The New Twitch Meta That's Taken Over Hot Tub Streams
It seems like just yesterday that the popular "hot tub meta" was jetting across Twitch, with content creators like Amouranth getting into hot water for their choice of on-camera swimwear. Huge streamers like Pokimane even dipped their toes into the meta, joining the likes of a cosplaying Scarra and a suspiciously jacked Disguised Toast for a nice soak. But, alas, all things must come to an end — and the hot tub meta is no exception.
Although it seems hard to believe that this trend would ever go out of style, it appears that the hot tub meta has finally sprung a leak. Taking its place is a very "particular" type of ASMR. And leggings.
As reported by Dexerto, the ASMR category of Twitch has accumulated over 2 million collective hours watched in the last 7 days, with hot tub streams looking comparatively dead in the water at 1.8 million hours.
While ASMR streams have never really fallen out of fashion, it's worth noting that some of the meta's most popular creators — like the previously mentioned Amouranth — have taken things to their next logical level by licking their microphones to simulate "ear play" in exchange for subs, according to Dexerto. They also wear those infamous "TikTok leggings," which Today has noted are capable of accentuating certain "assets."
While not as controversial as the hot tub meta (at least, not yet), the combination of tight-fitting clothing and steamy innuendo is sure to appeal to a particular fanbase.
The hot tub meta was bound to cool down
Since its rise to popularity, the hot tub meta has proven controversial, with the aforementioned Amouranth watching her ad revenue run dry after Twitch suddenly suspended it without warning. Although Twitch eventually re-monetized the sudsy streamer, the damage was already done, and she quickly became what fellow content creator xQc dubbed a "scapegoat" for the whole controversy. Still, to the surprise of some critics of the meta, Twitch eventually decided that the meta didn't violate its nudity policies, writing in a blog post that "being found to be sexy by others is not against our rules."
As one might imagine, this did little to calm the waters, with both advocates and detractors — like streamers xoAeriel and QTCinderella, respectively — continuing to butt heads over the meta's place on Twitch. In fact, QT made waves when she infamously claimed that the hot tub meta was making her life "miserable," since it allegedly caused hot tub streamers' viewers to harass her and demand the same kind of content from her.
QT's attempts to throw cold water on the hot tub meta may have ultimately failed, but the repercussions of both conflicts that arose during its peak in popularity — and Twitch's controversial decision to keep it from swimming with the fishes — will likely continue indefinitely.