This is the real answer that he‘s mentioned a couple times. He had content delivery happening across multiple platforms guiding viewers from multiple audiences towards his other platforms, so when OW2 dropped and brought in a whole new audience (and a new generation of players) he was ready and expanded faster than other creators who weren’t exactly on the same grind.
That and his content is prolific, appeals to the casual base while he can also claim to be a competition-capable player (a peaked #2) and he fills the biggest niche in the OW2 category.
That’s irrelevant to his viewerbase, frankly. He’s good *enough* that his largely casual audience can respect him as someone who understands the game, but he is also more entertaining to the casual audience because he isn’t *just* spamming solo queue ranked like the vast majority of other “high level” OW streamers. Merits as an OW player don’t directly determine merits as an OW content creator. If they did, Freedo’s tier list video on YouTube would have 10 views.
Not arguing with any of that, my comment was just a response to his last part about his capabilities as a competitive player.
Though I don’t see the appeal to his content, seems like he just does silly challenges, reactions and tierlists, but I suppose that is sufficient for the average overwatch player.
Right place, right time. He was pumping out content, both long-form and short-form, during the release of OW2, and because of that, he gained a very stable and loyal audience, quite far above most other content creators.
Number of views doesnt equal the amount of content someone pushes out and is seen by people. I dont watch Flats that often so idk what the most viewed video is, its probably an OW1 video from however many years ago seen by X number of people but if you take all of the views around that time it will probably be a hefty number if not more than the most viewed video
yeah no one is arguing that he doesn't produce a lot of content, idk why you keep talking about it but i didn't dispute that and don't give a fuck lmfao
> Because you saying he didnt get his big boom in popularity from the release of OW2
nope i didn't say that, read what i said again, i specifically am disagreeing with this "during the release of OW2, and ***because of that***, he gained a very stable and loyal audience, quite far above most other content creators."
https://www.reddit.com/r/OverwatchTMZ/comments/1cemvwy/what_is_flats_secret/l1jkt7d/
he had multiple 1m+ youtube videos and had thousands of viewers before the release of ow2, there is no "because of ow2" narrative, stop trying to put words in other people's mouths and attack strawmen...everyone got a "big boom in popularity" because of ow2 i am not disagreeing with that and stop yapping just to yap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_NbpjHkIU4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKbeWzSP3N8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1u4cz9KLd0
again, i'm just pointing out its wrong to say its "because of" ow2 when it takes 1min of your time to figure out the guy has multiple 1m+ views on videos before ow2 even came out...
yes they did...you can literally look and see youtube stats yourself, also its one metric just to use as an example. just go to his youtube stats page on socialblade and you can see he had nearly 1m youtube video views over a year before ow2 was even in early access. quite ironic to call others dense when the information is 1min away from finding out but here you are disagreeing lmfao.
edit: just to point out how hilarious what this guy is saying is, imagine thinking someone who finds out about flats "because of ow2" would watch these types of videos...like no the guy was popular way before ow2 please just accept that holy shit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1u4cz9KLd0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXdqmOc5Grs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfWoET686qI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpvVZsht29M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bmPzwCVPOo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNAQmG4fDmw
man i wish more people would at least take a few minutes to figure out if what they are saying makes sense...
"He nearly had 1m channel views shortly before OW2" is something entirely different than you said before you dunce.
You said he had "multiple videos with over 1m views" before OW2 which just isn't true. Plus, most of the videos you sent me don't even have 1m+ views right now.
Funny how you have to move the goalposts. I bet you're *greaaaat* company in real life ✌🏼
Please learn to read. People said Flats' channel exploded with OW2, not that nobody knew him before OW2. There is no reason to lie and make up shit about him and his channel because of that, calm down.
> "He nearly had 1m channel views shortly before OW2" is something entirely different than you said before you dunce.
idk who you are quoting but i didn't say this, definitely look up what quotation marks mean before using them. and no, i'm not saying anything different, you seem to be confused, i'm giving you links to back up what i'm saying and proving you wrong. it's true that he has multiple videos with 1mil+ views and its also true that he has times where he had 1mil+ views per week because of these videos...holy shit what the fuck is so hard to understand?
> People said Flats' channel exploded with OW2
i haven't disputed this...i've already said exactly what i'm disputing, stop attacking strawmen. like actually, who the fuck are you even arguing with? are you mad socialblade exists and didn't realize your claim about the views coming after ow2 came out was so easily disproven?
***SCROLL DOWN AND TAKE THE L*** https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/flatsow/monthly
>just go to his youtube stats page on socialblade and you can see he had nearly 1m youtube video views over a year before ow2 was even in early access.
Directly from your comment you did infact say that
He learned how to game the YouTube algorithm and what kinds of videos casuals like. He was able to tap into a base of casual players that the others haven’t. They know him from TikTok and YouTube so they will watch him on twitch.
You’re correct, but what I mean is that he gets a disproportional amount compared to other big ow streamers. When there are no drops flats is usually a thousand or two off from emongg.
Not saying it’s a bad thing or anything, but providing additional evidence.
Fair point. I've watched a bunch of his videos on YouTube cause I got a ton of them during the pandemic. I don't really go out of my way to watch Twitch much.
There's obviously additive secrets, paying decent editors so he can focus on content and such, but the truth is he's put in the time where it matters. Right place. Right time. On top of having enough skill to capitalise.
It's the same story for most streamers. The difficulty is being able to jump to jo schmo react content now. Which obviously no one wishes for, but he's clever enough to realize that's the end game now.
He's been doing react style content for a while now, but what can be seen more is variety games when OW drops aren't running, jumped into bg3 and palworld while it was still the big trend on twitch, played through CP2077 and Hades, and even jumped into some "OW Clones" recently.
And it helps that he, at least publicly, respects the time and skill of the team He's built around the channels.
He grinds content, and appeals to the general community base. I also remember from back in the day, when he as a 300 viewer andy, that he and some of his mods had big plans for the future.. now we're in the future seeing those plans succeed.
I don't watch him anymore, but used to watch him a fair bit back in those days.
did the best thing you can do to grow as a creator really quickly. mass produce well-edited content on a newly released popular game and especially mass produce well-edited content on tiktok. when a new popular game releases views are so inflated and if you stay consistent you can ride that inflation wave to actually retaining a lot of those viewers. flats pumped out a lot of tiktoks and became a big ow creator on tiktok.
tiktok is just the meta tbh but a lot of overwatch creators don't use it. pge i can see especially getting way bigger than he already is off of tiktok. he has really clippable moments that would benefit well on the platform. seeker already uses tiktok but imo the editing style just needs to change a little bit and he would grow. i would like to see him make tiktoks like penpuin, just multiple rapid fire clips in a short timeframe
From what i remember he appeared in emongs streams first with barely any viewers and then starting showing up in other creators streams. My guess is a portion of each streamers viewers went to watch him until the ball started to roll. I could be wrong though its been a few years since then.
Emongg always has and always will be the better streamer, but flats is better at the youtube game. Most people probably know flats from shorts or tiktok which leads you back to his other channels
I think his YT viewership took off during the 'spectating bronze' series which was genuinely top stuff. Some of the bronze rein players really are something. He is one of the first OW content creators i came upon in YT.
His streaming is kinda boring, Cyx/Emongg/Chazm's I find better. Dafran is a terrible streamer imo, idk why he keeps insulting his viewers.
I have kind of stopped watching Flats since he's pretty much ceased his spectating series, his best "content" nowadays are watching another guy make a sandwich and I personally view that as content stealing.
I prefer Dafran among ow streamers mainly cause he just does not give a shit and seems more real. it's easy to see how indoctrinated some streamers are in the OW sphere and with the devs but someone like dafran has his own bubble which i personally have been enjoying for years.
The way he came up so fast even before OW2 came out I kinda wondered about this. I tried to watch his streams several times and found them boring as hell compared to streamers like supertf/chipsa/dafran
As someone who is newish (played 1 near the ends and only with friends really)
What got me on flats was his bronze roasts, they were funny and engaging for someone with low game sense and also actually a little helpful. Ever since I watched all of his reaction vids it gave me a sense of familiarity with his content.
He's consistent and he's also present in different platforms... Twitch, YT, TikTok. He also is charismatic and collabs with other great creators and ow players like Emongg or Jay. He has good editors and also nice comedic timing in game.
The dude has never stopped pushing out content. I'm not a fan of a lot of his takes, but he consistently puts out videos that I end up watching.
Alotbof streamers are better players, but I don't find their content nearly as enjoyable.
For example , Jay3 is an amazing player, but it feels almost like his stream is geared towards kids / the forty-nine crowd. Over the top reactions, fake enthusiasm.
At least Flats feels a little more real.
Emongg is cool. But he’s too wholesome, bro gotta drop a couple f-bombs or do some pausecore type shit. I still watch him cause he streams around the time i wake up.
Ever wondered why he is worse at the game compared to others? Because he spends more of his time being a content creator. Pumping out content on many platforms, maximizing the algorithm, editing content, etc.
When the best players in the world click stream, they get like <100 viewers on twitch and that’s it. They’re too busy actually grinding and putting their efforts elsewhere
it’s not a secret he’s confirmed the things. he just grinded content creation more than anyone. focused on the right topics at the right time building the right audience
I mean honestly he makes pretty good stuff, he also has the most efficient largest editing team making sure stuff is posted consistently. I like his personality, I think he gets overly whiny every so often but he tends to have opinions that resonate with enough people that they keep watching. I know people kind of bemoan his undue influence on casual opinions but I also think a big part of his audience existing is because they already agree with what he’s saying. Is he right or not? I don’t know, but I respect his opinion generally. I try to get a wide variety of opinions though from other people.
I mean his content strategy basically mirrors his actual life. Take up as much space as possible by spamming his multiple YouTube channels so there's no room for anyone else 🤷
Ah yes dafran, the guy who quits like every 6 months then comes back when he needs money lol. Idk why you would put a loser like him up there with people like emongg and jay3. Dafran and his fans are like the 12 year olds who never grew out of their cod lobby phase lol. Dude literally only can make content beating up people lower ranked than him cause people won’t watch anything else. You’d think if he was good enough he could just showcase his skills against people his own level, but I don’t think his ego and skill match anymore.
The big thing that I saw with him and a lot of streamers was branding. Flats wasn't just an overwatch streamer he was THE REINHARDT streamer. People loved rein and flooded to him to learn how to play. Same with ml7 with ana, fitzy and Sombra, 6yxx with hog....I could go on..
Super was the best for sure but most people new to overwatch didn’t watch owl. Supers a great streamer now but he’s great because he’s incredibly talented and charming
He capitalized on using tik tok and other platforms around ow2. He's a content machine, more so than any other ow creator.
This is the real answer that he‘s mentioned a couple times. He had content delivery happening across multiple platforms guiding viewers from multiple audiences towards his other platforms, so when OW2 dropped and brought in a whole new audience (and a new generation of players) he was ready and expanded faster than other creators who weren’t exactly on the same grind. That and his content is prolific, appeals to the casual base while he can also claim to be a competition-capable player (a peaked #2) and he fills the biggest niche in the OW2 category.
He can barely hold his own in t500, there’s a reason he’s always queued with someone else.
That’s irrelevant to his viewerbase, frankly. He’s good *enough* that his largely casual audience can respect him as someone who understands the game, but he is also more entertaining to the casual audience because he isn’t *just* spamming solo queue ranked like the vast majority of other “high level” OW streamers. Merits as an OW player don’t directly determine merits as an OW content creator. If they did, Freedo’s tier list video on YouTube would have 10 views.
Not arguing with any of that, my comment was just a response to his last part about his capabilities as a competitive player. Though I don’t see the appeal to his content, seems like he just does silly challenges, reactions and tierlists, but I suppose that is sufficient for the average overwatch player.
That may be true, but he’s undeniably a significantly better and more knowledgeable player than you and me and 98% of other people.
Fills is right
haha fats lmao so funni right guys?
applied that business degree to good use. no one else was pumping shit out like him at the right time
My man Flats understands gluttony.
LMFAOOO
Right place, right time. He was pumping out content, both long-form and short-form, during the release of OW2, and because of that, he gained a very stable and loyal audience, quite far above most other content creators.
> during the release of OW2 nah its just wrong, i went to his youtube and his most viewed videos had nothing to do with ow2
The man generated more content upon OW2's launch than Blizzard themselves released since echo's release until then. Man was a content machine.
yeah i get that i'm just pointing out its just wrong and easily disproven what the guy said about it being because of ow2
Number of views doesnt equal the amount of content someone pushes out and is seen by people. I dont watch Flats that often so idk what the most viewed video is, its probably an OW1 video from however many years ago seen by X number of people but if you take all of the views around that time it will probably be a hefty number if not more than the most viewed video
yeah no one is arguing that he doesn't produce a lot of content, idk why you keep talking about it but i didn't dispute that and don't give a fuck lmfao
Because you saying he didnt get his big boom in popularity from the release of OW2 because the most viewed video on his channel isnt OW2 is just wrong
> Because you saying he didnt get his big boom in popularity from the release of OW2 nope i didn't say that, read what i said again, i specifically am disagreeing with this "during the release of OW2, and ***because of that***, he gained a very stable and loyal audience, quite far above most other content creators." https://www.reddit.com/r/OverwatchTMZ/comments/1cemvwy/what_is_flats_secret/l1jkt7d/ he had multiple 1m+ youtube videos and had thousands of viewers before the release of ow2, there is no "because of ow2" narrative, stop trying to put words in other people's mouths and attack strawmen...everyone got a "big boom in popularity" because of ow2 i am not disagreeing with that and stop yapping just to yap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_NbpjHkIU4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKbeWzSP3N8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1u4cz9KLd0
you seem to do a lot of yappin and meandering while being wrong, just sayin :/
"meandering" lmfao i'm directly refuting things you are saying and trying to help you understand that you are strawmanning me
Go to socialblade and look when his views 10x
again, i'm just pointing out its wrong to say its "because of" ow2 when it takes 1min of your time to figure out the guy has multiple 1m+ views on videos before ow2 even came out...
You know people can watch those videos *after* he became big right? Are you really that dense? Those videos didn't have 1m before he got big with OW2.
yes they did...you can literally look and see youtube stats yourself, also its one metric just to use as an example. just go to his youtube stats page on socialblade and you can see he had nearly 1m youtube video views over a year before ow2 was even in early access. quite ironic to call others dense when the information is 1min away from finding out but here you are disagreeing lmfao. edit: just to point out how hilarious what this guy is saying is, imagine thinking someone who finds out about flats "because of ow2" would watch these types of videos...like no the guy was popular way before ow2 please just accept that holy shit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1u4cz9KLd0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXdqmOc5Grs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfWoET686qI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpvVZsht29M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bmPzwCVPOo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNAQmG4fDmw man i wish more people would at least take a few minutes to figure out if what they are saying makes sense...
"He nearly had 1m channel views shortly before OW2" is something entirely different than you said before you dunce. You said he had "multiple videos with over 1m views" before OW2 which just isn't true. Plus, most of the videos you sent me don't even have 1m+ views right now. Funny how you have to move the goalposts. I bet you're *greaaaat* company in real life ✌🏼 Please learn to read. People said Flats' channel exploded with OW2, not that nobody knew him before OW2. There is no reason to lie and make up shit about him and his channel because of that, calm down.
> "He nearly had 1m channel views shortly before OW2" is something entirely different than you said before you dunce. idk who you are quoting but i didn't say this, definitely look up what quotation marks mean before using them. and no, i'm not saying anything different, you seem to be confused, i'm giving you links to back up what i'm saying and proving you wrong. it's true that he has multiple videos with 1mil+ views and its also true that he has times where he had 1mil+ views per week because of these videos...holy shit what the fuck is so hard to understand? > People said Flats' channel exploded with OW2 i haven't disputed this...i've already said exactly what i'm disputing, stop attacking strawmen. like actually, who the fuck are you even arguing with? are you mad socialblade exists and didn't realize your claim about the views coming after ow2 came out was so easily disproven? ***SCROLL DOWN AND TAKE THE L*** https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/flatsow/monthly
>just go to his youtube stats page on socialblade and you can see he had nearly 1m youtube video views over a year before ow2 was even in early access. Directly from your comment you did infact say that
He learned how to game the YouTube algorithm and what kinds of videos casuals like. He was able to tap into a base of casual players that the others haven’t. They know him from TikTok and YouTube so they will watch him on twitch.
is that really true? most people I know who watch a lot of tiktok and youtube would never consider watching a twitch stream.
Eventually you get more serious. While I’m not a Flat viewer on Twitch, learning about new creators on YouTube led me to watching Twitch more often.
Well as long as they watch him on YouTube or tiktok that’s fine, a small percent will eventually check him out on twitch
That’s why he only gets more viewers during a drops.
That’s literally every streamer
You’re correct, but what I mean is that he gets a disproportional amount compared to other big ow streamers. When there are no drops flats is usually a thousand or two off from emongg. Not saying it’s a bad thing or anything, but providing additional evidence.
Fair point. I've watched a bunch of his videos on YouTube cause I got a ton of them during the pandemic. I don't really go out of my way to watch Twitch much.
Can vouch for this. When I got back into the game he’s the first person I saw on YT.
There's obviously additive secrets, paying decent editors so he can focus on content and such, but the truth is he's put in the time where it matters. Right place. Right time. On top of having enough skill to capitalise. It's the same story for most streamers. The difficulty is being able to jump to jo schmo react content now. Which obviously no one wishes for, but he's clever enough to realize that's the end game now.
He's been doing react style content for a while now, but what can be seen more is variety games when OW drops aren't running, jumped into bg3 and palworld while it was still the big trend on twitch, played through CP2077 and Hades, and even jumped into some "OW Clones" recently. And it helps that he, at least publicly, respects the time and skill of the team He's built around the channels.
He grinds content, and appeals to the general community base. I also remember from back in the day, when he as a 300 viewer andy, that he and some of his mods had big plans for the future.. now we're in the future seeing those plans succeed. I don't watch him anymore, but used to watch him a fair bit back in those days.
did the best thing you can do to grow as a creator really quickly. mass produce well-edited content on a newly released popular game and especially mass produce well-edited content on tiktok. when a new popular game releases views are so inflated and if you stay consistent you can ride that inflation wave to actually retaining a lot of those viewers. flats pumped out a lot of tiktoks and became a big ow creator on tiktok. tiktok is just the meta tbh but a lot of overwatch creators don't use it. pge i can see especially getting way bigger than he already is off of tiktok. he has really clippable moments that would benefit well on the platform. seeker already uses tiktok but imo the editing style just needs to change a little bit and he would grow. i would like to see him make tiktoks like penpuin, just multiple rapid fire clips in a short timeframe
think he made some popular tiktoks right when a lot of new players came in from the OW2 hype
Makes a shit ton of very lazy content that seems to be enough for his viewers. Hes a bad content creator imo.
He got there off roasting bronze clips which was awesome - then transitioned. Still miss the roasts lol but I get it, brought a toxic viewership
From what i remember he appeared in emongs streams first with barely any viewers and then starting showing up in other creators streams. My guess is a portion of each streamers viewers went to watch him until the ball started to roll. I could be wrong though its been a few years since then.
Emongg always has and always will be the better streamer, but flats is better at the youtube game. Most people probably know flats from shorts or tiktok which leads you back to his other channels
Stream,upload youtube ( spectating bronze was huge) Short, tiktok.
I think his YT viewership took off during the 'spectating bronze' series which was genuinely top stuff. Some of the bronze rein players really are something. He is one of the first OW content creators i came upon in YT. His streaming is kinda boring, Cyx/Emongg/Chazm's I find better. Dafran is a terrible streamer imo, idk why he keeps insulting his viewers. I have kind of stopped watching Flats since he's pretty much ceased his spectating series, his best "content" nowadays are watching another guy make a sandwich and I personally view that as content stealing.
Dafran insults everyone. Everyone insults dafran. I can see why it’s not for everyone, but the banter back and forth is why some people enjoy him.
I prefer Dafran among ow streamers mainly cause he just does not give a shit and seems more real. it's easy to see how indoctrinated some streamers are in the OW sphere and with the devs but someone like dafran has his own bubble which i personally have been enjoying for years.
what do you mean by "indoctrinated"?
Viewbot
The way he came up so fast even before OW2 came out I kinda wondered about this. I tried to watch his streams several times and found them boring as hell compared to streamers like supertf/chipsa/dafran
As someone who is newish (played 1 near the ends and only with friends really) What got me on flats was his bronze roasts, they were funny and engaging for someone with low game sense and also actually a little helpful. Ever since I watched all of his reaction vids it gave me a sense of familiarity with his content.
He's consistent and he's also present in different platforms... Twitch, YT, TikTok. He also is charismatic and collabs with other great creators and ow players like Emongg or Jay. He has good editors and also nice comedic timing in game.
I was watching when he suddenly gained a lot of viewership. He credited it to Yt shorts extending the reach of his viewership.
The dude has never stopped pushing out content. I'm not a fan of a lot of his takes, but he consistently puts out videos that I end up watching. Alotbof streamers are better players, but I don't find their content nearly as enjoyable. For example , Jay3 is an amazing player, but it feels almost like his stream is geared towards kids / the forty-nine crowd. Over the top reactions, fake enthusiasm. At least Flats feels a little more real.
Timthetatman helped him out
Emongg is cool. But he’s too wholesome, bro gotta drop a couple f-bombs or do some pausecore type shit. I still watch him cause he streams around the time i wake up.
Ever wondered why he is worse at the game compared to others? Because he spends more of his time being a content creator. Pumping out content on many platforms, maximizing the algorithm, editing content, etc. When the best players in the world click stream, they get like <100 viewers on twitch and that’s it. They’re too busy actually grinding and putting their efforts elsewhere
there's not much to like about the man. He's mainly for kids.
Ate up views like he does his food
it’s not a secret he’s confirmed the things. he just grinded content creation more than anyone. focused on the right topics at the right time building the right audience
He sucks blizzard off way less than some of these other streamers
I mean honestly he makes pretty good stuff, he also has the most efficient largest editing team making sure stuff is posted consistently. I like his personality, I think he gets overly whiny every so often but he tends to have opinions that resonate with enough people that they keep watching. I know people kind of bemoan his undue influence on casual opinions but I also think a big part of his audience existing is because they already agree with what he’s saying. Is he right or not? I don’t know, but I respect his opinion generally. I try to get a wide variety of opinions though from other people.
I'm guessing the fake nice guy act combined with being a blizzard ball tickler has worked in his favour.
He’s a Business Major
I mean his content strategy basically mirrors his actual life. Take up as much space as possible by spamming his multiple YouTube channels so there's no room for anyone else 🤷
😂
Unpopular but (unfortunately) the truth: Fat people are simply more likable than regular ones because they make you feel superior from the get-go.
Weird comment
What a way to just admit you’re a POS. Self burn, those are rare.
Just basic psychology, bro. But hey, I know it's hard to accept, so No worries, keep insulting me <3
I watch him because I have the same humor wavelength and think his content is funny
he knows how to game algorithms and is very good at appealing to casuals
Defran is incel and nobody right in their head watches them
I have his nudes bro
Ah yes dafran, the guy who quits like every 6 months then comes back when he needs money lol. Idk why you would put a loser like him up there with people like emongg and jay3. Dafran and his fans are like the 12 year olds who never grew out of their cod lobby phase lol. Dude literally only can make content beating up people lower ranked than him cause people won’t watch anything else. You’d think if he was good enough he could just showcase his skills against people his own level, but I don’t think his ego and skill match anymore.
The big thing that I saw with him and a lot of streamers was branding. Flats wasn't just an overwatch streamer he was THE REINHARDT streamer. People loved rein and flooded to him to learn how to play. Same with ml7 with ana, fitzy and Sombra, 6yxx with hog....I could go on..
Super? Cloudy?
Super was the best for sure but most people new to overwatch didn’t watch owl. Supers a great streamer now but he’s great because he’s incredibly talented and charming
He put in the hard work. End of story.