I wanted to know whether putting a sex toy on camera would actually bring more people into my room—so I tracked what happened minute by minute.

The dildo was on screen for about 12½ minutes. My audience didn't simply jump and then disappear: viewers continued increasing after I put it away, reaching a peak about 3 minutes later, followed by a gradual decline.

On one stream, my audience grew 56% after the goal was reached—but earnings fell 99.5%. The money came during the anticipation and goal-building phase, not after the outcome was delivered.