A Guide to Streaming and Finding Success

 

 

Written by Jeremy Hauze

aka Dagwood

Disclaimer: This guide is not officially affiliated with Twitch. Any opinions expressed with it are solely those of the author. All Twitch brand assets are used according to the guidelines set out at http://www.twitch.tv/p/brandassets. Further, this guide is being provided free of charge. It should not be altered or sold without express permission from the author. You are welcome and encouraged to redistribute this guide in its original form.

 

 

Version 2.10

Last Updated: 2/02/2016

Table of Contents

click on a topic to navigate to it

	Title
	Disclaimer
	Table of Contents
	Introduction
Part I		Part II
Starting Out		Networking
What Are Your Goals?		Social Media
Equipment and Software		Growth From Game Choice
Equipment		Community and Moderation
Software		Branding
Early Growth		Suggestions by Size
Positive Streaming Behaviors
	Thanks

Introduction

There was a moment when I was watching MANvsGAME for the first time. It wasn’t my first time on Twitch and I didn’t have a special reason for it, but sitting there, I had the thought: “I can do this.” I had an overwhelming certainty that streaming was something I needed to try.

If you’re flirting with the idea of broadcasting on Twitch, you’ve probably had that same exact thought. And you’re right - you probably CAN do it. Finding success on Twitch requires research, hard work, and a bit of luck, but building a broadcast is an immensely rewarding experience.

I’m Dagwood, and I’ve been broadcasting on the channel OverBoredGaming since February 2013. OBG is a partnered variety broadcast that I started with my friend Brawli, and it has become one of the most important parts of my life. Over the past three years, I’ve devoted countless hours to learning about Twitch and streaming. The result of that is irreplaceable friendships on Twitch, a community of viewers that I love interacting with, and a broadcast that I’m immensely proud of.

I assure you that I do not have all the answers, because there is no formula for or guarantee of success on Twitch. You may have heard a number of larger casters say that their success comes down to luck, and I would be hard-pressed to deny it. However, a huge amount of effort and planning are what make catching that luck possible in the first place.

Newer broadcasters will face a variety of challenges that the old guard of broadcasters, the pioneers of Twitch, never experienced. The trailblazers paid their dues and experienced fantastic growth by doing something when it was entirely new. But we have something they never had: the benefit of their experiences. Through observation and personal experimentation, I have picked up some of the techniques that have helped many casters grow. This guide is here to convey some of the most important basics in helping a new broadcast to succeed.

Part I

 

 

The Basics of Broadcasting

Starting Out

New broadcasters have a challenging time ahead of them on Twitch. There’s so much to do, nearly endless things to learn, and nobody really knows you exist. Even if you’re willing to work hard, knowing how to get started is a challenge in itself. What follows is a fairly comprehensive list of things you probably want to work on as you first start broadcasting.

Initially, you’ll benefit from doing a lot of learning and practicing. Unless you have experience entertaining, public speaking, and working with the relevant equipment and software, there is a lot to pick up before you can expect your content to be good. Successful broadcasters need to make something worth watching. If your stream isn’t entertaining, why should anyone want to see it?

I’ve broken Part I down into five topics:

• What Are Your Goals?
• Planning and Mental Preparation
• Equipment and Software
• Tips for Early Growth
• Positive Streaming Behaviors

I recommend reading through these sections, and putting some thought and work into planning your broadcast. Make a basic plan for your channel and then just start streaming - experiment and find out if you even like it. Read the list of positive streaming behaviors and incorporate them into your broadcast. Finally, as you begin to get comfortable, approach individual sections in Part II of this guide for advice on specific topics.

What Are Your Goals?

If you’re thinking about broadcasting on Twitch, stop and answer that question. Twitch has room for broadcasters of every size with every imaginable way of using their service. What do you want your place to be? Knowing your goals impacts how you should be reading this guide.

• How large do you want your broadcast to be? You may be broadcasting for personal friends, a small audience, or tens of thousands of viewers. Smaller audiences will be easier to reach. Larger audiences will take effort and compromises to attain.



• What is your gaming niche? Maybe you love speedrunning. You might play an MMORPG or a MOBA. You could be into indie games, console games, classic games, fighting games, a single game, or every new release. Or you might be a variety caster, playing any game at any time.



• What will the attitude of your broadcast be? You could be serious, angry, or lighthearted. Do you want people laughing with you, at you, or because of you? Will you cultivate an air of maturity surrounding your stream or is anything permitted?



• What can you do that makes you special? At the end of 2015, Twitch had over 2.1 million unique broadcasters and 13k partnered channels. Obviously, not everyone is going to be unique in a group that size, but what can you do to make yourself stand out in people’s minds?

You don’t need all the answers when you’re just starting out, but the more you know, the better off you’ll be. If you want to have at least a small regular audience, broadcasting on Twitch would be an involved hobby. Reaching even more people makes it more like managing a small business. Answering the above questions is like the first step of putting together a business plan. Once you know what you’re trying to accomplish, you can start building a plan for your channel to reach those goals.

Planning and Mental Preparation

Let me begin with a reminder: know your goals for broadcasting and realize that different goals require different things. A strict broadcasting schedule, for example, may leave someone testing the waters with broadcasting burnt out, but is necessary for someone trying hard to maximize their stream growth. With that in mind, here are some preliminaries you should think about and work on as you start toying with broadcasting.

 

• 

  Remember to Enjoy Yourself

  If you don’t enjoy creating content, people likely won’t enjoy the content you create. Personality and energy are important for drawing people to your stream. Once you start losing those because you aren’t enjoying yourself, something needs to change. Before you even start broadcasting, you don’t know if you’ll enjoy it. Keep fun in mind as you think about these suggestions, and never forget it as your channel grows.

 

• 

  Figure Out What Makes You Interesting

  Take a long few minutes to figure out what are the best aspects about you. You don’t need something crazy, different, or unique here. Are you an exceptionally skilled gamer? Do you think you’re funny? Can you instruct others? Make people feel good about themselves? If you can’t think of anything, you aren’t trying hard enough.

 

• 

  Name Your Channel Carefully

  Your Twitch handle will stick with you the entire time you broadcast. Name changes are next to impossible to get, and you probably don’t want to rebuild everything on a new channel just because you want a different name. Ideally, your name would be unique and interesting. Symbols, underscores and random letters/numbers are probably unnecessary. When in doubt, simple is best.

  Once you create᠎᠎᠎ your Twitch name, take thirty minutes out of your day. Create an e-mail account tied to that name. Use it to register accounts with your Twitch handle on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Discord, Steam, and any other forms of social media or services you may ever think about using. It costs nothing, and you’ll reserve those spaces for whenever they’re relevant to you.

 

• 

  Think About Your Schedule

  The times you broadcast are important, especially to you. Committing to more than you can enjoyably do is a disaster waiting to happen. However, streaming more hours is generally better for growing a broadcast, and keeping those hours consistent from week to week benefits you and your viewers. Finding a happy medium between randomly casting and a strict schedule is important.

  Some things to keep in mind:

  • Short streams make it hard to reach new viewers and hold interest. Broadcasting at least 2-4 hours at a time usually works well.
  • Many “professional” broadcasters stream 4-8 hours at a time, 5-7 days a week. You don’t need to do this. However, if your schedule allows it and you enjoy streaming, it can be good for exposure.
  • Twitch is worldwide and covers many time zones. If your showtimes shift wildly every day, you’ll be reaching viewers in many different time zones, who may not be able to watch your other broadcasts.
  • Start small, and leave room to grow. Find a few regular times to broadcast throughout the week where you could have extra time to stream if you feel like it. Try to commit to some relatively short broadcasts and keep going if you enjoy it.
  • Remember that changing your broadcast times without warning will make it more difficult for viewers to catch your stream again.

 

• 

  Practice Talking to Yourself, About Everything You Do

  New viewers usually leave within a few minutes if they aren’t being entertained. That means you need to be engaging with an audience that might not even be watching you. Broadcasting without an audience benefits from constant commentary. Learn to narrate your life. Explain everything you’re doing, remembering that it may not always be clear to other people. Commentate your thought process - make your internal monologue external (with some filtering of course). Learning how to do that before you start broadcasting is a great place to start.

 

• 

  Watch Other Streams Critically

  You probably watch at least a few decent streamers on Twitch for personal enjoyment. There should be some wonderful aspects of their broadcast and at least a few things that could be better. Watch their streams and figure out what those things are. Emulate good qualities, and try to avoid the bad. Do this with as many different broadcasters as you can. Take notes. When you start broadcasting, watch your past streams and do the same.

 

• 

  Don’t Commit To Just Being Yourself

  Who you are and how you feel in your everyday life doesn’t have to determine how you act on stream. You can be yourself, or an even better you. You probably don’t naturally talk to yourself as you play video games, so why draw the line there? Be open to experimentation, especially before you have a solid audience. Try being silly, excited, bouncy, crazy, anything. Exaggerate your best qualities. Minimize your worst. Focus on how you say words and improve the way you speak.

  There are no personality police. Nobody will say “you can’t act that way because you weren’t that way before.” Think of this like The New Guy - Twitch is a place where you are free to redefine yourself.

 

• 

  Consider the Niche You Want to Occupy

  Realize that the types of games you play and when you switch them will impact your viewing audience. Know that the way you behave and how you interact with your audience shapes the way your stream will grow and how your chat will develop. There’s no need to decide what your place will be on Twitch early on, but you can start thinking about it as you begin.

Equipment and Software

This section is meant to provide some general advice and guidelines. If you want to learn more about equipment, check out the Twitch subreddit and the official Twitch help portal. The help portal has a number of useful setup guides and the subreddit is full of knowledgeable people there who have posted guides and answered so many questions on improving your broadcasting setup. One caveat: please use the search function. Many common questions have already been answered, and if you do some research, you’ll get more value out of the questions you do ask!

Equipment

 

• 

  Microphone

  While it’s technically possible, I don’t know of any high quality broadcasts on Twitch that don’t use a microphone. Verbal communication is one of your best means of interacting with your audience and adding value to your stream.

  I would recommend spending at least a bit of money to get a mid-range USB microphone. A high-end audio setup would be ideal, but for a beginning broadcaster, there are several great options well under $150. Commonly recommended microphones include the CAD-u37, Blue Snowball, Blue Yeti, and the Audio-Technica AT2020. Setting up these microphones correctly is also important. This involves positioning the microphone close enough to your mouth, reducing background noise, and a lot of experimentation with settings.

  Because audio can be such a detailed and difficult topic to broach, here are two incredibly useful guides:

  

  Basic Audio Guide

  

  Advanced Audio Guide

 

• 

  Camera

  A camera isn’t required, but is a useful tool for many broadcasters. The visual element is another way for you to connect with an audience, and some viewers will only watch a channel where they can see the broadcaster. However, using a camera also requires you to be aware of your appearance, mannerisms, and posture. If you look slovenly or disinterested, your camera is probably hurting you more than helping.

  Any 1080p or 720p webcam is more than sufficient as you start out. For an entry level solution, the Logitech C920 and Microsoft Lifecam lines are probably the most often recommended options. Eventually, you might consider using an HD camcorder with a capture card. Find a way to position your camera well. Use a tripod, mounting bracket or just a lot of duct tape. Also remember to select the correct camera resolution in whatever capture program you use, and make sure that with each game you play, the camera is positioned over an unimportant part of the screen.

 

• 

  Broadcasting Computer:

  Your computer will be both running a game and encoding your broadcast. Encoding is a CPU-intensive operation, so a mid-range i5 (or equivalent) processor or is the absolute low end of what you want for broadcasting. Intel processors are generally better for encoding tasks and an i7 processor is ideal.

  A two-computer setup bypasses many of these issues, but is probably beyond most beginning broadcasters. For an introductory look on the topic:

  

  Two-PC Broadcasting Guide

 

• 

  Screen Space

  You need to be able to play your game, adjust capture settings, and read chat while broadcasting. Doing all that from a single monitor is a challenge. Ideally, you want at least two monitors when you broadcast (or if you have a laptop/tablet available, consider using that to view chat).

 

• 

  Lighting and Green Screen

  A starting broadcaster likely don’t require heavy lighting or a green screen. I recommend setting up a pair of desk lamps with white-light bulbs, one on each side of your camera, facing you. Buy compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) in the 3500K+ temperature range from your local hardware or big-box store. Adjust their positioning for the best possible quality.

  If you want to set up a green screen, you can do so inexpensively. Fabric from a local craft store can easily be hung from hooks in your ceiling, strung up on some clips, put on a retractable clothesline, or stretched over a PVC pipe frame. This will look good in almost every case, and should cost $30 or less. Try the lighting you have before committing to a large lighting purchase, but you will benefit from at least two directed light sources. Also, distance is your friend - increasing the space between your body and a green screen reduces shadows and improves chroma keying.

 

• 

  Other

  Use headphones or a good headset to listen to game audio. A microphone will pick up any speaker output and the resulting echo is thoroughly unpleasant for your viewers.

  If you plan on playing console games, remember that Twitch does have a streaming app on both Xbox One and PS4. This limits many of your customization options, but can be a reasonable option for many people. If you want to stream on other systems, you’ll need to buy a capture card to manage this. This is something that you’ll want to research and understand before committing to. Check these links for more information.

  

  Xbox App Broadcasting

  

  PS4 App Broadcasting

Software and Setup

 

• 

  Broadcasting Software

  Today you have several options for broadcasting. You can simply use the built-in software on the PS4 or Xbox One but this severely limits your streaming options. Open Broadcasting Software (OBS) and XSplit are the dominant choices out there, though a few others do exist. OBS is free and has vastly improved since its early days. XSplit is subscription-based, but has options and settings that many people prefer. Gameshow has a free and a pay-once version, touting itself as a low impact solution.

  

  XSplit Home Page

  

  OBS Home Page

  

  Gameshow Home Page

 

• 

  Software Setup

  Use a guide. There are many of them out there for every piece of broadcasting software and they will help. For easy access, I am linking the Twitch OBS, XSplit and Gameshow broadcasting guides below. Use the Twitch subreddit to find more in-depth information.

  

  XSplit Setup Guide

  

  OBS Setup Guide

  

  Gameshow Setup Guide

 

• 

  Understand Upload Rate, Resolution, Framerate, and Presets

  Your upload rate determines how much data your stream can use. Chances are, the amount of upload you can reliably use is slightly less than what your ISP states you have. With a 5Mbps upload speed, you might get 3.5-4.5 Mbps that you can use without issues. This upload rate corresponds to the bitrate that you set in your capture software (1000 bitrate is using about 1Mbps). Higher upload rates mean more data can be used and will generally give you better quality.

  Regardless of the amount of data you use, you can set the resolution your viewers see and the number of frames they receive each second (framerate). Playing a game in a higher resolution or framerate than you are broadcasting at impacts computer performance without improving what your viewers see. Playing at lower resolutions hurts your quality.

  Your encoding preset impacts how much of your CPU’s processing power is devoted to encoding. Slower presets yield better quality, at the cost of intense CPU usage. Veryfast is a generally solid setting, but trying to push out better quality video with low bandwidth may require a lower preset.

  When you stream with a lower resolution and fewer frames, it takes less data to look good. Less on-screen action also takes less data to look good. Getting the best possible quality requires a balancing act between all these settings. Experiment and test to get the most out of your settings.

  

  Approximating Settings

 

• 

  Don’t Overdo your Bitrate

  Viewers with slower internet will find it impossible to view streams that broadcast too much data. Raising your bitrate too high excludes a large portion of your potential audience from the start. 2000-2500 is a bitrate that will allow you to have a high quality 540p 30fps stream or acceptable 720p 30fps stream for many games without isolating too many viewers.

 

• 

  Provide Some Basic Information Below Your Channel

  Use the Edit Panels option below your stream and create panels, one for each topic, below your broadcast. If nothing else, include concise information about who you are, the rules of your channel, and the times you plan on streaming. You can also make specific images and upload them for each panel. Check later in this section for a few (free) sources of panel images.

  

  Editing Info Panels

 

• 

  Update your Profile and Basic Channel Images

  Navigate to www.twitch.tv/mychannelname/profile while you’re logged into your account to update your profile information and banner image. Change your profile icon at https://secure.twitch.tv/settings, and set the offline image for your stream at https://secure.twitch.tv/settings/channel. These don’t need to be anything fancy, but they add a personal touch to your channel.

  

  Customizing Your Profile Page

 

• 

  You Don’t Need Overlays and Buttons, But They’re Easy to Make or Get

  When you begin broadcasting, you can do fine without any stream images or overlays. Displaying the game itself and a message for when you take breaks should be enough. The only times I would really recommend using an overlay early on is when you are playing a game with an odd aspect ratio, or if you really want to include chat in your broadcast (however, with the formal introduction of the Chat Replay option on Twitch, on-stream chat is even less important).

  However, it doesn’t take much to learn the basic Paint or Photoshop skills to make simple buttons or stream images. Type “Twitch Overlay” into YouTube and the first few results will be a collection of 10-20 minute tutorials working you through the basic process. You can make serviceable stream assets with a few hours of work at most. Or, you can find a few free ones to use online instead.

  

  Free Twitch Panels/Buttons 1

  

  Free Twitch Panels/Buttons 2

  

  Free Twitch Panels/Buttons 3

 

• 

  Alerts and Bots Are Mostly Just Distractions, Starting Out

  Starting out your broadcast, alerts are something you probably don’t need. Donations and subscriptions aren’t really a concern, and follower alerts don’t do much to build your channel. These things may have more value later, but for now, they take your focus from more important things.

  Likewise, a chatbot is an excellent tool for many channels. You can work in moderation tools, automated reminders and information spam, channel currency, viewer rewards, and lots of other functionality into your chat with a well designed bot. But starting out, you don’t need much of that.. Without a regular audience, you should focus on content rather than fluff.

  If you insist on using alerts initially, I can recommend:

  

  StreamPro

  

  StreamLabs

  As for publically-available chat bots, the following are generally useful, with some simple setup involved:

  

  Xanbot

  

  Moobot

  

  Nightbot

  

  Anhkbot

  Moobot and Nightbot have a relatively simple-to-use online interface. Anhkbot is a bit more involved, but is very well-received in general.

Early Growth

Starting out, your focus does NOT need to be on getting a large audience. Your first order of business is getting good at broadcasting. Read the above. Check the Positive Streaming Behaviors section that follows this one. Practice broadcasting and research how you can improve yourself. Once your content is worth watching, viewers will follow.

That said, if you’re interested in growth and already have solid content, getting started is still difficult. Getting your viewer count above 15-20 on average puts you at a point where many potential viewers will first start taking note of your channel. This makes attracting those first few viewers and regular chatters a priority if you want to grow. There's no guarantee of success, but here is a collection of techniques you might try to jump start your stream:

 

• 

  Get Your Family and Friends to Watch Your Stream

  They are your most immediate "social network" and very few new broadcasters take advantage of this. Obviously, your content might not appeal to all of them, but you might be surprised how many of the people who are close to you will show up just because you care about something.

 

• 

  Spread the Word

  Make use of forums, subreddits, and online communities related to the games you will be playing. Obviously, follow the rules of the places you are posting. If self-promotion isn't allowed, just don't. But many places allow or even encourage sharing Let’s Plays. Developer's forums, game subreddits, and fan websites can all work. Inform them about your stream, update them on your progress, and share your experiences.

  Remember that people care about value. Your posts should be adding something to the communities you are interacting with. Useful contributions will do more for you than quick, self-promotional posts.

 

• 

  Remember Your Twitch Relationships

  I mention this one with hesitance, but don't forget you may well have friends and viewing acquaintances on Twitch itself that would be interested in your streaming efforts. Advertising in someone else’s Twitch chat is a huge faux pas. Still, you might know and contact some chat friends directly. You can consider messaging a broadcaster if you are a regular member of their community or a personal friend and ask if you can mention your channel (though don’t take it personally if they say no).

 

• 

  Choose Your Initial Games Carefully

  Avoid playing overcrowded or obscure games. Ideally, pick games where your stream will be within the first two rows of the current live streams for that game, preferably with one or two medium sized channels larger than your broadcast. This provides visibility and gives you an opportunity to attract an audience from the people actively interested in that game.

 

• 

  Organize a "Grand Opening" Day

  Friends and family who are nice enough to support your efforts just because they like you will only do so for a short time before fatigue sets in. You want to maximize the effect of any self-promotion by concentrating all your efforts in a short period of time. This will give you the best chance of quickly breaking into the 15+ concurrent viewer range. Ideally, you’ll begin to attract new viewers at least as fast as you shed them.

 

• 

  Begin using Social Media and Networking

  It is never too early to begin building goodwill with other broadcasters. Even if you aren’t broadcasting, being a positive influence in other channels can only benefit everyone involved. Talking to broadcasters around your size also helps both parties learn, and helps create relationships that can last your entire time on Twitch.

  At the same time, you can do it wrong. Disingenuous networking hurts. Promoting bad content on social media sabotages your future promotion. Begging and adding nothing of value gives people no reason to care. We’ll discuss networking in more detail in Part II.

Positive Streaming Behaviors

The following is a list of things I try to keep in mind while broadcasting, and general behaviors and policies I try to work into my own streaming practices.

 

• 

  Prepare Yourself For Broadcast

  Take the time out before a cast to collect yourself, organize your casting space, and consider the things you want to focus on. You’ll put on a better show with a slight bit of preparation. Consider beginning your broadcast about 15 minutes before you appear on the show. This is a natural period of time to prep for your stream and fix small issues. It also gives viewers time to see that your channel is going live.

 

• 

  Take Regular Breaks

  You’ll often notice that partnered streamers take hourly breaks to run commercials, but even without commercials, taking breaks serves many purposes. An hourly break allows you to handle physical issues off camera, you can collect yourself, and a brief stretch will help you look more awake on cast. It gives your viewers an opportunity to keep themselves hydrated, fed, and in good viewing condition without missing anything. You do your audience a service by providing them natural breaks in the stream action.

 

• 

  Be Happy or at Least Energetic

  Have a good time. Make it visible, because happiness is infectious. If your viewers can’t tell you’re having fun, they are much less likely to enjoy themselves. And if you can’t have a good time, at least make sure that your bad time is amusing to watch.

 

• 

  Pay Attention to Chat and Greet New Chatters

  Usually, the best way you can add value to your broadcast is making new people feel personally welcome. Make sure your chat is always open, and when a new viewer or regular starts talking, make them feel welcome.

 

• 

  Talk About Anything

  People on Twitch are usually looking for an engaging experience. If someone enters your chat and isn’t immediately gripped by the action, they will probably be gone within a minute or two. You need to fill in space so that your broadcast is more than a person staring intently at a video game. Talk about the game. Describe what you’re doing. Make dumb sound effects. Talk about your day. Discuss what you’re going to eat later. Anything is better than silence, and stories about your own life and interests might provoke a conversation with your audience.

 

• 

  Promote a Lurker-Friendly Atmosphere

  One of a broadcaster’s most valuable resources are the viewers that are usually viewing but rarely (if ever) talk. These are “lurkers”, and they are the backbone of a Twitch stream. Though they may never chat, they watch you, enjoy you, and increase your viewer count. Be cautious about calling out lurkers and trying to make them active chatters. Certainly don’t insult them. I’ve seen lurkers sub to channels without ever saying a word in chat before that moment. They may be your most devoted regular viewers without you ever seeing them. The worst thing you can do is drive them away by drawing attention to someone who just wants to relax.

 

• 

  Work in One or Two Reminders/Requests Per Hour

  You should occasionally make low-impact requests on your viewers. Ask them to follow your channel, mention your social media links, ask for retweets, or push subscriptions or affiliate programs. Doing this puts a demand on your viewers, which can alienate some, but also helps you reach your goals. Most people will need a few reminders before they take action, and an hourly reminder shouldn’t bother most viewers.

 

• 

  Ignore Viewer Counts (or Act Normally, If You Check Them)

  You have a choice here. Your viewer count will likely affect your mood. When you see more people watching, you may be more excited, put on a better show, and attract more viewers. When you see less people watching, your show quality may flag, you may be visibly dejected, and you run the risk of pushing new people away. Ignoring viewer count can help you put on the best possible show you can. That said, viewer count can also provide useful data, and can allow you to recognize when your behavior is negatively impacting show quality. If you can use this information without hurting your cast quality, feel free to keep a view count up.

 

• 

  Keep the Gameplay Interesting

  Not every part of a game is going to be fun to watch. Organization and side tasks won’t always hold an audience, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick to action-packed parts of games. You can make slow parts of games more enjoyable. However, it takes an active effort, and you should be aware that dull gameplay will drive certain viewers away.

 

• 

  Keep the Gameplay Happening

  It can be very easy to get distracted - personal life issues and in-depth conversations with viewers can pull your attention from the game. This is fine, to an extent, but if you’re not actively “on break”, you should minimize the amount of time you aren’t actually gaming.

 

• 

  Don’t Get Mad at Viewers

  Some viewers will do things that annoy you. Some people will be naive, simply knowing no better, and other people will behave inexcusably. In either case, you should do your best not to get mad. Flipping out on a viewer may alienate a well-meaning but misguided viewer that could have been a great addition to your community. Breaking the ToS while insulting a troll might get your channel suspended. Either way, your mood will probably suffer and hurt your show. Even if rage is a part of your show and persona, you can rage without getting mad at your viewers.

 

• 

  Deal With Trolls Carefully

  Speaking of trolls, don’t feed them unless you’re willing to deal with them. If someone is making an intentional effort to upset you, it’s okay to just not deal with them at all. They are seeking a reaction from you - acknowledging them in any form indulges them. If they are relatively innocuous, you can usually just ignore them and they’ll desist. If they are particularly vile, a ban from yourself or a mod is almost more than they deserve, but may be necessary to maintain order in your chat. On the other hand, if you can disarm a troll by just being pleasant and laughing them off, you can get a lot of mileage out of that, too.

 

• 

  Have a Consistent Timeout/Ban Policy

  Nobody likes being timed out, and if there are a series of cleared messages in chat, it can definitely be off-putting for viewers. The easiest thing you can do is have a list of types of speech and actions that are not tolerated in chat and a distinct policy on what is ban-worthy. Communicate this policy to your mods, and a give a basic version to your viewers in an easily viewable area.

 

• 

  Do Not Discuss Other Broadcasts

  This point is a matter of taste. Personally, I don’t mind saying a few nice words about a broadcaster that I enjoy when it is relevant. But beyond that, you may consider refraining from discussing the policies, decisions and actions of other Twitch streamers, good or bad. Talking poorly about other streamers risks alienating the viewers that enjoy them and burning bridges with the communities they are part of. Just discussing the rules and decisions of another channel can lead to problems. Remember, talking positively invites others to disagree and even viewers saying the same thing as you might not do so with the same degree of tact.

 

• 

  Make Reasonable Decisions on Backseating Gaming

  Backseat gaming is a point many broadcasters struggle with. It is incredibly common - people are enthusiastic about the games they enjoy, and want to be helpful. On rare occasion, some individuals simply want to spoil major plot points and ruin the fun for everyone. The stance you take has to be one that preserves your own sanity. Allowing free rein on backseating/spoilers will drive certain people away, and stopping them entirely will drive other people off. Find a rule (maybe a compromise) where you and your chat can function together for a good show.

 

• 

  Rehearse Common Stream Phrases

  If there are things you say regularly or points you would like to make, do your best to keep these entirely scripted. During gameplay, you can make jokes on the fly and have fun with chat. However, if there is information you would like to actively convey to your viewers, your best bet is to keep it short, well-phrased, and powerful. If you want things to sound more organic, memorize and rehearse a few different ways to say the same thing. This gives you variety without compromising the message itself.

 

• 

  Watch Your VODs

  When you finish a broadcast, you shouldn’t be done with it. Go back and watch these videos. Turn a critical eye on your own content and try to analyze how you could improve your presentation. You don’t have to do this every day, but you should occasionally get a baseline for how your stream looks and the way your broadcast comes across to viewers.

 

• 

  Always Adhere to Sound Legal and Ethical Practices

  This should go without saying, but you should hold yourself to a high standard as a broadcaster. Don’t engage in behaviors that you would not be comfortable doing in real life. Don’t do things that could get you sued if someone took a particular interest in your stream. This should include slandering people or corporations, using others’ intellectual properties without permission, or violating copyright. Treat other people, both broadcasters and viewers, with respect and not as a means to an end. Don’t blame your failures on others, and don’t let your successes go to your head.

 

• 

  Stay Positive

  There are so many problems you can have while broadcasting. Technical issues, internet problems, or complaints with Twitch itself. Stay positive. Venting your frustration at each technical issue or getting upset at every action a company takes does you no favors. Usually it just makes you look petty and risks burning bridges. You can have strong feelings but channel them productively. Significant issues will almost never be resolved because of something you do or say in anger, but dialogue, hard work, and a bit of patience can go a long way.

Part II

 

 

Additional Topics

Networking with Broadcasters

Networking on Twitch comes down to building strong relationships with other broadcasters and ties to various communities on Twitch. Building ties isn’t easy, especially without making others feel like you’re forcing yourself on them.

Staying genuine while networking is important. Don’t do things for the sole purpose of improving your viewer count. It is incredibly easy to accidentally come across poorly in your attempts to network - don’t make it easier by actually having purely selfish intentions behind your behavior.

Making solid contacts in the Twitch community and building friendships is worth it. You’ll value the friendships, and a strong community of casters will support each other. There are also opportunities for audience sharing, name recognition, and unique ways to grow your channel. So, let’s explore the “how” of good social networking!

 

Foundations of Friendship

The strongest influence in friendship creation is repeated, casual interaction. Acquaintances develop when we are put in situations with one another multiple times without any strong forced interaction. The people we sit next to or pass by daily, without any overbearing social force saying “you must put up with each other” become friend candidates. When we feel confident in an aquaintance, emotional disclosure or experience sharing become the basis for a friendship.

The goal for good networking in a semi-casual environment like Twitch is emulating this tendency. You aren’t trying to force a connection with another broadcaster or steal their viewers. You’re building a friendship with another person. That means you need to do at least the basics of:

• Being present repeatedly where that person is.
• At least occasionally interacting with that person.
• Providing some positive reason for that person to value your presence.

Note, nowhere in this list is a request for cross promotion, a mention of the fact that you are a broadcaster, or any attempt to steal the spotlight from them while they are streaming. There are times and places where you can mention those sorts of things (usually when you are specifically invited to, or after building up a strong position as a member of their community). Instead, you want to focus on becoming an excellent acquaintance and opening up the channels that can lead to personal conversation and friendship.

 

Execution

To build inroads into another broadcasting community or to network with a given streamer, you’ll want to spend time with that community and in that stream. Chat as much as you can. Behave yourself moderately well. Be supportive and helpful to the broadcaster, and everyone in general. If possible, try to talk directly with that streamer or get to know them. Your own forays into networking will of course take on a spin that’s unique to your personality.

These are also the same behaviors that streamers tend to look for when choosing channel moderators. That’s because in both cases, you are adding value to the stream through your presence. Tweet about their show being live. Retweet them. Add useful information to their chat discussions and follow their rules. Make them feel good about you being in their channel. If your stream is larger or better known at the time, your social presence can be valuable in itself.

If it comes up naturally, mention the fact that you are a streamer. Keep your remark brief and to the point. Often times, broadcasters will check out your channel on this basis. Or, they may notice that you regularly retweet them and follow a link from your Twitter. If they have the time, most streamers are very interested in getting to know other streamers and the members of their community - it benefits them as much as you. Just don’t be offended if they don’t have the opportunity or inclination to do so.

 

Reasonable Goals and The Possibility of Failure

You need to have reasonable expectations. You may want to be friends with everyone, but you really only have the time to juggle so many relationships at once. You can be well-liked by many people, but you can only reciprocate a strong relationship with a few. The same is true for every other broadcaster.

You’ll usually see the most success networking with people of a similar size to your stream, because you have a great deal to offer each other. Your channels are more likely to grow at similar rates, and you’ll experience similar problems at similar times. You have a good opportunity to share audiences. The success of one individual in your community of friends can benefit everyone in some way.

When the size difference of streams is significant, you need to temper expectations. No matter how delightful you are, someone with several thousand regular chatters will likely have a number of other similarly delightful people vying for their attention. You can’t fault them for this; it’s simply the reality of the scaling of the situation. One person only has so much time to devote to running their stream, living their life, and networking.

And frankly, sometimes things just won’t work. Some people won’t want to network with you. They might not have the time, or you might rub them the wrong way. You may learn more about a broadcaster and decide you don’t like them as much as you thought. These things happen - don’t view your time as wasted. Don’t force the relationship or throw it all away. Be gracious. Even if someone doesn’t have a particular interest in you, you can still leave a positive impression. Your efforts may have attracted some people to you and your channel. And there’s something to be said when even the people that don’t take interest in you view you with respect.

 

Raiding and Raid Etiquette

For those unfamiliar with raiding on Twitch, it’s a fairly common practice to occasionally direct your viewers to another caster that you feel they may enjoy. This is often done with a “raid” on that caster when you’re done streaming for the day, asking your viewers to watch a channel that’s currently live and to post a message into their chat. It gives your viewers a chance to watch a streamer you enjoy in action, and provides both sides of the raid with a bit of exposure.

There is an etiquette that needs to be observed when raiding on Twitch. Technically, whenever you spam or encourage disruptive messages, you are violating the Twitch Rules of Conduct. If a streamer does not okay a raid, they can report you and your viewers for spamming their chat and disrupting their stream. This can result in bans and an overall bad time for everyone involved.

Even if this was not the case, it would be in poor taste to raid another streamer without permission. Unless a broadcaster has a blanket policy encouraging raids, I recommend obtaining some form of written permission from a caster before raiding their channel. A Twitch PM asking permission to raid their channel in the future is sufficient. There are few things more depressing than when a raid falls flat because the person you are raiding is unaware of you or outright hostile because you raided them. You’ll do your viewers and yourself a service by taking the time to make sure you’re welcome beforehand. If this is impossible, the /host function provides an option that is almost as good.

If another broadcaster raids you, there are likely some viewers coming along that will only see your channel from this brief exposure. So this is the perfect opportunity to make a highly positive first impression. Anything that captures attention like a specialized raid welcome or raid defense will often lead to an instant conversion of followers and will raise the energy level of the cast. Always thank new viewers for joining you, introduce yourself briefly, and thank the caster who sent them over. Posting a link to their channel is polite, especially if they are someone you recognize and support on Twitch.

 

Twitch Teams

Partnered broadcasters on Twitch have the option to create and invite other streamers to teams. Anyone may join a team if invited, whether or not they are a partner, and streamers may be on multiple teams simultaneously. Joining a team offers some opportunities for cross promotion of streams. The main team you are a member of is displayed next to your listed game on Twitch with a link to that team’s page. There, every member of the team is displayed, currently streaming members have their viewer counts shown, and there is a preview of these streams, defaulting to the one with the highest viewer count.

Membership in a team can be a strong networking tool, though I will say it is very minimal by itself. The primary benefit of being a team member is a formal opportunity for cross promotion and group events. Often times, though, a Twitch team ends up working out to be simply a label next to a broadcast, or a general social club. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it doesn’t provide particularly great networking or growth benefits.

The few Twitch teams that do provide a great deal of value usually involve deep commitment, as well as meetings and planning. Joining them isn’t simple, and being on them requires a great deal of actual effort. Like most things in life, the value you gain is in some way proportional to the effort you put in. Most of these teams are invite-only or have a rigorous application process.

Social Media

Social media serves three goals: improving viewer engagement, reaching other broadcasters, and exposing your stream to a new potential audience. Announcements, additional content, and direct conversation strengthen your bond with your current audience. Putting your content in front of others and sharing your interest in other broadcasts can draw in new viewers and create the potential for lasting ties with other content creators.

It can easily be done wrong. You can alienate viewers, drive people away, or simply eat up all your time for no real benefit. Early on, while you’re still coming to understand broadcasting and how to stream well, managing social media takes up time that could be spent learning to produce content that is worth sharing. However, when done well, it provides benefits that can’t be denied.

Let me put forward the Golden Rule of Social Media:

“Put content in front of others that you would want to see yourself.”

No matter what social media platform you use, you should be sharing and posting things worth being interested in. If you aren’t, you’ve given people no reason to care. If you feel your time would be wasted by a post, you’re probably wasting someone else’s time. This goes for your broadcast itself, as well.

Once you’ve determined something is actually worth sharing, the goal becomes using that content to grow your reach and build relationships that benefit your stream. The techniques you use will vary from platform to platform.

I don’t propose to be an expert on social media usage. Most of what I know is self-taught and could definitely be improved on. However, I have picked up a few basic things. We use Twitter, Discord, Facebook, Reddit, Youtube and our Steam Community page as the primary social media outlets for our broadcast. I’ll talk about each one, starting with what we’ve found most relevant, and include some tips for usage.

 

Twitter

Twitter is my favorite tool for simple networking and general social media exposure. We get great engagement with our viewers there and have started relationships with broadcasters by simply retweeting content that we enjoy. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but here are some suggestions for using Twitter effectively in growing your broadcast:

• 

  Create and maintain a Twitter account that represents your broadcast:

  Your profile should have all the relevant information that anyone might need to find your broadcast or reach you for business purposes. Link to your channel in your banner. Have branding images that sync with your stream identity. Describe your broadcast. Remember that your Twitter isn’t a personal account, but a reflection of your channel.

• 

  Post and retweet quality content:

  Ultimately, people will judge your Twitter based on what they see. If you’re only tweeting out when your stream goes live or your content is uninteresting, people will stop caring about your Twitter. If you talk to interesting people and retweet things that are worth seeing, people will care more. Sharing content produced by others and interacting with people is important on top of sharing your own material.

• 

  Inject your personality:

  While this account is for “business” purposes, you need your tweets to reflect who you are. This may include sending out personal updates, having conversations with others, and occasionally blowing off some steam. Don’t use it as an excuse to barrage people with constant negative viewpoints.

• 

  Direct your viewers to your Twitter account:

  If you want active Twitter participation from your audience, you need to actively encourage it. Create an on-stream pop-up with your Twitter information. Directly ask viewers to follow your Twitter account before you go on breaks. Create an automated CTT message for your chat that viewers can easily click on and use. Thank individual viewers that Tweet about your stream. Create a Twitter widget to display your retweets, capture it with CLR Browser, and display your retweets on broadcast/during breaks.

• 

  Use hashtags correctly and tweet at the appropriate people:

  If you're playing a game, figure out any appropriate hashtags related to the game. Find the developer's Twitter account and tweet at them. Tweet out before you start a game and send updates with your thoughts as you play the game. For popular games, you're tapping into a potentially huge audience. For smaller games, you have a chance to directly get the attention of the people involved with the game. Everyone wants to encourage excitement about their game, and most developers/promoters will be more than happy when you bring yourself to their attention.

• 

  Use images and GIFs:

  One of the easiest ways to make your tweets stand out is to include a relevant image or GIF with tweets tied to your content. In general, tweets with included images tend to average a higher retweet rate and even getting a few extra retweets can drastically increase the reach of your social media presence.

• 

  Keep your audience up to date:

  Tweet your broadcast before you go live. In streams that go more than a few hours or where you plan on switching games partway through, tweet out updates. Schedule automated update tweets if you don't plan on writing them mid-broadcast. But remember, don’t overdo it. When you’re done streaming, consider sending out a Tweet thanking the people that raided and hosted you throughout the evening.

• 

  Continue the conversation:

  Remember that your Twitter account is an extension of your broadcast. Give your thoughts about the games you are playing and have played. Reply to what other people playing that game are tweeting about. Ask your Twitter audience questions and encourage them to share their opinions. This is your chance to tap into pre-existing communities on Twitter and to strengthen yours at the same time.

• 

  Use Twitter as a general networking tool:

  As you discover other broadcasters that you enjoy, tweet at them and retweet/favorite their content. Unless you're talking to someone ridiculously famous, they will take notice of the people who regularly interact with them. Don't attempt to measure the impact and don't be upset if nothing comes of it. At worst, you're helping out someone whose content you enjoy. And at best, you might begin an important new friendship or make a new contact.

• 

  Avoid the easy, ineffective road:

  Don’t approach people asking for a follow for a follow. Don’t send out automated tweets to everyone who follows you. Don’t DM people who follow you immediately to direct them to your content. All of these things can push away people who are genuinely interested in your content. And the follows you do get won’t be people who are genuinely interested in your content and community.

 

Discord

Discord is proving to be an excellent tool for reaching viewers, networking, providing alerts, and planning with other broadcasters. It takes some effort to direct viewers to Discord, but you have an amazing opportunity to connect with anyone you do get there. Where Twitter shines at reaching new audiences and finding other content creators, Discord helps you improve engagement with your existing audience and work with other broadcasters.

• 

  Direct People to your Discord Channel:

  As a social media tool, Discord only has value if you can push a community towards it. The potential usefulness is greatly diminished until your community of users reaches a critical size where there are enough people to talk with. Find ways to push your Discord link to your chat and on other social media.

• 

  Encourage Conversation and Viewer Interaction:

  Given that Discord is primarily a voice and chat application with tie-ins to other platforms, you have a limited “reach” available to you. The main value is in creating specialized spaces for your viewers to talk with each other and share common interests.

• 

  Create Channels to Appeal to Viewer Interests:

  Designating a chat room for a particular use is a catalyst for conversation. Do you have a spoiler policy in your Twitch chat? Make a Discord channel where viewers are encouraged to discuss upcoming plot points and build decisions. Do you play a game with multiplayer aspects? Provide text and voice chats for players to interact in. The style of your stream will shape the types of useful spaces you can create. And the existence of these channels provide reasons for you to direct people to your Discord server.

• 

  Make an Announcement Channel:

  Use the space to reach everyone who uses your Discord channel. Before you go live, send a message with an @everyone attached to ping everyone who’s online. Do the same for scheduling changes and special events worth drawing attention towards.

• 

  Reach Other Broadcasters:

  Many other broadcasters use Discord in the same way you plan to. Be active on their servers. Use private messaging as a convenient way to reach them. If you’re planning an event, use a specialized Discord server to coordinate with fellow participants and execute the event.

 

Facebook

Facebook has one of the widest reaches of all social media platforms. From experience, however, that doesn’t translate into a strong source of growth for most broadcasters. Twitter is much more effective for finding and interacting with relevant people, and Discord is stronger for cultivating interaction in your current niche. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it, but temper your expectations.

• 

  Create a Specialized “Organization” Facebook Page:

  The tools that you have available to you on a business profile are different from the ones on a standard page. If you hope to get value out of Facebook, these are part of the way you will do so. Filing yourself under the “public figure” category (as an entertainer) is a reasonable option. Register here.

• 

  Fill in the Details:

  More than all of the other social media options listed here, Facebook provides you with a wealth of space to explain your broadcast and provide information for others. Keep your stream and contact information prominent.

• 

  Announcements Have Value:

  Many people remain logged into Facebook for their entire day. Sending out schedule/event updates are a benefit for retaining those people as regular audience members.

• 

  Set Goals:

  Facebook has the ability to set and track various milestones related to your stream. Use these if you’re interested in tracking and generating excitement for things like stream views or follower numbers.

• 

  Don’t Overdo It:

  Some may disagree, but investing too much time into Facebook honestly isn’t worth it for most people. Unless your broadcast is already incredibly popular, very few new people will randomly stumble onto your Facebook page. There are limited opportunities to reach the larger Facebook community, and most other broadcasters don’t have a strong presence there. Use Facebook effectively, but don’t waste too much time for small gains.

 

Steam Community

Almost every PC gamer uses Steam, often on a daily basis. A Steam Community Group provides tools for coordinating events with viewers and communicating with them, but to be honest, I ignore most of that. The greatest asset in a Steam Community for a broadcaster is the announcement system.

If someone who is a part of your Steam Community is logged onto Steam, and you make an announcement via the Steam Community, they will get a pop-up on their computer letting them know you made the announcement. You can create announcements at:

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/YOURGROUP/announcements/create

In the few instances when I’ve neglected to set up a live announcement on Steam, there have been multiple complaints, hours into our broadcast, from viewers who missed part of the stream due to the lack of warning. This feature is amazing and it may be worth creating and promoting a Steam Community for it alone. If you would like to reduce your work and automate the process even further, there even bots that automate announcements.

Steam Community Setup and Features Guide

 

Reddit

I value Reddit, but not as an advertising tool. There are some subreddits devoted to posting Let’s Play links and advertising your stream, but your audience will largely be other people doing the exact same thing. You can try advertising in niche communities or a personal subreddit, but in general, the Reddit community strongly frowns on self-promotion.

However, you can improve awareness of yourself and your stream on Reddit. Like all other social media, you gain exposure by providing value. Be useful. Provide interesting content and links in relevant subreddits. Make tools, create graphics, answer questions, and write guides. You can build a lot of goodwill if people are aware that you stream and are otherwise helpful to them.

 

Youtube

I mention Youtube because it is technically social media, but it is largely its own beast. Our use of Youtube certainly doesn’t optimize the potential draw of the platform, and instead serves largely as a tool to tie in with Twitch. Older videos of in-demand broadcasts usually end up there over time, along with a few key highlights and compilation videos. There is certainly plenty more worth saying about using Youtube effectively, but I’m not the one to say it.

Growth from Game Choice

People come to your channel to watch you play games. Your choice of what you play impacts the type of viewers and the potential audience size you can draw. There is a general maxim I can give you: Always play a game that you enjoy. If you play a game solely for the draw, you run the risk of burning out and driving off viewers. Your lack of enthusiasm and general enjoyment will reflect in the quality of the show, even if you are a consummate professional.

 

Single Game Streaming

Perhaps the easiest and fastest way to see viewership growth on Twitch is to select a single game and play it exclusively or nearly exclusively. You provide your audience with a staple game that they can always expect when they join your channel. You’ll also likely become good at that single game. People enjoy watching failure, but they also love being able to see skilled gameplay and value the perspective of a knowledgeable broadcaster.

The choice of game is important. You want to play a game that has a high volume of regular viewership and a strong knit community behind it. Or you could be a bit of a pioneer and commit to a game that you believe has the potential for both. Amazing examples of games that meet (or at one time met) these requirements are The Binding of Isaac, Dark Souls, and Pokémon.

By playing that single game often enough and making good networking choices, you can become a member of that game’s community. You’ll attract viewers that have a high level of interest in that game, see a large volume of people cycle through your channel, and your personality may cause a percentage to stick around and become regulars. Even community members who don’t regularly watch you will likely recognize you. You’ll also have the opportunity to network with other casters in that community, building ties based on your game choice.

 

• 

  Upsides

  Huge growth potential

  Networking opportunities with successful broadcasters

  

  Downsides

  Breaking into a community is difficult

  Growth is tied to game choice

  Many viewers care about game choice, not you personally

  Game exhaustion can reduce the quality of your content

  Difficulty transitioning to new games (established audience may leave)

 

Practical Suggestions

• 

  Don’t Try to Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

  Playing an oversaturated game and seeing no growth is an easy way to become disillusioned. If you can’t draw an audience, focus on becoming a better broadcaster and building an audience of regulars. New games are coming out constantly and they’ll be there when your broadcast is ready.

  

  Make Sure You Stand Out

  If you aren’t providing a special reason for people to watch you, they likely won’t. Take a chance on a newer game that few people have access to. Become amazing at the game. Special marathons or stream formats can give you the edge in attracting enough viewers to make you stand out.

  

  Have An Exit Plan

  You can easily lose 50-90% of your audience by transitioning away from a single game. Remember that you can spread your attention multiple ways. Being well-known in multiple game communities and trying new games on your cast lets you maintain much of your viewership.

  

  Remember Game Genres

  If a game is popular with a specific audience, many similar games will also be. Viewers tend to transfer well between similar games and there is crossover between these communities. For example, people who like watching Dark Souls will probably enjoy watching other FromSoft games such as Bloodborne, or stylistically similar games like Salt and Sanctuary.

 

 

Hype Games

Some games have a high amount of built-in excitement. New releases, limited access betas, and general excitement will build huge viewing audiences for them. Catching even a small part of this excitement will drive up your viewership and expose new people to your channel. There is a limited window where this excitement lasts, however. It may be days or weeks or months, but ultimately the raw popularity will die off. It’s possible to continue playing a hype game and draw in a regular crowd if you’ve established a strong following in the process, but often times there will be no special viewer draw a few days or weeks after the initial fanfare ends.

“Hype” games are often easy to anticipate. Pay attention to release dates of games that you expect to be popular. Chances are that if you’ve heard of them, at least a fairly reasonable number of people will be excited. However, a huge number of other people on Twitch will also be doing the same. Streamers with viewer counts regularly in the thousands may see their viewer counts jump into the tens of thousands. There will likely be dozens of channels playing the same game with hundreds of viewers in their channel.

 

• 

  Upsides

  Huge growth potential

  Many game choice options

  Potential to latch onto new game communities

  

  Downsides

  Lack of visibility for smaller streamers

  Very difficult to gain initial traction

  Potential (temporary) loss of regular audience

 

Practical Suggestions

• 

  Size Matters

  Streamers 1 through 20 are playing the newest exciting game. Each of them have 500+ viewers. They have to be doing something worth watching, with so many people in their channels. Streamers 21 through 100 have 50-499 viewers watching them play that same game. For people that like a more personal stream, they seem like great, popular options. You decide you want to jump in with your 20 concurrent viewers. By comparison, you just don’t have the social proof to catch the rising tide.

  

  Gimmicks Are Rarely Enough

  Sometimes an extreme gimmick is enough to help you distinguish yourself from the crowd. Marathon streams, intense difficulty settings, crazy personalities, and over-the-top behavior might help you stand out in the sea of broadcasters. However, half a dozen other, larger streams might have a similar or better draw to their broadcasts. A gimmick alone doesn’t provide the jumpstart in exposure to jump to the top, but it can help you compete in your own size bracket and eke out a few extra viewers.

  

  Get an Economic Moat

  An economic moat is a competitive advantage that one business has that others in the same industry lack. For you as a broadcaster, this might mean getting early access, special promotion on a website or from the game developer, or a piece of technology (like a new console or 3DS capture card) that many other streamers don’t have. These advantages are hard to get, but can be huge from a competitive standpoint.

  

  Plan For the Drop Off

  Hype dies down. If you did manage to catch some excitement during an exciting new game release, you’ll notice over time that the number of interested viewers will sharply die down as people move on to the next big thing. Be ready for this and have a sensible way to redirect your still-increased viewership to your next game or project of choice.

  

  Timing Is King for Smaller Broadcasts

  Smaller channels can catch the tail end of hype. Aim to start playing a game at a time when your normal viewing audience would be noticeable in the sea of people playing a game. This may mean missing the vast majority of the excitement for a game. Remember that you likely weren’t going to get noticed anyway, and realize that you still have a chance to grow from the audience still out there. Have fun with the viewers you do draw, and realize that even small gains of long-term viewers are valuable.

 

 

Community Games

Viewers like being involved in your cast. The best way to make that happen is to actually do things with them. Playing a game with your community lets viewers be a part of the stream and builds excitement with the people who care about your broadcast. I can say that you probably won’t draw in a huge number of new viewers unless you’re playing a very accessible game or one with a powerful draw to it, but you’ll have the opportunity to keep up morale within the audience that you’ve already attracted, and to strengthen relations with them.

A community night on a recurring weekly or monthly basis is an option. For broadcasters further along, the possibility of sub-only events is a reasonable option, but likely only for streams that are already too large to accommodate a reasonable slice of their normal viewers. Also, channel-based tournaments or subscriber events can be solid ideas for channels built around the right game.

 

• 

  Upsides

  Strengthens relationship with existing community

  Provides opportunities for great viewer interaction

  

  Downsides

  Directs focus away from you personally

  Allows disruptive participants to hijack broadcast

  Opens door to additional technical difficulties

  Exposure is strongly tied to game choice

 

Practical Suggestions

• 

  Organization and Ground Rules are Key

  You are providing viewers access to your personal space, your broadcast, and you need to make sure people respect the environment you’re cultivating. Don’t tolerate malicious trolls, and prepare tactful ways to deal with people who mean well but are nevertheless disruptive. Always remember that everything on your broadcast, even if you aren’t doing it, reflects on you personally and can help or hurt your brand.

  

  Many Multiplayer Games Aren’t Popular Enough

  Don’t forget that many multiplayer games simply don’t have a well-established audience on Twitch. If you want to gain traction, you need to play the right games with your viewers. Some popular and hype games will be able to support a community experience and open up room for growth if you can latch onto that.

  

  Community Days/Nights Can Be Powerful

  Devoting your stream constantly to multiplayer games can be tiring and difficult if you actively work to include your audience. However, the occasional regular multiplayer stream can fulfill the desire to interact with your viewers and have a large and excited audience. A well-advertised weekly or monthly event will probably have a sufficient draw for a reasonably sized broadcast, and gives your viewers plenty of time to pick up and familiarize themselves with the games you’ll be playing.

 

 

Variety Gaming

There are so many games that are just good. These might be current hype games, or maybe they had their heyday, were immensely popular, and then naturally settled down. They could be PC games or console classics. Whatever they are, they will likely still have their adherents that view them as just plain good games and fun times.

A variety gaming broadcast doesn’t limit itself to one genre necessarily, but allows a broadcaster to tap into many different communities on Twitch. This category is partly a catch-all, but represents a huge portion of Twitch broadcasting community.

One day, you can be chasing hype, and the next day you could be playing a classic game. There are many quality games that have an excited potential audience just waiting to watch. Variety gaming lets you reach many different audiences. While you likely won’t make it big just by playing any one of these games, you’ll have an opportunity to draw on at least a reasonable slice of Twitch and maintain some momentum. At the same time, by alternating between a variety of games, you ensure that the audience members that ultimately stick around are invested in you, the broadcaster, and the community established within your channel.

 

• 

  Upsides

  Unlimited game choice options

  Loyal viewership (entertained by your personality)

  

  Downsides

  Very slow growth rate

  Lower conversion of one-time viewers to regular viewers

  Settling into a single game can bore your regular audience

 

Practical Suggestions

• 

  Realize You’re Playing the Long Game

  As a variety broadcaster, you won’t see quick gains on viewership most of the time. Other styles of broadcasters can attract an audience that enjoy them playing a specific game. You need to attract an audience that enjoy you no matter what game you choose to play. This requires patience, but yields a viewership that is devoted to the key values of your broadcast.

  

  Play Classic Favorites

  There are many games that stand out with Twitch audiences. Some were extremely popular on Twitch, but have since died down. Others are classic choices that gamers grew up with and remember fondly. Either way, there will definitely be people looking to watch a fresh perspective on their favorite games. When no other games come to mind, look to the classics.

  

  Toy Around With Hype

  While classic games can be the backbone of a variety broadcast, there is nothing preventing you from branching out into any new games that catch your eye. For many variety broadcasters, audience size makes catching any hype very difficult. But, as before, there’s a window where dwindling excitement will give you the opportunity to capitalize on that interest regardless of stream size.

  

  Consider Mixing In Single-Game Streaming

  Many large variety broadcasters got large from a few key game choices. Playing the right game for a long enough time allowed them to build up a sizeable audience. This isn’t the only road to growth as a variety broadcaster, but it is certainly the fastest. Don’t be afraid, if the right chance arrives, to stick with a single game that has amazing potential for your broadcast. Just realize that your choice brings with it all the pitfalls that single-game streaming has in general.

 

 

Other Styles and General Notes

These are only a few of general types of streams and styles you’ll see on Twitch. People are innovating every day and the end result is that trying to put people in a few types of boxes simply won’t work. You can see fantastic growth as a Creative broadcaster, or draw in thousands of people by playing D&D or board games. Even established streamers who only play video games rarely wear just one of that hats I’ve described above. Don’t be afraid to do something new or experiment with other styles of streaming.

Also, your streaming choices should be about making excellent viewing material that enhances the raw experience of playing a game. Things like music, cinematics, or character dialogue reduce the capacity for streamer/viewer interaction. When you need to leave the screen or be quiet, you lose out on opportunities to be interactive and capture an audience. Games that are fairly barebones, with natural pauses and plenty of room for streamers to flex their creative muscles, are great. Take simulation titles for example - a broadcaster will have ample opportunity for personal input, which often leads to ridiculous situations. Sure, you need to be able to carry the action personally, but if you are capable of doing so, this can be very entertaining for your audience. Always keep in mind the capacity for personal input into any game you play (or activity you do) on Twitch. When you have real confidence in yourself as a broadcaster, you can do some pretty amazing things.

 

Creating a Community & Moderation

People enjoy belonging to a group. It’s a very human thing to feel, that desire to belong and be special. Even if the group doesn’t provide any tangible benefit to its members beyond the simple existence of membership, people will feel a benefit from it. Even if the group isn’t actually very exclusive, people will feel unique and part of something different.

That desire to unite around a common interest exists whenever you bring people together, and viewers on Twitch are no different. The people that watch a stream together can form a very tight-knit community. It isn’t a simple thing, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but one of your most powerful potential assets as a broadcaster is a group of dedicated viewers that make others want to be a part of your broadcast. If you set things up right, they’re doing part of your job for you. To that end, here are some of the basics for elevating your viewers to something more.

 

• 

  Make Your Viewers Feel Unique

  Everyone enjoys feeling special, so make your viewers feel exactly that way. If you have a collection of people that regularly frequent your channel, they’re doing something pretty great for you. Let them know that. Tell them about how their regular patronage makes a difference in your mood and your life. Let them know how they make your broadcast better.

 

• 

  React to the Good

  If someone does something horrible in your chat, they’ll get a reaction. Maybe a few choice words, maybe a timeout or ban. But you take the time out to interact with them. It’s a shame when helpful actions and good conversation between viewers don’t get the same treatment. If someone is being useful or helping a fellow viewer, explain that you appreciate it. Make sure they know you’re seeing that too.

 

• 

  Be Genuine

  You can get a lot of mileage out of flattery and some vague platitudes about how “amazing and unique” your viewership is. While you can occasionally score some cheap points by making your viewers feel like they’re better than everyone else on Twitch, it can come off very poorly. Empty flattery is easy to see through, and is more likely to alienate viewers than it is to impress them. There are always going to be positive things you can say about the impact your viewers have on you and your community. Stick with what you can honestly say, and keep your responses personal.

 

• 

  Set the Tone for Your Chat

  Behave the way you want your viewers to behave. In general, the way you act will help your regular viewers understand how you want them act. If you’re constantly rude and disrespectful, your viewers will think the same is okay for them. If you ignore your chat, you open the door for people to think that how they act doesn’t matter. There are definitely different acceptable tones for different chats, but remember that ultimately, viewers look to the broadcaster to understand how they should behave.

 

• 

  Build Rituals

  Doing something special or interesting on your broadcast is bound to draw attention. But when you repeat that behavior often enough, you can elevate it to the level of ritual. A raid response, victory ritual, or often repeated phrase are things that your regular viewers can get excited about and share in. Meanwhile, new viewers are initiated into a unique experience that they can become a part of.

 

• 

  Encourage Interaction

  If you want to build community between your viewers, they need to interact with each other and be active in your chat. Open ended topics are a great start. Talk about your favorite movies, games, or anything nostalgia based and your viewers will probably jump in too. When someone follows, subscribes, or hosts your channel, get your viewers to respond. When someone says hello in your channel, greet them back and thank people who greet them as well. Even a few people actively taking the initiative can be a great example for everyone else to provide a friendly and welcoming chat experience.

 

• 

  Stay Regular

  Messages don’t immediately sink in, and communities don’t just appear. It takes time and repetition to change the way people think about themselves. Consistency is important. Where it might take a few days of regular reminders to get a viewer to check out a link or social media account, it can take weeks or months of effort to make a lasting impact on the way people interact in your chat.

 

• 

  Moderators Are an Extension of You

  When your channel only has a few regular viewers, you can afford the time and effort to interact with every single chatter. However, if your channel grows beyond that point, you’ll quickly find yourself spread thin. This is where moderators enter the picture. They fill in a necessary gap in a growing channel, and frankly should be pulling a large portion of the weight in building your community. They can know your desires as a broadcaster and be a perfect example of the type of chatter you want to see in your channel.

 

On Moderation

Your first channel moderators will might simply be your friends or viewers that have been around a long time. But if you want to maximize the value they provide, a moderator should be a reflection and extension of the broadcaster in the chat. They fill in the spots you can’t manage personally, and at the same time, they exemplify an ideal member of your community. As part of the chat, they are prime examples for the tone and behaviors you want your other chatters to behave. To that end, your moderators should be people who are:

 

• 

  Helpful

  A high quality moderator should be solving problems before they start. They should defuse potential arguments brewing in your chat. They should know the rules, schedule, and background of your channel, and provide useful information to new viewers.

• 

  Active

  A moderator serves best when they’re a pillar of the community you want to build. This means being online often and contributing as an active member of your chat. Of course, you can’t expect a moderator to serve at your beck and call, but between all of the moderators you select, you should have a constant presence in your chat, ready to talk.

• 

  Team Players

  Your moderators need to understand you and the intentions you have for your stream. They have to know how to interact with other moderators. You need a cohesive group of people who aren’t all going off their own agendas. Just like you can’t do everything your chat requires all the time, you can’t both stream and babysit a group of moderators.

 

Make it a primary goal to select moderators that are already meet these requirements. People that are there for most of your streams, actively answer others, rarely cause problems, and who are more likely to explain issues rather than complain about them tend to make excellent mods.

If you want someone to hype everything even mildly interesting, you’ll get that by picking the most excited members of your community. If you want someone to steward your chatters and say hello to everyone, select the person that’s already doing that. If you honestly feel that a ban heavy approach is ideal, select those that have an incredibly low tolerance for trolling/spoilers/etc. Regardless, let them know why you selected them and what you expect, and make sure they are on board. A few minutes up front spent discussing expectations can save on hours of headaches later.

 

Handling Disagreements

Make clear to all of your moderators the policies and overall tone you want to promote in your channel. They may not agree entirely, but they should ultimately be willing to moderate in a way consistent with your general goals. Provide a way for them to disagree with you outside of your Twitch chat, because discussing the way problems are handled is important and should be done in a private setting.

Calling moderators out on failures while you are streaming is generally not acceptable - it leads to hurt feelings and shows a lack of faith in their decisions in front of the people they are supposed to be helping. Only do this if a behavior needs to be immediately curbed, and try do it without singling out any individual moderator. Likewise, make sure your moderators know not to disagree with you about channel policies while you are streaming.

A readily available mod chat (in Discord/Skype/etc.) is one way of organizing and coordinating most of these issues. If you are taking moderation particularly seriously in your channel, you should have a reliable way to contact your moderators and convey changes in policy. If your channel is large enough, regular meetings to explain goals and expectations are probably in order.

 

Timeouts/Bans

Even though it is their least important role, many people will probably jump to bans and timeouts when they think of moderators. However, being a good example and promoting the right behavior will be the primary means of keeping your chat well behaved. If you conduct yourself in a respectful manner and control the topics being discussed in your chat, your chatters are more likely to be well-behaved. Your moderators provide an even better example for viewers because they’re actively using the chat throughout your broadcast.

Sure, you’ll still attract trolls and some people who don’t understand appropriate chat behavior immediately. Where the line is drawn depends on the personal policies you have for your chat. Moderators should be able to distinguish these two types of individuals and gently guide the latter group while utterly crushing the former. Many valuable chatters are often times a bit crude at the outset, and some of them simply don’t know the rules of your channel. A few gentle words are often much more effective, and easier than explaining constant bans/timeouts.

 

General Thoughts and Concerns

Hesitate before making moderation a reward for anything beyond good behavior. Really, just don’t. Someone abusing their mod status can easily cause immense damage to your channel. Remember, you are never obligated to make (or keep) anyone as a moderator. Also, be careful about modding too many viewers, as this dilutes the power your moderators have to control chat. It also creates a division in the community - when a large portion of your viewers are moderators, it can scare off other chatters or leave people feeling offended when they are not also promoted.

Branding

Branding is a marketing term that you should know if you're involved with creating a product or offering a service. It is relevant to anyone who streams on Twitch, as they are creating a unique blend of product and service: streaming video that is shaped by a live audience.

 

Defining Branding

Branding is an amorphous concept. Here's the best explanation I've found:

Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.

- Small Business Encyclopedia, Entrepeneur.com

As a broadcaster, your brand is part of your identity. It ties into all the things you say and do, your overlays, your appearance, your stream graphics and buttons, your activity on social media, and anything else you can think of. It forms a part of the way new viewers judge you, and how others on Twitch instinctively react to and think about you.

 

The Power of Branding

For an example that most people can relate to, let's talk about sugar water. Suppose that I take my old family recipe for a decent tasting carbonated caramel-colored beverage, put it in a can with the name "Good Cola," and get it on supermarket shelves for the same price as similar sodas. A consumer walks into the store, looks at the can of Good Cola and the adjacent can of Coca-Cola. Good Cola gets maybe a half a second of thought. It sounds like it might be pretty good cola.

The can of Coca-Cola, however, triggers a cascade of thoughts and reactions. The can has a high quality design and a logo that they've seen since childhood. Just seeing that blend of red and white keys off thoughts of drinking Coke. The product has been around for nearly 130 years and has become ingrained in our society. Their favorite restaurant only serves Coke brand soft drinks. The cups at their local movie theater have the logo on them. They recall the advertisements they saw as a kid, a mother polar bear and her cub being adorable and relaxing with a cool bottle of Coke. They associate Coca-Cola with all of their favorite sporting events and leagues (which Coke has conveniently sponsored). They remember that the only soda their parents ever drink is Coca-Cola. They've had Coke dozens of times in their life and it always had that same refreshing taste. So... they buy the can of Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is considered one of the strongest brands in the world, and for many people it is THE cola beverage. It doesn't mean you can't compete with it, but simply offering another high quality product isn't enough. You need to make yourself stand out. Without something to make that can of Good Cola a unique product in a consumer's mind, they will always go with the established product. That's where branding comes in.

 

Three Examples of Branding on Twitch

Creating a successful brand involves understanding what you uniquely offer and anchoring your name/image to a certain perception in the minds of others. Branding is the same on Twitch, though a huge portion of the work is tied to how you produce your content.

Your brand is made up of your name, your overlays, appearance, stream graphics and buttons, channel activities, behavior, memes, and the general feel of your channel and chat. It helps express what potential viewers can expect from your broadcast.

I could try to set out general guidelines for how to do this, but the process of creating a brand identity really ties into everything you do on your broadcast. I think we benefit more from seeing examples in action, so I will direct your attention to three broadcasters and the ways they have branded themselves on Twitch.

 

 

LethalFrag

https://www.twitch.tv/lethalfrag		□ > 3.5 Years Broadcasting
https://twitter.com/lethalfrag		□ Variety Broadcaster with Single Game Focus
http://www.lethalfrag.com/		□ First Inductee to the Twitch Hall of Fame

 

LethalFrag is an amazing example of a broadcaster that has a well-established and recognizable brand without being over-the-top or gimmicky. The auto repair shop in your home town that gets work done quickly, correctly, and at reasonable costs is engaging in branding. Their image is one of reliability and dependability. It generates business and often times a lot of it.

Frag's broadcast is in this vein. His style involves laid-back behavior, heavy chat interaction, and a focus on creating and maintaining a positive community. Many of his branding choices focus on stream behavior and image rather than gimmicks or graphical superiority.

LethalFrag uses positive reinforcement, constantly complimenting his audience and thanking them for good behavior and their patronage of his broadcast. He emphasizes his view that his work is part of his career and his desire to keep his work fun but professional. He's quick to point out his adherence to a regular schedule. Additionally, he appeals to his audience emotionally with regular updates on his concerns regarding his stream and the community built around it. All of this is active image building that helps shape the way LethalFrag and his content are viewed.

Many behaviors and reactions are ritualized on his broadcast. Completing a run of Isaac has its own ceremony. Key phrases and remarks are common and predictable. These things provide recognizable continuity for regular viewers and an experience that new viewers can be inducted into.

In terms of personal appearance and stream assets, Frag anchored his image off of his beard and hair, which he didn't cut over the course of his two-year livestream challenge. It's only been in the past few months, after his stream was WELL established, that he really made a major change to to his physical appearance.

His stream images and graphics are simple but clean. Other than images based on his personal appearance, most of his brand assets use his frag grenade logo, a carryover from his name and time on Youtube. These stream assets have received quality improvements over time, but generally maintain the same feel.

 

 

Futuremangaming

https://www.twitch.tv/futuremangaming		□ > 1.5 Years Broadcasting
https://twitter.com/FuturemanGaming		□ Variety Broadcaster
Futureman Gaming Intro		□ One of the First Twitch Partner Spotlights

 

FuturemanGaming is over-the-top fun. Crazy gimmicks AND wacky behavior are at the heart of his show, forming the keystone of his brand and appeal. To anyone who wasn't aware, Futureman at one point had a channel on Twitch under a different name. That original show was much more mundane and likewise much less successful. The new channel and associated Futureman persona are a testament to the power of good branding to create an image and expectation for viewers.

All of Futureman’s branding is anchored to his fictional backstory and on-stream persona. Sentient video games, time travel, and an incredibly stretched NERF acronym are just the start of the story that introduces Futureman to new viewers. He's a slim man in a ridiculous tracksuit with a futuristic visor, and his introduction video creates a grabbing experience for new viewers.

Most of his shows are framed by an over-the-top opening/closing overlay that act as his Future Ship, enhancing the channel’s backstory. His usual broadcasts are simply high quality Let’s Plays, transformed by in-character behavior, interesting stream overlays, heavy synthesizer use, and some common memes for viewers to rally around. Some content, like DJs in Space, is just completely innovative and a draw in itself.

Given how appearance and backstory form such a dominant part of the stream, it makes sense that most FuturemanGaming brand assets are based around it. Futureman’s panels, emotes, and social media feature heavy use of his visor and general appearance. There’s an appealing juxtaposition between the clearly futuristic subject matter of the broadcast and the high-quality pixel art that makes up most of his brand assets. And the memes and humor that pervade the broadcast itself get heavy representation in the channel emotes, creating more chat activity and opportunities for community interaction.

 

 

ElectroKittenz

https://www.twitch.tv/electrokittenz		□ > 1 Year Broadcasting
https://twitter.com/Electrokitteh		□ Creative Broadcaster
http://electrokittenz.com/

 

ElectroKittenz provides a different type of Twitch experience than either of our first two examples of branding. There are no gimmicks or extreme backstory. Instead, ElectroKittenz provides a broadcast centered around the creative content itself with a heavy injection of personality. She provides high-quality digital art creation, relaxing music, calm conversation, and a bit of lewdness along with some occasional video game content mixed in.

Most of the branding in ElectroKittenz’ channel comes in the form of aesthetic choices and visual branding assets. The channel has a theme reminiscent of 80s digital cyberpunk. Neon colors dominate, with a focus on pinks and blues set over dark backgrounds. Geometric patterns and star-covered scenes are worked into many brand assets.

The stream panels are simple, uniform, and well-made. Her on-stream assets, like sub alerts, tip counter, and even the channel logo use the same basic design as the stream panels and follow the stream’s general color palette.

Electrokittenz’s stream pre-roll video is a perfect example of her general theme in action. The slides are dynamic and grab your attention, incorporate the general panel design, and direct people to social media, adding a layer of continuity that encourages users to actually click these links.

 

Suggestions for Growth by Size

The ways you need to pursue growth on Twitch will vary depending on how large your broadcast is. Remember, these are suggestions for growth. If you’re happy with your broadcast as it is, congratulations on your success!

0-15 Viewers

At relatively lower viewer counts, your particular situation is incredibly difficult. Given the current way that visibility works on Twitch, audience size directly correlates with the exposure level for you stream. The mere presence of viewers provides new viewers a reason to believe your stream is worthwhile (the bandwagon effect), but you lack this entirely. And what’s worse, at this size if you do lose any regular viewers, they are difficult to replace.

• Improve the Quality of Your Cast:

  If you’re new to streaming, use this time to adjust settings, establish your policies, and improve your streaming personality. If you have been streaming for a while, think about your broadcast critically. There is probably at least one major area that can use improvement and content quality may be holding you back.

• TALK CONTINUOUSLY:

  This can’t be repeated enough. Describe the game and your actions. Make noises. Ramble inanely. Provide something so that if new people do wander into your stream, they have a reason to stay. Even established streamers benefit from remembering this.

• Fight for Every Viewer:

  Gaining a single viewer at this size is huge. With one regular viewer, a second one is a 100% increase. With one hundred viewers, a single regular viewer is a 1% increase. Anything that you do to get one more set of eyes watching is huge, even if it seems small.

• Shameless Self-Promotion:

  When Brawli and I started streaming, we knew we would languish if we didn’t make growth happen. We begged everyone we knew to watch us. We posted flyers (with permission) at our old alma mater. We went on forums for every game we played and found every place we could to advertise a Let’s Play. We courted every viewer in our stream. The lengths we went to were embarrassing, but they powered us through those early days.

• Review the Suggestions for Early Growth

 

15-50 Viewers

Congratulations. When you’re no longer struggling to have 15 concurrent viewers, you have a stable base to work with. This allows you some freedom with your game choice, makes talking easier, and allows you to focus on stream growth and quality. This is an excellent point to be at and is psychologically a huge relief. Honestly, many streamers would be happy to stay at that size.

• Start Being Active with Social Media:

  You have a semi-regular audience, and it is worthwhile to ask them to spread awareness of your stream. At least post regularly when you go live or have general announcements about your stream. Encourage your viewers to retweet your stream.

• Continue Posting on Gaming Forums:

  You’re at a size where any small improvement in viewer numbers can still have a big impact. This won’t remain as relevant going forward, but it can be a useful asset when your viewer count is still hovering at 20+ concurrents.

• Start Communicating with Other Streamers:

  You have a cast of an appropriate size to attract some attention, and the basic skills to deal with at least a small chat audience. A relationship with other casters starts being useful on both ends of the deal. Get your name out there.

• Hone Your Casting Personality:

  You likely have an idea of what your audience enjoys. Latch onto these aspects and start trying to create the foundations for your on-stream behaviors and basic branding.

• Play Some Established Games:

  Consider playing some of the games on Twitch with strong communities that love watching first playthroughs. The Souls games come to mind, as do most popular long-running game series. You are at a size where capturing a reasonable audience is definitely possible. At the very least, you can get some easy exposure.

• Tap Into Growing Communities:

  As your cast inches towards larger viewer counts, you may be able to attract some attention in certain new releases. Most “hype” games will drown you out, but there are definitely newer games with the potential to grow that you can grow with. Be on the lookout for new opportunities.

 

50-100 Viewers

You have an established broadcast, but are still subject to many larger forces working around you on Twitch. It’s hard to play just any game you want without regressing in terms of viewership. But, you have some weight to throw around.

• Pick Your Games Carefully

  Solid game choice is of the utmost importance here. Play around with the types of games that seem to work well for your casting style and audience. You have some leeway, but, poor game choice can easily cause your cast to stagnate. Same rules as before, but you should probably aim to mostly be in the first row of casters for the game you are casting, unless you’re chasing hype or breaking into a community.

• Shore Up the Weaknesses in Your Broadcast:

  You’re no longer a very small broadcaster. If you’ve gotten to this point, you probably have an interesting and interactive broadcast and some production quality. To keep growing, you need to start working on the other marks of a quality broadcast. Consistency of schedule becomes more valuable. Improving production quality is expected. Visual branding might be worth investing in.

• Be Prepared for Viewers:

  It’s possible to quickly increase your viewer count on a good night, or receive a sizable raid/host. Get your mod situation in order. Be on the ball with social media. Always be prepared for a sudden influx of viewers and improve your ability to handle them.

• Build Community:

  You have a large enough audience that you can start shaping the way that audience perceives itself. What you say and how you treat your chatters will impact the type of viewers you develop. Having a positive chat attitude can become a draw in and of itself.

• Partnership is a Possibility:

  ... If somewhat unlikely. Get your stream presentable, and if you feel your stream has the highest quality possible, consider applying. Be prepared for rejection - it is a distinct possibility.

• Use Your Size:

  Even if you can’t necessarily compete for attention with the largest broadcasts out there, you can get noticed. Approach companies and other broadcasters with requests and opportunities. Early access on the right game or an interesting event can provide some great exposure.

 

100-200 Viewers

This is perhaps one of the most psychologically gratifying positions to be in. Once you regularly have 100 or more viewers in your chat, you lose a lot of the pressure and hardship that smaller streams experience. You have a suitable audience to play most games. Your stream will not be entirely lost when playing popular games, and you have an audience capable of attracting viewers when you play a more obscure game. This leaves you primed to grow and expand if you’re so inclined. However, it is a nice point to get lazy and many streamers feel “successful” at this point.

• Relax and Enjoy Yourself (a bit):

  Play games that you enjoy, but can still bring in an audience. Some of the most valuable workers are the ones who don’t NEED to work. They can afford to question poor decisions, approach problems creatively, and provide a necessary and productive attitude. Enjoy the freedom that your size grants you and indulge a bit. A good attitude will benefit you and your viewers. Try new things, because you might find unexpected success with a new style or type of broadcast.

• Work on High Impact Networking:

  Be prominent in communities you would like to be well known in. Get to know as many broadcasters of your size and larger that you can. Chances are that some will recognize you now, and there are tons of opportunities for interested broadcasters. Take them!

• Remember your ABCs:

  If you can, now is an excellent time to Always Be Casting. Expanding your hours and providing special events/extra casts will bring more reach to your channel and help grow your audience.

• Branding Is Definitely Important:

  You probably have a pretty established on-screen behavior. Your stream will have its own memes and in-jokes. Visual branding is really worth properly thinking about and investing in. Consider hiring a professional artist/graphic designer to get it done right.

• Partnership:

  If you have not received partnership on Twitch, take the time to actively prepare your stream and apply. You may not receive it immediately, but you stand a solid chance. Many of the benefits of partnership are relevant at this size.

 

200+ Viewers

At this, we’ve reached the end of my situation-specific advice. I’ve streamed with an average viewership in the 300-700 average concurrent range streaming a single game in the past. But personally, I enjoy the slow and steady growth from variety broadcasting, and most of my perspective comes from that area.

With a large enough audience, growth comes from finding opportunities and leveraging them. Make great networking connections and work with others for success. Do something unique and interesting with enough of an audience to attract notice. With enough viewers, you can easily catch hype or become one of the authoritative streamers for a new, popular game. Know that doing all of these things can take a pretty big investment of time and effort, and will severely impact how you stream.

The sky is likely the limit for you, and your challenges will be different than what most others experience on Twitch. Of course, you can also choose to enjoy slow, relaxing growth with an audience of whatever size you find pleasing. No matter what you do, have fun and the best of luck to you!

Thanks

 

I want to take this space to thank several people for all they’ve done that makes this possible. So…

 

My thanks to Kylie, my wife, for her help in editing and paring down the length of this monstrosity.

To Brawli, my co-caster on OverBoredGaming, who learned many of the tough lessons of broadcasting firsthand with me.

To all of the staff and admins at Twitch, for their excellent work in providing the framework and tools that have made all of this possible.

And finally, thank you to all of the individual broadcasters who inspired a portion of the material written within.