If the NPC streamer trend taught us anything, it’s that TikTok Live is a breeding ground for uncanny content, and the latest gimmick is even more unsettling.
Creators and real-life couple @JettyJamez and @Autumnraynn, who post joint content under the handle @ohjamez, are on Day 16 of nonstop, around-the-clock streaming on TikTok Live. If that’s not enough to make your blood run cold, the pair also have a DIY Big Brother set up where they broadcast from 10 cameras throughout their home — including one directly above their toilet. The livestream features all 10 angles in a grid. Viewers watch them scroll on their phones, eat, and even sleep.
PinkyDoll and the rise of NPC streamers on TikTok Live
TikTok Live is a known money-maker for creators, and some of the stuff @JettyJamez and @Autumnraynn stream isn’t particularly new or novel. “Sleepfluencers,” who livestream themselves sleeping or trying to fall asleep, are already an established subculture of TikTok Live. One such streamer, Jakey Boehm, told Business Insider that he earned $34,000 from TikTok Live in the month of May. But this type of content requires creators to forgo all privacy to commodify every aspect of their lives.
@JettyJamez and @Autumnraynn incentivize viewers to send gifts that can be converted from diamonds, TikTok’s currency, to cash. For example, if gifted 500 “Heart Me’s” (heart-shaped cartoon gifts) they promised to get out of bed.
Aside from the quasi-control viewers have over the streamers and the novelty of 24/7 streaming, the content is extremely mundane, yet the stream sits at around 10,000 viewers at any given moment — a significant feat when you take into account people’s waning attention spans. It makes you wonder why thousands of people tune in. As one X user wrote, “y’all been seeing that couple on TikTok that is live 24/7 it’s kinda weird.”
TikTok Lives reminds us that the dystopian future of opt-in surveillance is already here.
