The Livestream Takeover
It’s safe to that for many, livestreaming content has become the go-to option out of all types of entertainment. Companies have been investing heavily in the technology, with video giants YouTube operating a sizeable live platform and dedicated streaming sites growing huge in recent years. Almost every big name in tech has at least tried to break into the livestream market in recent years.
Just about every kind of content has been going live in some way. Even in the casino world, we’ve seen the rise of production companies like Evolution dedicated to live games, and it’s not hard to find examples like the Paddy live casino library with various types of big-name gambling games on offer like Monopoly Live. They join themes like sports, music, and of course, cooking, providing livestreams suited to just about anyone.
Biggest Livestreaming Chefs
When you’re looking at the ‘food and drink’ category on a site like Twitch, you’re most likely to find mainly food reviewers in terms of dedicated channels. With that said, there are still a few big examples like Hungry, as well as a few that dabble regularly in cooking, such as OniGirl. So far, however, most professional chefs have stuck firmly to standard video uploads if they’re going online.
The main exception to this is the British cooking show Sorted, who have been organising live events for several years now on top of a regular YouTube video upload schedule, putting them as one of the most followed channels on that platform. While lead chef Ben Ebbrell doesn’t do regular livestreams in terms of daily or weekly uploads, these live events are dedicated to cooking challenges and also cooking education, giving regular home cooks the chance to learn industry hacks and advice.
A Live Future?
As of right now, it’s extremely difficult to say for sure whether cooking has a major future in the livestreaming world. There are a few reasons behind this. Firstly, streaming platforms and audiences alike lean heavily into more action-based content focused on high-speed entertainment, so there isn’t a massive amount of support behind the scenes. Secondly, revenue from streams often just isn’t stable enough to task the risk for many to go into it full-time.
With that said, there are a huge number of small streamers who operate cooking channels in their free time. While there are currently few high-profile chefs involved, we are also seeing a whole new generation of young chefs like Tom Meyer and Chantelle Nicholson who have plenty of opportunity to move into it down the line.
The short answer is that cooking is well-represented on livestreaming platforms and has plenty of potential for the future. However, it may take something or someone incredibly special to move it up the category ranks.