In an official blog post published earlier today, Mixer’s general manager, Chad Gibson, revealed some numbers that give a general idea of how Microsoft’s video game streaming platform is doing.
While clearly not as popular as its main rival, Twitch, Mixer has apparently been doing rather well and has grown, on average, around 12% each month over the last two years. Interestingly, this growth is measured by hours watched on the streaming platform, not on user numbers, though one could argue that actual activity is more important than users who don’t actually use anything.
“Since Mixer’s launch in May 2017, the total number of hours that viewers have spent watching content each month has grown nearly 17x,” Gibson reveals. “That’s based on an average growth rate of more than 12% each month for the past 25 months. Of course… we’re not done yet.”
Gibson then goes on to announce that they would be shutting down the Mixer Create apps on iOS and Android and will soon be enabling monetization options for all users regardless of Mixer Partner status.
A large portion of the blog post was also dedicated to a renewed effort to reduce bullying on the platform which feels like more of a preventative measure than a reaction to a particular major incident as Mixer is generally considered one of the safest social or streaming platforms online.
“We love that the Mixer community has always prided itself on being a welcoming place, and how Mixer streamers, their moderators and viewers work together to keep toxicity down,” Gibson explains. “We know that existing features like CatBot, streamer health notifications and our Rules of User Conduct have helped maintain that welcoming vibe. Despite the efforts of many in our community, we still hear your frustrations in dealing with the toxic behavior of a small set of people on the service – the trolls and bullies who take away from the fun experience of livestreaming.”
Here are some of the changes being made:
- Users can now report accounts directly from the video player.
- Mentions of terrorism and extremist content was added to the Rules of User Conduct.
- New accounts will need to wait 24 hours before they can use a camera in a stream.
- New chat filter options are planned for later in 2019.
- New moderator tools also coming.
- Improvements to automated account review software.
Are you surprised by Mixer’s growth? Are you happy with these other changes? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more gaming content.
