On Twitch, an influencer makes a living by filming himself living and sleeping

The trend of content creators filming themselves sleeping to gain followers and money has been inspired by marathons.

As of Saturday February 24, Sherin, a 25-year-old content creator, has been live 24 hours a day on the Twitch platform for 53 days. In late December, the French-speaking Spaniard with 61,000 followers launched a “subathon,” the equivalent of a live video marathon on Twitch, which can last from a few hours to several weeks.

Since the end of December, Sherin has lived day and night in front of her camera, almost without interruption. And she didn’t expect it to last this long. Because this is the principle of the “subathon”: the duration is initially defined by the owner of the channel, but it can be extended as users subscribe, each subscription adds three minutes to the timer and brings money to the videographer. Sherin went live for five hours, spending her days and nights in front of her camera for almost two months.

“Sleeping in front of the camera is a little weird,” Sherin accepts. To be as comfortable as possible, the videographer puts himself under certain conditions before going to sleep: “I keep the lights dim so people can recognize me, I also pay attention to the pajamas I’m wearing”. The streamer also adds a blur filter to his camera, plays some music and mutes his microphone to maintain privacy. “I don’t want to start snoring alive!” she jokes. But who for Sherin “It takes a lot of silence to sleep”, music, computer noise and left on lights easily wake him up. However, the girl assures that she is not “Not too camera shy”Even before sleeping.

“I’m just sleeping”

Videos of streamers sleeping in front of their cameras are grouped into Twitch’s very English-language “I’m just sleeping” category. The category has evolved in recent years in concert with “subathons”, long-running live shows. According to statistics from the TwitchTracker site, in February 2024, about 7,000 viewers watched channels in the “I’m just sleeping” category.

Sherin’s sleepover nights attract an average audience of 50 to 70, while during the day as many as 300 attend. “It’s special, Sherin goes on, Because at night when I am sleeping there is no interaction between them and me.” But its viewers exchange with each other on chat, “People with insomnia, for example”, says the content creator. for that, “It’s good to share the night stream”Because she feels “closer to (one’s) community”.

“Normally, when you make stuff on Twitch, it works, this time it’s more intimate.”

Sherin, a content creator on the Twitch platform

at franceinfo

Typically, the videographer is only live between 4 and 8 p.m., during her “sabbathon,” she’s online 24 hours a day, allowing her to explore her viewers’ habits in a new light. “Night owls and early risers, watchers who say nothing or chatterboxes, describes Sherin. “We call each other by our first names, and finally by our nicknames.” she cheers. “It brought me really close to my community”Underlines the girl.

And Sherin not only shares her sleep in front of her viewers, but lives her whole life. “I take them with me when I go to the gymShe describes,When I’m shopping, when I’m with my mother and even when I’m cleaning.”. “You have to be prepared to carry a tripod and your phone everywhere you go.”, indicates a young woman. After three years of presence on Twitch, he manages to free himself “Very decent salary, albeit variable, equivalent to minimum wage”. Sherin still has at least 100 hours, or more than four days, according to her counter, to honor her subscribers. The girl is preparing to spend more nights in front of her camera, as her “sabbathon” is not over yet.