PUBG streamer Thinnd goes from zero to 50k fans and US$20,000 in donations – now he wants to help others to do the same
- Michael McMahon started streaming at the start of 2018 as a dare
- He now has a weekly reach of more than 1 million and streams 8-16 hours a day
American-Taiwanese Michael McMahon started streaming online only as a dare. He knew little about putting on a show online and stumbled his way through for the first few weeks playing popular internet game PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds).
After a while, he started to get the hang of it. Now, 11 months into his challenge, McMahon is good enough to break through the 50,000 mark in Facebook followers. He has also collected more than US$20,000 in donations and has picked up sponsors.
The 26-year-old’s next goal is to become a mentor for others who want to show off their e-sports skills online and earn a side income.
“It was actually kind of crazy how it started,” said McMahon, who goes by the handle “Thinnd”. “I got myself an Xbox and started playing games and then took out a loan to buy a gaming PC.
“Someone dared me to stream every day for a whole year and this year, I started doing it. I never did PC gaming before, I didn’t know what streaming was and had to learn from scratch with no help,” said McMahon, who worked in Taipei for two years in a SmartCity start-up.