French livestreaming marathon breaks records to raise €10m for charity

French charity livestreaming marathon Z Event raised a record-breaking €10 million for Action Against Hunger (Action Contra La Faim) last month.

Created by Adrien Nougaret and Alexandre Dachary, Z Event brought together some 50 streamers for a three-day gaming and livestreaming marathon. For more than 50 hours between 28 and 31 October, streamers broadcasted live content and set donation goals to encourage viewers to give to the charity via a unique donation form created for the occasion.

The €10,068,177 raised is the event’s biggest ever total as well as for a charity live stream held on Twitch. It is almost double 2020’s €5.7m total for Amnesty International. Z Event statistics also show that the marathon saw 6.53m chat messages sent over the three days, with 26.2 chat messages being made per second during the final five minutes.

This was the sixth annual outing for Z Event. Its inaugural charity livestreaming marathon in 2016 saw €170,000 raised for Save the Children. Over the years it has also supported the French Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, and Pastor Institute before Amnesty International and Action Against Hunger, raising significantly more every year.

Commenting on the event, Corentin Hue from France générosités said:

“Z Event has become an unmissable charity gaming event in France as well as worldwide with every edition trending on Twitter and breaking live viewer records on Twitch. This kind of event shows the strong desire of this community to support and engage with non-profit organisations working for the common good, and to help create a more united and sustainable world.”

This is echoed by responses to a recent Back to the future of giving quiz created by France générosités initiative Infodon to find out more about how people might give to good causes in the future. The first results, aggregated from 500 responses, show that 53% are ready to donate by streaming / gaming, and 47% through contactless payment methods.

There was less confidence around voice and crytocurrency donations however, with just 32% of those surveyed saying they were ready to give voice-enabled donations, and 12% to use cryptocurrencies.

Picture by by Sora Khan on Unsplash