Should small streamers avoid time clashes with big streamers? TSM ImperialHal gives hot take on scheduling livestreams

TSM Apex Legends professional and Twitch streamer ImperialHal recently took to Twitter to give his opinion on whether relatively small streamers should schedule their broadcasts around the timings of bigger creators to maximize their viewership.

It's no secret that established content creators tend to attract a large number of people to their streams, so viewers tend not to click away to a smaller broadcaster doing similar content. However, ImperialHal categorically rejected this strategy.

Describing it as an act of "running away," the Apex Legends pro explained that creators should focus on improving their content rather than avoiding bigger creators:

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ImperialHal's tweet about streaming schedules starts online debate, with creators such as NiceWigg and Average Jonas weighing in

Content creation and streaming have become quite a saturated space on the internet unless creators are trying to fill a niche. More popular games such as Valorant, League of Legends, and Fortnite that have a huge viewer base on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch already have big names such as Shroud, Tarik, Ninja, and Tyler1 dominating the charts in terms of regular viewership numbers.

Even non-gaming Twitch categories such as Just Chatting are dominated by a set number of creators such as xQc, HasanAbi, and Kai Cenat, so smaller content creators appealing to the same demographic are at a serious disadvantage.

Interestingly, ImperialHal himself was the top Apex Legends streamer last year. According to Twitch Tracker, he had over 38.8 million watched hours, something that was pointed out by people in the replies.

The professional Apex Legends player did have a short sarcastic reply about how he did not reach the top abruptly and without cause.

Another reply talked about the phenomenon of viewers clicking away from smaller creators when established creators go live, calling it "the nature of Twitch":

Here's how the TSM professional replied:

100 Thieves content creator NiceWigg explained that a lot of smaller streamers in the Apex Legends space get exposure by tapping into the communities of bigger creators when they aren't online. However, he did mention that ending one's stream solely because a bigger streamer had come online was not a viable strategy.

ImperialHal countered the point by saying creators become big because of their content and not just how they schedule their streams.

Twitch streamer Naughty did not agree with him either, revealing that he earns 3x from ad revenue after 3 am due to the lack of competition during that time.

Popular Twitch star iiTzTimmy, who recently joined 100 Thieves, also replied to the thread but took a humorous route:

Valorant creator AverageJonas explained his strategy, saying he used to avoid big creators early on in his career but doesn't do it anymore.

Apex Legends pro Xera had a completely different perspective on things:

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Over the years, Twitch has made several changes to its platform to boost discoverability, but the fact is that viewers gravitate towards popular creators while browsing.

Should creators alter their streaming schedule to avoid bigger streamers? Let us know what you think in the comments.