At this time, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines for her Among Us livestream with YouTuber Hasanabi (Hasan Piker). The stream amassed over 430,000 concurrent viewers, cementing it as one of the most-watched Twitch streams ever. However, she wasn’t the first of her party to stream. Arguably, the movement started a year prior, when Bernie Sanders kicked off his Twitch channel with Streamlabs, which built him a custom Creator Site to help his campaign start livestreaming.
Since then, the movement hasn’t stopped. Following the reinstatement of the former president’s previously banned account, Donald Trump did a livestream with Adin Ross to drum up support for Ross’ largely conservative viewer base. Twitch qualified the decision by recognizing the power of streaming in connecting candidates with their would-be voters.
In the opposite camp, livestream chatrooms are becoming a crucial organizing space, such as in the viral “White Dudes for Kamala” fundraiser, which drew the likes of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and actor Jeff Bridges, perhaps our culture’s most famous “Dude.” Kamala Harris also recently launched a Twitch channel of her own to compete with Trump’s.
The livestream format is so galvanizing because it’s the closest thing the internet has to a rally. People strike up connections in real-time in the chat, like synapses firing. A creator you admire might notice you if you agree with their opinion in the chat. Streamers can bring special guests or viewers to participate in the action, building stronger connections.
Streaming lets politicians converse with their entire voter base in real-time. The format is also highly lucrative for fundraising, especially as streaming platforms become more creator-friendly with monetization and revenue sharing. Raising money on stream is how many creators maintain their livelihoods, but it’s also how they drive donations to causes that matter, making politician–streamer partnerships all the more powerful.
The relationship factor
People have deep emotional investments in the creators they follow. These creators are often more accessible than the traditional celebrity or sports star, as many build their followings from the ground up, forging personal connections with early fans and followers. Their audiences feel more authentic connections with them, and that authenticity has strong persuasive power.
Political organizations are also capitalizing on creator-audience relationships. For example, Axios reported that political action committees (PACs) Priorities USA and Somos Votantes have partnered with lifestyle YouTubers to increase voter turnout among young Latin Americans. Then, in a major acknowledgment of the power of creators, the DNC gave five of its highly coveted speaking slots to influencers, hoping to reach their audience of a collective 24 million followers across platforms.