Samuel Étienne: from TV presenter to Twitch streamer

 

Who is Samuel Étienne ?

Samuel Étienne was far from being a Twitch streamer at first. He gained fame since he was chosen to host the most famous cultural French TV show named “Questions pour un Champion“. With his joyful behavior, he created an attraction among the youngest, and succeeded to increase the number of viewers in a show with decreasing audience when its former presenter, Julien Lepers, retired. As a journalist, Samuel is quite active in many domains. He is the presenter of “Questions pour un Champion” but also of “La Matinale” show, from the France Info channel.
He really is considered by his audience has someone very dynamic, playful, and most of all very humorous. His interactions with others through the Twitch platform has valued him to be loved by the public, especially the 15-34 age group.

 

The arrival on Twitch

An opening on the streaming world

With such an aura Samuel was bound to be brought to a wider, different audience. His show “Questions pour un Champion” fed the interest of someone that would later change his life. His pseudo is Étoiles. He is a young Twitch streamer who grew found of general culture. Since the moto of Twitch is to share content with an audience, Étoiles created a format where he could review the different episodes of “Questions pour un Champion” with his viewers and a guest, interacting while the broadcast, whether to guess the answers or to analyse them. The name of this format is “La Nuit de la Culture” and it began to get bigger as time passes, particularly during the French lockdown in March 2020 due to Covid-19.

As more and more viewers came, “La Nuit de la Culture” came to be mentioned in the news and on TV, right into the ears of Samuel Étienne. The latter then contacted Étoiles, intrigued by the show purely focused on culture he was hosting. Then, after some texts exchanges, Samuel got its first hosting of “La Nuit de la Culture” on Twitch with Étoiles on April 10th 2020. A new chapter in the life of Samuel Étienne just opened.

 

La Nuit de la Culture x Samuel Étienne

The results were beyond the expectations. The whole French Twitch community knew about this incredible achievement, and the program eventually gained awareness. Étoiles’ channel was growing at high speed, and Samuel Étienne grabbed the attention and the liking of a whole new audience, Twitch audience. A public that wanted to see more of Samuel’s personality, his passions and activities, in order to be inspired or just because he was quite friendly and attaching. The media then declared him “the ambassador of TV on Twitch”, though he only cared about meeting and exchanging with this new world, these new faces.

 

Hosting Twitch events

Rapidly, he was invited by another famous streamer called Ponce, who is used to hosting a program with different guests about their passions and hobbies, like music. Participating to this program, “Ponce la Nuit” was also a success. People discovered a Samuel Étienne with multiple interests, a whole new face that he used to show on stage. He truly became the most loved TV personality on Twitch France.
His fame grew up even more when he hosted a special show “Questions pour un Streamer” with Étoiles during the Z Event, a streaming event supporting the Amnesty International association that gathered €5.7M. This precise show got the highest count of viewers of the event, with more than 200,000 viewers total, contributing to the expansion of Samuel’s story on Twitch.

    

 

A new Twitch channel

While watching Étoiles streams, Samuel actually created a Twitch account on his own. Boosted by the success of “La Nuit de la Culture” and willing to know more about the Twitch platform, he made official his Twitch channel with a stream of “La Nuit de la Culture” with Étoiles. The official arrival of a someone from the world of Television made quite some noise and everyone on Twitch France enjoyed to see the confidence he obtained following his first apparition. The viewers saw his as a sympathetic, understanding and open individual from a sector that had hardships to understand the streaming sphere, yet who gained the heart of thousands.

     

With time, Samuel Étienne came to bring new content and programs on his channel, now streaming several times a week. His main program, “La Matinée Est Tienne”, with a 12,000 viewers average on its first edition, consists in reviewing daily newspapers and basically exchanging about them, taking position and debating with the viewers through the chat. This program, based around culture and information, helped Samuel to familiarize with the different tools of the platform and gave him even more confidence than before. While still pursuing his job in “La Matinale” and “Questions pour un Champion”, he is now a fully active streamer in the top 10 France, and gathers every week people interested in culture.

 

The alliance of Twitch and TV

With the creation of his Twitch channel, Samuel opened a bridge between the platform and the world of Television. In that regard, France Television launched a show on its own Twitch channel on January 22nd 2021, co-hosted with Samuel Étienne. The doctor Damien Mascret represented France Television. The goal of this show was to answer the viewers’ questions about the Covid crisis with a focus on the vaccine. The results: a 16,000 viewers average, ranking top 8 stream in the morning. The experience turned out to be a triumph for France Television, which will reiterate as soon as possible.

 

What about the future of Samuel Étienne on Twitch?

Samuel Étienne showed in 2020 a courage and an attitude that deserve a praise. He entered in contact with a world he didn’t know a thing about, with an audience quite different that he used too see. His personality, full of surprises and ambition, took the heart of the Twitch viewers in an instant. He really is the exemple of a good transition between Television and Twitch. We shall see in the future more collaborations with television channels, as Samuel defined the termes of a perfect agreement between the two worlds. Hopefully they will get along following that way of thinking.

As a Twitch viewer, I personally followed his path along the platform and I was quite surprised when I discovered how interesting his tastes and stories are, how captivating he is, gaining the approval of everyone on Twitch. I really hope that his channel will continue to grow and that it will share the raw aspect of culture to everyone. Thanks to him, new generations get a taste of what culture and knowledge is.
I wish all the best to Samuel, may he be continuing to cary the flag of culture on Twitch as long as he can.

 

 

References

Arthur V, Jan 20th 2021, “Propulsée par Samuel Étienne, France Télévision débarque sur Twitch”

CharlanMhg, Jan 22nd 2021, “Twitch : Samuel Étienne et France Television, une réussite !”

Claire P, Jan 22nd 2021, “Sur Twitch, Samuel Étienne amène la télévision vers la nouvelle génération“

Cyril P, Jan 20th 2021, “France TV se lance sur Twitch avec une émission de Samuel Étienne“

Isabelle T, Dec 18th 2020, “Samuel Etienne fait ses débuts sur Twitch en compagnie d’Etoiles”