The numbers involved in channel growth around the Hot Tub Meta exemplify similar patterns as observed in other Twitch trends. What does the Hot Tub Meta tell us about the Twitch creator ecosystem? However, it makes a great test-case for studying the ways in which innovation can breed views from controversy. Realistically, the long term effects of the Hot Tub Meta will likely be limited. Creators will always head to the source of views on Twitch and YouTube, and in the words of storied pro-wrestling promoter Eric Bischoff, “controversy creates cash”. Videos by penguinz0 (1.3m Views), xQc (356k views) and Asmongold (466k views) have propelled the trend to new heights. With perceived sexuality at the centre of the controversy, many streamers have also provided commentary content. What can be observed with certainty is that a lowkey loophole was identified and creatively exploited, and that the close-knit culture of the Twitch community led to word of the opportunity spreading quickly. So far Twitch has largely held back from taking action against involved channels, with only a select few having had advertising pulled. One potential spanner in the works for these channels is the rule around 'Sexually suggestive content'. The result of this is that when a streamer sits in an inflatable hot tub or other swimming pool whilst wearing a bathing suit, they fully comply with Twitch's Terms of Service under the contextual exception. This delicately allows streamers to bypass Twitch’s rule around ‘Sexually Suggestive Content’, previously used to hand ban streamers deemed to be engaging in ‘Fetishizing behavior or activity, such as focusing on body parts for sexual gratification’. 'The Hot Tub Meta' started with a loophole in Twitch's Terms of Service, that allows content creators to stream in a swimsuit or other swimming attire where it is contextually appropriate. But perhaps more interestingly, it has also brought to light the fundamental paradox of Twitch as both a force for social cohesion and a place that thrives on subverting the social order for views. The rise of these two distinct content types has caused some to begin questioning the morality of Twitch as a platform. The gambling machines have carefully calculated odds which are masked with clever ‘near misses’ and flashing lights, and always imply a big monetary win is just around the corner. This has occurred alongside a notable increase in the number of streamers spending inordinate amounts of money on slots streams, a category on Twitch dedicated to people playing an online version of ‘slot’ machines - also known as fruit machines in the UK, where they are a mainstay of pubs across the country. The more people talked about it, the more streamers did it, so the more people watched, so the more streamers did it, so the more people talked about it, so the more… you get the picture.On the leading live streaming platform, Twitch, 2021 has seen the rapid growth of what has been curiously dubbed the 'Hot Tub Meta'.
They did everything from sipping wine to reading tarot cards to writing names on their bodies - both because of some streamers getting in on the trend and others jumping on the bandwagon of complaining about it, the hot tub streams grew in popularity and controversy. These streams were a riff on the Just Chatting stream, and typically involved female streamers in bikinis in hot tubs. A little while ago, hot tub streams started appearing on the front page of Twitch. If you haven’t been following, here’s the CliffsNotes on the whole thing. With that, the whole affair should be over, and maybe we can finally shut up about it - once we do that, we can start to talk about it too. It seems that my advice went unheeded, as since then there have been multiple flareups and controversies, culminating in Twitch creating a specific Hot Tub channel.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the hot tub streamers on Twitch, and had a suggestion to offer: everyone needed to shut up.
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