To seize the moment is only the first of two requirements for becoming a popular creator. That's the opinion of 26-year-old TikTok star Yonny Zahri, who has amassed millions of views over his mobile gaming and esports content. Yonny told Streams Charts about his dream of becoming a Malaysian shroud, the importance of ML:BB and gave tips for young content creators.
We talked to Yonny at MSC 2022, a major esports event featuring some of the best teams from Southeast Asia in the mobile MOBA Mobile Legends. This game is especially popular in the region, and as Zahri admits, it was ML:BB that opened up new opportunities for him as a content creator:
‘I was playing League of Legends for 10 years, but then I switched to ML:BB because it’s a quite popular game in Malaysia. Basically, the games are the same, but for me, it’s easier because we’re only using the phone instead of a PC. ML:BB gives me a lot of opportunities in terms of streaming and sponsors. That’s why I stick with ML:BB’.
It's not an easy task to become popular in a popular game, and Yonny knows that like no one else. At first, Zahri streamed for a small audience on Facebook and had no success on the platform, and he didn't find much popularity on Instagram. But the third time's a charm, and Zahri unexpectedly went viral on TikTok. ‘That’s when I realized: this is my time to shine,’ — says Yonny.
The creator admits that for the first couple of months he didn't feel confident that he would succeed on a new platform. But the support of his friends and family helped him a lot, and now Zahri is one of Malaysia's top gaming influencers:
‘TikTok gave me a lot actually. At first, I was just posting funny, trendy stuff, and after two months I decided to fully focus on my passion, which is gaming and esports’.
Considering Yonni's love of esports and gaming, it is not surprising that shroud, a former e-athlete who has become one of the most recognizable streamers in the world and a role model for young content creators, has become a role model for the young Malaysian in the gaming industry as well.
'I started streaming because of shroud, he’s my idol. He started as a competitive player and then started streaming. All the views, all the content, it makes me like: “Why can’t I be like him?”.'
Now Yonny has 460K+ subscribers on TikTok, 11+ million likes, a video with almost 15 million views, and the title "The most popular gaming creator 2021" award by TikTok Malaysia. In a word, Yonny has become a star, and now he helps young players become successful.
Yonny is the ambassador of Team Caracal, an esports team founded by one of his friends. The organization is a newcomer to the scene, and its experienced roster of multiple MPL medalists is making progress on the local ML:BB scene, reaching the finals of Malaysia Esports Championship 2021 in January and placing fourth in its debut season in MPL Malaysia.
'We started Caracal because we want to give young people an opportunity to enter the competitive scene. Right now we’re more focused on the competition itself: no streaming, no merchandise, and so on. Just doing our best at the tournaments, and as long as we achieve something, then we’ll do the rest. Right now Caracal is not as big as TODAK, for example. We need some time and space for now.'
According to Statista, the Malaysian game market is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars and is expected to grow by 40% in the next four years. So there’s no wonder that more and more aspiring creators try to make it to the top in the industry to sign contracts with major sponsors like ROG and Samsung. It took several years for Yonny to get the recognition, so his major advice for those who want to reach out a wider audience is quite simple: if you want to grow, you have to work hard.
'There’s no easy way to the top. You need to make connections, you need to learn more on creating content. A lot of people try to copy the content of others now, they lack originality. My advice is: try to find the originality in yourself, try to make your own self, your own content. And try to do it constantly. Some people create content and then suddenly stop, because they see no engagement, no views. As long as you don’t stop, one day you’ll get what you aim for.'
Based on MSC 2022 statistics, we can say that TikTok is becoming more and more popular in Southeast Asia both as a video hosting and streaming service for esports. The example of Yonny clearly shows that mobile gaming and esports are of interest to tens and even hundreds of thousands of viewers.
As Yonny teaches young content creators: don't give up if you don't get it right the first time. He himself initially collected only a few dozen viewers on streams, and now he gets tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of views. Let us remind you that Streams Charts collects and analyzes streaming viewership statistics from a variety of platforms, including Facebook, YouTube Live, Trovo, Twitch and other services: get a PRO subscription if you want to dive in statistics by channels, platforms and broadcast languages by yourself.
