The startup that makes livestreaming safer for advertisers

In 2022, gaming site BonusFinder released a study of 16 video games to see which elevated players’ heart rates the most. Surprisingly, “Mario Kart” came in first, boosting players’ BPM by an average of 32.8%, higher than even “Call of Duty” or the notoriously hard “Dark Souls.” 

As anyone who’s watched a fave Twitch streamer knows, the stress — and occasional rage — of a hectic game can mean curses, insults, or other problematic language, making livestreaming a potential minefield for advertisers.

But NexTide Media has a solution

NexTide connects brands to 700+ livestreamers and provides the infrastructure to advertise across platforms including Twitch, YouTube Live, and Kick, opening up new audiences — including younger demographics — for advertisers and new revenue streams for creators.

“We look at it as the extension of traditional digital [marketing]. Each streamer, to us, is like their own publisher. So we use their channel — their space — to be able to promote to their audiences,” Alexander Guerrero, CEO and founder, told The Hustle. 

•  Livestreaming is popular among gamers, a growing industry that generated an estimated $187B in revenue in 2024. That’s a lot of eyeballs, and potentially a lot of dollars. 

But NexTide found brands were “terrified” due to live content’s unpredictability, and created LiveGuard, a patent-pending, AI-powered safety platform that helps prevent ads from appearing alongside NSFW or controversial content.

How it works

• Creators agree to feature ads within their content. This can include banner ads or pop-ups that respond to various in-game or user actions. For example, a jumpscare to promote an upcoming horror movie in response to something a typed in a chat window.
• Brands can choose what content or specific keywords they don’t want to be associated with. Some may be okay with swearing or more adult games, while others may adopt stricter policies.
• LiveGuard constantly monitors content and analyzes its context. For example, Guerrero said, it can tell if a streamer is talking about their friend named Dick or using that same word in a derogatory way.
• If it identifies a problem, it can alert advertisers for manual review or automatically pause campaigns for 30 to 60 minutes. 

Chief Product Officer JJ Liebig also noted that livestream clips often go viral on other platforms, like Reddit and TikTok, meaning advertisers can avoid being forever tied to (or paying for) content that goes viral for the wrong reasons, but get a boost from fun content.

Who could ever forget Leeroy Jenkins?