Timcast IRL, a livestream that serves as a soapbox for the anti-democracy hard right, generates consistent profit for YouTube through the company’s Super Chat function, according to a new study published by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). YouTube’s “Super Chats and Super Stickers” function enables viewers to pay money in order push their comments into a more visible position on the site during each livestream. ISD’s study demonstrated that across 100 videos on the Timcast IRL channel from October 2020 to November 2021, the channel pulled in $219,416.22 through super chats, sending $65,824.86 to YouTube itself. Timcast IRL averages over $2,000 in Super Chat money per broadcast, the report found. ISD also discovered that YouTube has taken profit from Timcast IRL Super Chat comments that advocate violence. Social media performer Tim Pool, 36, hosts Timcast IRL. Known for wearing a knit winter cap year-round during his broadcasts and portraying himself as a “disaffected liberal” who came to support Donald Trump, Pool has pushed his commentary in an extreme hard-right direction in recent years. Former President Donald Trump invited Pool and other loyalists, including disinformation peddler Ali Alexander and Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft, to a “social media summit” at the White House in July 2019. The non-partisan Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), which is composed of researchers from Stanford University and the University of Washington, included Pool in a group of verified Twitter “superspreaders” who pushed disinformation about the 2020 election prior to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Timcast IRL currently claims over 1 million subscribers on YouTube.
via splcenter: YouTube Profiting From Timcast IRL, Study Finds