Starting 14 April, the king of YouTube, PewDiePie, will extend his reach to DLive, a livestreaming platform powered by blockchain technology as part of a newly-minted partnership, under which the vlogger will exclusively present weekly live-streams.
READ MORE: PewDiePie's 'Congratulations' Diss on T-Series Winning Likes Despite India's Ban
With roughly 3 million monthly active users and some 35,000 active streamers, DLive promises better terms for individual creators than other major platforms: its unique approach envisages providing a rewards system for their streamers and viewers.
As part of it, content creators and viewers earn Lino Points — the cryptocurrency of the Lino Network blockchain-based system — for their participation and contribution to DLive.
"I’m excited to start live-streaming again regularly. DLive is great for me because I’m treated like a real partner just like all of the other streamers on their unique platform", Pewds said in a statement.
In a Tuesday video, the YouTube sensation promised to donate up to $50,000 in Lino tokens during his first DLive live-stream to other creators on the platform in order to encourage more uptake.
"DLive is a place where instead of competing against each other, it benefits creators to support one another. With no platform cuts, we incentivise everyone to create the highest quality content for viewers. PewDiePie has always been a fierce advocate for the value that creators bring with their hard work, time, and effort, and he believes in DLive's vision. Our livestreaming platform has the potential to forever change how creators are represented in this industry, and we're proud to have PewDiePie help us lead this charge", said Wilson Wei, Co-Founder of Lino Network.
But for a year now, Pewds has been bogged down in a back-and-forth battle with India’s largest music label and movie studio T-Series for the most subscribed YouTube channel.
Given that T-Series has repeatedly managed to briefly dethrone him, Kjellberg's move towards DLive may be seen as a great opportunity to solidify his fanbase.
"This was a really good fit for him. This platform is able to support creators, in terms of the revenue share, in a way that is hugely favorable to the creator", Kat Peterson, a member of Pewds' management team, said, adding that Kjellberg will donate Lino Points to other DLive creators "to get everybody on the platform excited that he’s there".
Social media users are extremely excited at the news and can't wait for his first live-stream, which kicks off on 14 April:
PewDiePie's decision came shortly after the launch of a Change.org petition, which called for removing the vlogger from YouTube permanently for what has been branded as "white supremacist" content.
The reasons why Kjellberg should be banned from the platform included, among many others, the YouTuber's alleged use of racial slurs, hiring people to say the N-word, and alleged rape jokes.
While dismissing the accusations, Pewds admitted that he's "stepped too far" at times, as was the case when he paid Indian men on the freelance website Fiverr to hold signs that read "death to all Jews" just to learn how far they would go for money.
"If you don't know anything about me and you don't know anything to challenge these points then obviously it paints a really bad picture of me that just isn't true or at least accurate or anywhere near accurate", he said.