MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: In recent years, sleeping streams, a genre of livestreaming has gained a lot of attention. So-called "sleep streamers" are prominent on video platforms YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch, streaming live video of themselves dozing off.
At its centre is Kai Cenat, who was recently accused of inciting chaos in the US. According to estimates, he earned tens of thousands of dollars while sleeping for a non-stop month-long stream in March.
One of the most well-known streamers in the world, Amouranth, also asserted in June on the 'Iced Coffee Hour' podcast that she can earn good dollars with a sleep stream.
How streamers are profiting from Sleeping streams?
In addition to being a source of entertainment, sleep streaming can give viewers a sense of community by giving them someone to fall asleep with.
Although the concept may seem strange, it isn't entirely new. In the early 2000s, reality show 'Big Brother' rose to become one of the most popular programmes in the world, and the opportunity to watch housemates sleep throughout the day on the show's 24-hour live feeds became a surprising online hit.
Additionally, an hour-long video of football player David Beckham dozing off was unveiled by the National Portrait Gallery in 2004. By making a financial contribution, one can cause a room to experience loud noises, alarms, flickering lights, or other events that will wake up the streamer from their nap.
Similar to a live-action video game, the streamer in these videos is just attempting to go to sleep, while the players (or the viewers) are doing all in their power to wake them up.
Amouranth earned upwards of $9940 with sleeping streams
Amouranth, whose real name is Kaitlyn Siragusa, first gained fame on the video game live-streaming website Twitch, where she makes money by engaging in a variety of bizarre activities.
Back in 2022, she disclosed one of her best sources of income when speaking to the host of podcast 'The Iced Coffee Hour'. As the name implies, sleep streams are essentially live feeds of people sleeping while spectators watch.
According to Amouranth, streamers get money because of the donations made by viewers who try to wake them up by sending notifications or using media sharing to play loud music or films.
Amouranth claimed her sleep streams were so popular she earned upwards of $9940 in just a few hours. When asked why she didn’t stream herself sleeping every night, Amouranth said that scheduling issues made it difficult.
She said, “Scheduling gets complicated because I might have a photo shoot the next morning or something,” she explained. “I feel like if you do it too much, it will become no longer a novelty.”