Drake breaks new streaming record – in video games

New York, United States | AFP | Hip-hop superstar Drake has broken a new record in streaming — this time in video games.

The most streamed artist on Spotify, whose latest hit “God’s Plan” has spent the last seven weeks at number one on the US singles chart, made waves this week when he joined the streaming video-game platform Twitch.

His livestream — on which he joined the shoot-’em’-up adventure “Fortnite” with players including video-game star Ninja — drew 628,000 viewers, Twitch said, far outpacing the previous record of 388,000.

Twitch, which is owned by retail behemoth Amazon, saw in the success signs for future growth of the platform, in which video-game aficionados watch and interact with players online.

“Seeing a top gamer and musician come together on Twitch and unite their large and passionate communities is a cultural moment in terms of building awareness around the appeal of social video and it’s only going to grow from here,” Kate Jhaveri, Twitch’s senior vice president for marketing, said in a statement.

Twitch has drawn followers not only for the games, but also for the talk-show-like chatter that accompanies them.

Drake, who gives few interviews, spoke at length with Ninja as they played “Fortnite” on Wednesday night, for a time making the episode a trending topic on Twitter.

Among tidbits into his life that drew wide notice on social media, Drake revealed that he is a vegetarian and that he is a fan of pineapple on pizza.

The Toronto star has seized on streaming as he built his career, including through a marketing deal with Apple. His Jamaican-inspired track “One Dance” remains the second most streamed song ever on Spotify.

Drake and Ninja, whose real name is Tyler Blevin, were joined in playing the game by rapper Travis Scott and Pittsburgh Steelers football player JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Twitch, launched in 2011 and bought by Amazon three years later for nearly $1 billion, has increasingly put a focus on music, with the DJ Steve Aoki notably contributing to a song library for the gamers.