TimtheTatman sounds off on Twitch Just Chatting streamers in epic parody

Star streamer TimTheTatman gave his take on the popularity of Twitch’s Just Chatting section, noting the significant shift in content in Twitch’s new era.

While Twitch remains the leading platform to livestream everything from games, tournaments, and esports, there’s been a major fluctuation in the content that general audiences have been eager to consume on the site.

Viewers have been flocking to the Just Chatting category of the streaming platform. Back in October 2018, a metric recorded by Twitch statistics and analytics website SullyGnome saw a 2608% increase in Just Chatting hours watched compared to the year before.

While not everyone is keen to the particulars, the rise of Just Chatting streamers and their content has been something that nearly every Twitch-goer seems to be aware of, at least in passing.

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It’s something that TimtheTatman quipped about in the first hours of his January 6 stream, since he was streaming under the Just Chatting banner when a viewer wanted some Escape from Tarkov gameplay.

“Guys, listen,” Tim said. “Twitch dot television is not about games anymore. Stop asking for gameplay. This website is not about that. Just Chatting is always No. 1. The games are gone. Gone are the days of games on Twitch. Enter in Just Chatting, ASMR, reaction streamers.”

Regulars of Tim’s channel, of course, knew that the streamer was joking. Tim is one of the best on Twitch at trolling with full-length, emotional rhetoric while keeping a straight face just to pull the rug from under the people who thought he was serious.

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But like most trolls, the butt of the joke is sometimes poking at something true.

In the early going of 2020, Just Chatting has been one of Twitch’s most successful categories clocking in over 21 million hours watched so far, according to SullyGnome. Second only to the surge of Tarkov viewership, which has over 30 million hours of watch time.

While Tim was ribbing when he said “this is the era we are in,” talking about Twitch’s shift in popular content, he might not be too far off in his assessment.

Twitch will likely remain popular for esports tournament organizers and popular gameplay streamers for the foreseeable future, but Just Chatting content might be the meta for up-and-coming talent.