Top 10 Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins Facts
Richard Blevins, better known as Tyler Blevins... Better known as Ninja, is a Twitch streamer
from the USA. Ninja just so happens to be the most successful video game streamer in
the business right now, something that he solidified and expanded upon when he posted
a video recently of him playing Fortnite with Drake and it went viral like crazy. He now
has more than four million followers on Twitch, and more often than not has a six-figure viewer
count every time he streams. Beyond those streams, he's actually a pretty accomplished
gamer, starting with his career as a professional Halo 3 player back in 2009. In such a career
there’s plenty to learn about the man, so without further ado, let’s check out some
of the top facts about Ninja Blevins.
Blevin’s Philanthropy
This video is going to show you just how much money Blevins is making from his streams.
From the income from the subscribers on Twitch to the sponsorships that comes from that,
he's really making money hand over fist right now. He doesn't just hoard that money, though,
as his Wikipedia page mentions that he’s a "well-known" philanthropist. Every month,
he donates money to pay for surgeries for shelter animals, and in addition to that,
he also donates money to the Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In February of this year,
he held a charity stream that raised over $110,000 for the Foundation for Suicide Prevention,
and in March of this year, he held a massive Fortnite tournament at the E-Sports Arena
in Las Vegas for its opening. While most celebrities use those events to look like they're donating
to charity while using their fame to get people to donate in lieu of them actually spending
any money, Blevins actually pitched in a lot of the money himself in addition to the people
who donated—and the person who ended up winning $25,000 as well. That goes to show
you that Blevins is actually trying to be conscious about his wealth and do some good
work outside of streaming.
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get back to it. He Credits his Personality and Skills for
his Popularity
For someone who has never visited Twitch, the sheer number of people broadcasting their
streams can be a daunting discouragement for entry. So, as a broadcaster, you really have
to find a way to stand out in order to establish and grow an audience. There are countless
ways that people can do this and you can tell that there are certain ways that people believe
will do exactly that, as a lot of people obnoxiously scream while playing their games
because that's what they believe people want. However, what they fail to understand is that
a lot of people watch game streams to be entertained and also to see someone compete at a level
that they can't (otherwise they'd just be doing it themselves), this is something that
differentiates Ninja from the herd. In an interview with CNBC, Ninja said that in addition
to his "goofy" personality (that includes "crazy shenanigans" and "impressions"), it's
the high level of gameplay that sets him apart from the average gamer. This list will show
you just what it takes to actually get to that high level, but in the meantime, you'd
better sharpen up your impression game if you want to reach Ninja levels of popularity,
fame, and riches. He's Been on Family Feud
Eagle-eyed, mostly unemployed people with access to the internet about three years ago
noticed that Blevins and his folks were on Family Feud back in 2015. There were multiple
Reddit posts in subs like /r/CompetitiveHalo and /r/FortniteBR that discussed Ninja's time
getting awkwardly introduced by Steve Harvey, the man responsible for reading the wrong
Miss Universe. Reddit user xSpiceMeme420 must've seen a re-run of that episode recently, posting
to /r/FortniteBR that he also saw Ninja on the Feud. Luckily for us, he broke down Ninja's
time on the show or at least part of it. Blevin's family won the head-to-head and ended up going
for the $20,000. Ninja was one of the two people in his family chosen to go for it and
ended up winning the $20k with the final question, "Where are you most ticklish?", Blevins answered:
Belly and then Feet. That was the number one answer and garnered 51 points. That $20k was
divided among his family, but it was actually less than he'd make spending the same amount
of time streaming on Twitch. He has a Model for Getting into Streaming
for a Living
While he clearly plays a lot of video games, namely Fortnite, for a living, Blevins doesn't
suggest that you do the same, at least initially. Ninja is a rational guy and understands that
he while he clearly had and has the work ethic needed to succeed at the industry that's made
him rich, most people won't have the same luck that he did and won't end up making a
living, playing video games. Because of that, he suggests that people don't quit their job
or drop out of school to begin their streaming careers. In an interview with Redbull.com,
Blevins said that one of his biggest pet peeves is hearing from people that they're going
to take a year off to focus on doing just that, saying: “Some people joke about taking
a year off to do some full-time streaming, quitting jobs or school, and I'm just like,
'No,' that's the exact opposite of what you should do.” He suggests that you actually
continue your normal day-to-day while pursuing your streaming career, maintaining sleep and
time spent with your friends and family, just in case things don't work out. That'll allow
you to continue your job or with school, which is a great thing to say as the world's most
famous Twitcher. He Plays Fortnite 10 Hours a Day
While playing video games for a living sounds like a dream come true, it, like many other
things in life, doesn't really come without putting in a tremendous amount of work. In
that same interview with Redbull, Ninja stated that he's honed his Fortnite skills by practicing
and playing, a lot. "I play Fortnite at least 10 hours a day", Blevins stated, which seems
like a ton. That includes the time that he spends streaming as well as the time he spends
offline honing his skills. While that's his normal day-to-day now, he didn't start his
streaming career by immediately playing games for that many hours a day and in fact, he
doesn't suggest that people looking to get into streaming video games for a living do,
either. While he clearly has a strong work ethic he suggests that anyone looking to get
into the industry should keep their day job or stay in school.
He Gives Halo Credit for Changing his Life
Halo not only changed first-person shooters forever, but it also changed the life of Tyler
Blevins as well as that was the game that his brother, John, purchased when Blevins
was just a kid. It was that game that he fell in love with and that his brother played incessantly,
at least according to a recent interview that Blevins gave. In that interview, Blevins said
that had it been any other game, maybe he wouldn't be where he is today, but because
of the earth-shattering changes that Halo had, he decided then and there that he was
going to pursue Video Games as a full-time job. Blevins said: “I picked it up because
I was watching him play all the time, and that was just the game that did it. It could
have been Call of Duty and that would have changed my entire life too, but he picked
Halo and that was pretty much it. It was better than any other game at the time” - “ it
was everything. He Doesn't Play Halo Anymore
Despite the fact that he credits Halo with changing his life and putting him on the path
to become the most famous, and rich, gamer in the world right now, Blevins actually doesn't
play Halo anymore (including the most recent iteration). The original Halo games were created
by the video game company Bungie, which no longer has the rights to the game. Halo is
now created by the game studio 343 and because of the fact that the market was flooded with
Halo copycats, at least according to Blevins, 343 felt the need to make changes to the franchise
that they didn't create in the first place. Those changes ended up making Halo... Not
Halo anymore. At least for Ninja. “I think to a certain point it was fun, but it wasn't
Halo. I think of the classic, slow, methodical Halo: no sprinting, a battle rifle, four shots,
clean movement, no clamber and no jetpack”“ none of that. And 343 are sitting there and
feeling they've got to change the game, so they add more stuff. It's like the exact opposite,
they had the formula where it was working- if it isn't broke you don't fix it, and that's
what they did. He Broke Twitch Records with Drake
Now, Ninja was already an established and well-known streamer before he broke Twitch
records by playing Fortnite with Drake recently. That's how and why he ended up playing with
Drake in the first place. However, playing Fortnite with Drake completely smashed the
previously held records on Twitch, so much so that it's actually surprising that Twitch
actually could handle all the traffic that Drake brought to the platform. Either way,
it was a major win for everyone involved, including Drake, as it showed that he was
a regular person who can break the internet basically wherever he goes. So, let's get
to the records. The previous record for the most people watching a live stream was set
by Dr. DisRespect when he had 388,000 followers watching his live stream. Drake and Ninja
completely destroyed that record as they had 600,000 people watching them at the same time.
Wow. It also helped Ninja's following as he's literally doubled his number of subscribers,
adding over two million followers since the game with Drake (considering that he gets
$2.50 per subscription, he literally made five million dollars the week after that stream...
Wow again). He's been adding about 60,000 people at the low end and over 100,000 people
a day since the stream, meaning that he's been adding between $150k and $275k a day
since Drake reached out and decided to play Fortnite with him. Apparently, Drake was a
fan before they played together, reportedly watching him play on YouTube and Twitch and
also Drake had been playing Fortnite for about two months before he joined in as well.
Blevins Following is Huge
SocialBlade.com is an objective third party website that keeps track of all sorts of social
media information and really could end up being the end of a lot of social media personalities
and even politicians in that it shows the real subscription numbers behind people as
opposed to some of the numbers that have been inflated by bots. When it comes to the topic
at hand, it shows that Ninja is by far the biggest personality on Twitch. Created in
January of 2016, Ninja’s channel has an A++ rating, meaning that he has the highest
regard in terms of followers and for not having any sort of shenanigans going on with bots
or anything like that. He also added 2.1 million followers just in the month following this
famous stream we’ve been talking about. Thanks to teaming up with Drake.
He's Rich!
It's fairly obvious that Ninja is well off from his streams, but some may be surprised
by the amount of money that he actually makes each month. Like most streamers, Blevins does
a great job of diversifying his revenue stream, making money not only from the clicks his
streams makes but also from his sponsors, affiliate marketing, and donations. Unlike
YouTube, Twitch charges people to subscribe to (certain) channels. It's $5 to subscribe
to Ninja's channel, revenue that is split 50:50 between Twitch and Blevins, meaning
that he is receiving about $100,000 a month from new subscriptions alone (at $2.50 per
subscriber). Yikes. He also receives donations from his followers, and it's been reported
that he receives about as much money in donations as he does from subscriptions, meaning that
he's getting about $100,000 a month in donations too. Ninja also brands himself well, meaning
that you can buy all sorts of Ninja gear from his or the Twitch store, which is reported
to bring in about $100,000 to $200,000 a month as well. That doesn't even begin to touch
on his affiliate marketing plan on Twitch or his YouTube channel, which brings in even
more jack for the 26-year-old. So much for parents complaining about "wasting time" playing
video games, huh?
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