Eric Decker, known as Airrack on Youtube, hosted 12 creators with 125M+ aggregate YouTube subscribers, to compete in a ping pong tournament for $120,000. Over 1.1 million unique viewers tuned into the program, making it incredibly successful After Eric realized the popularity garnered from online creators boxing each other, Eric became interested in other sports that can be impacted. To find out what Eric has in store, read below for a unique Q&A with the creator.
Had to delete my channel. November 13th. pic.twitter.com/A5jDL7Gaxj
— Airrack (@airrack) November 3, 2021
Question 1: What made you choose ping pong as the sport of choice for the tournament?
Creators have always been super competitive at ping pong behind the scenes. Since most creators always claim to be really good at it, we figured it was the perfect sport to create a tournament around. That way we could bring the audience into the experience and show the world who was really the best ping pong player on the internet.
https://twitter.com/airrack/status/1458972187658887169?s=20
Question 2: What do you think made the event so successful and engaging? In other words, how do different platforms affect the success of streaming events like this one?
The innovative fan interaction around the event is what really made the live event special and unique. From voting on who comes back after elimination to determining the distractions that made the event extreme, the viewers had more control over this event than any other live stream in the past.
Question 3: What factors make watching creators participate in different sports so successful and interesting?Â
The desire to compete has to be genuine. Most creators are really competitive individuals and tapping into their competitive nature brings out the passionate side of them. It also shows viewers and fans a different side to the creators that they frequently watch online and builds a wider personality for them to get to know through the screen.
https://twitter.com/airrack/status/1458868876419092492?s=20
Question 4: What is it like hosting a live event like this one? Would you do ping pong again, or other sports?
It was wild! A rollercoaster of excitement with lots of nervous moments as well! I really enjoyed it and my favorite part overall was just bringing together creators into the same building to hang out with one another. Especially over the past 24 months, it’s been very rare to have a room full of creators just being able to collaborate together in a fun activity like ping pong. The next event won’t be ping pong, but it will be Xtreme!
Question 5: What can we expect from Eric in 2022?
I like planning yearly goals and writing down my plans but really the overall mission is always the same: Building the biggest YouTube channel in the world and doing it differently than anyone before. The team is constantly looking for ways to innovate and have our audience (the Mafia) more involved in the channel than any other YouTube community in the world.
