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Ninja already has a million subscribers on Mixer

For Microsoft, it looks like money well spent.

Well, that was quick. Tyler Blevins, better known by his online handle "Ninja," has already racked up one million subscribers on Mixer. "Thank you for all the incredible support," he said on Twitter. "I haven't felt this good in a long time." It's an impressive feat considering Mixer is smaller than Twitch and Tyler only announced his exclusivity deal last week. For now, anyone can nab a free one-month subscription to Ninja's channel. After September 30th, though, fans will have to pay a fee -- probably $5.99 -- for subscriber perks such as custom emotes and ad-free streams.

The true test of Ninja's popularity, then, will come in the fall. If one million people start paying for a channel subscription, it will prove that he made the right call ditching Twitch for Mixer, and can grow an audience on almost any platform. For Microsoft, meanwhile, it shows that signing Ninja for a rumored $50 million was worthwhile. Why? Well, all those extra eyeballs should naturally wander while Ninja is offline and raise Mixer's overall viewership. That in turn will attract more creators and, potentially, stave off competition from sites like YouTube, which is planning deep, streamer-friendly integrations with Google's Stadia streaming service.