I started my Twitch Channel, KZ_FREW, in November 2013. I had an interest in speedrunning, and my intent with the new channel was to have an easy way to share my video game speedruns. I quickly found an audience, and in May 2015, I was made Twitch Partner, joining the ranks of the most popular broadcasters on the platform.
As of May 2019, the KZ_FREW Twitch channel has 32,000 followers and 1.2 million views. On YouTube, I hold 29,000 subscribers and over 8.5 million video views.
For me, being a Twitch Partner means a lot of things; but mostly, it means waking up every day and doing better than the last. Not only must one garner an audience, it is just as important to keep it. This means being innovative, engaging, and consistent. It means being your own manager, being a public figure, and being supportive of your peers and community.
A key component to success on Twitch is building a brand; everything from game selection to logos, mascots, and memes all play a role in building a successful brand. My own logo features a very simple-yet-elegant “KZ” logo in blue, a color motif that I use in all aspects of my own branding. I am also deeply rooted in the Grand Theft Auto speedrunning community and as such, have built a reputation as a prominent figure in that space.
On my YouTube channel, I have delved into educational and entertaining content on GTA speedruns. With these videos, my goal is to not only explain to the curious viewer the more nuanced parts of a speedrun, but also to encourage others to try out speedrunning for themselves.
Producing such content proved to be surprisingly challenging, I needed to convey detailed information on a game’s code and mechanics in a way that is approachable and easy to understand. To this end, I produced eleven videos explaining the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas speedrun, for a total of over four and a half hours of footage and commentary. These videos altogether amount to 360,000 views.
My video on “duping”, a glitchy technique for skipping missions in GTA: San Andreas.