EXCLUSIVE: StreamElements restructures 20% of workforce

Streaming production and monetisation platform StreamElements is restructuring its workforce, with 20% of its staff reportedly impacted, sources have informed Esports Insider.

Some staff are being laid off, while others are moving into new roles within the company, a move the company has attributed to market conditions.

The exact number of laid off staff could not be confirmed. StreamElements currently has 279 employees according to the company’s LinkedIn profile.

A StreamElements spokesperson told Esports Insider: “In light of the current market conditions, we’ve adjusted our plans to drive creator growth while building a path to profitability.”

With over 1.6m creators — including esports organisations and professional players — using the platform, StreamElements has massive reach across Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Gaming and Trovo. The company claims that over 60% of top content creators use its tools.

It uses that reach to connect major brands including Epic Games, the NBA, HBO, and Spotify to creators to build out advertising campaigns.

Despite the lay-offs and personnel changes, StreamElements claimed the move would improve its ability to offer sponsorship opportunities. “As a creator-first company, the impact [of this move] is that we will be able to offer more sponsorship opportunities to our community since that is the thriving part of our business we are doubling down on,” the spokesperson said.

Pete Basgen, StreamElements’ former Global Head of Creative Strategy, commented on Twitter: “[G]ot laid off today along with most of my team, and a whole bunch of other very talented folks from StreamElements… Stings hard as I was so proud of the folks I’d assembled, and at six months in we were just reaching full speed.”

In September 2021, StreamElements raised $100m (~£81.6m) in a Series B round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund 2. At the time, StreamElements said this funding would go towards expanding its services to uploaded videos on YouTube and livestreaming on Trovo.

With the economic climate turning gloomier each day, it is perhaps unsurprising to see that esports and adjacent companies are beginning to tighten their operations.

As brands feel the economic crunch and consumer spending dwindles, advertising budgets are likely to follow. This move by StreamElements could be the first of many as uncertainty and inflation persist.