Ludwig: YouTube Streaming

Ludwig Ahgren has been broadcasting on YouTube for some time and has some thoughts on the service. And it’s not a good thing. 

Ludwig began streaming on Twitch in 2018, and after a spectacular subathon in 2021 that smashed all kinds of subscription records, he became one of the most popular streamers on the platform. Ludwig’s tremendously rising fanbase was stunned when he announced his departure from Twitch for YouTube the next year. Ludwig has raised a number of reservations about YouTube since making the switch. He continued to criticize YouTube on his second channel on May 7th.

Ludwig said; “YouTube livestreaming kind of sucks. I enjoy the switch. I regret zero parts about it. I believe it will be a better livestreaming platform… in a few years,”

YouTube recently launched a slew of new capabilities, like hosting and raiding, but Ludwig found them to be lackluster and ineffective. Some of the features, he said, are “confusing” and “bad,” and that they “should be better.” Ludwig has decided to use this opportunity to reveal something he’s been working on for the past six months. Truffle is a company with a whole team of full-time and contract professionals dedicated to solving YouTube livestreaming. 

He clarified that the live chats on YouTube and Twitch are not the same, with YouTube’s being more difficult to read and buffering erroneously. Ludwig’s browser extension will load YouTube talks in the same way that Twitch chats do, complete with emotes to “build culture” and create a community. 

Ludwig said that things have already gotten worse, such as a battle pass that allows viewers to gain incentives by watching streamers, as well as predictions and channel points.  During Ludwig’s stream, viewers can wager “fake internet points” on what he performs in-game. It’s been operating for a few months, but Ludwig highlighted that it’s solely for his stream for now to prevent causing problems for other streamers until it’s fixed. 

He said; “We are taking the risks and trying to make things better in the short term rather than waiting for two years in hopes that YouTube will maybe add channel points. I’m excited about it.”