed reporting and precise understanding of how to pull human stories out of large cultural moments, Stream Big offers a compelling, vividly realized look at the people behind the screen, offering a close cutting examination of the trials, tribulations, and stunning heights of streaming stardom, and the drive to use videogames as a medium to build communities of hundreds or thousands of like-minded fans.
April 6, 2025
I won this book from a giveaway hosted here on Goodreads! So, shout out to Atria Books for hosting that giveaway and picking me!
Also, I wanted to post this review sooner, but life happened.
Honestly, I knew next to nothing about Twitch, and while I am not the target audience for this book, I found it to be full of cool information, and it was pretty interesting. I was unaware of how much harassment Twitch streamers seem to face on a daily basis. I think that this is a problem that needs talking about, and this book is a great platform to open up that dialogue.
Also, I wanted to post this review sooner, but life happened.
Honestly, I knew next to nothing about Twitch, and while I am not the target audience for this book, I found it to be full of cool information, and it was pretty interesting. I was unaware of how much harassment Twitch streamers seem to face on a daily basis. I think that this is a problem that needs talking about, and this book is a great platform to open up that dialogue.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews