We’ve all seen people asking “How do I get viewers?” or “I got X followers in the past month, is that good?” And people respond to that in a lot of ways. They point out that most channels grow slowly and some channels grow faster. They say that it takes luck to get noticed if you want your channel to take off. Bigger broadcasters point out there’s no formula that guarantees success and that the thing that worked for them won’t necessarily work for anyone else. Some people write guides, but those are like plans to starting a business. You can teach someone how to open a coffee shop that will eventually turn a profit, but good luck turning it into the next Starbucks.
Let’s forget all that and make things very simple. Instead, I propose a goal that’s relevant to any new or growing broadcaster: everything you do should aim to make one new, true fan.
If you’ve never heard of the The 1000 True Fan Theory, it is a good read. In short, the idea is that any artistic endeavor can be supported if there are about 1000 dedicated people who are life-long fans. Making your endeavor successful means finding those people and keeping them interested.
Rather than worrying about follower counts or concurrent viewer numbers, worry about finding new regular viewers and keeping your current regulars engaged. That’s advice that some pretty successful broadcasters have been giving for years. Those regulars are the heart of your broadcast. The start of your 1000 true fans. They’ll show up for almost anything you do, tell their friends about your channel, and support you through your roughest times. Even if they don’t watch everything you put out, they still remember your channel and try to support you.
Once you start thinking that way, setting goals for your channel becomes easy. You can start simple. Something like “every week, I want to try to make one new, True fan.” And all of the things you do should focus on that. Always ask yourself, “how does what I’m doing help me reach another true fan?” You might be making forum posts, trying out a new hashtag, or doing something that puts your name in front of a lot of people. Maybe your game choice is something entirely different for you and you’re almost guaranteed to see some fresh new names in chat. Great! Now put on the best show you can and maximize your chances of getting another regular viewer. Also, you’ll probably come to realize that not every idea you have actually brings in true fans. When you start viewing your efforts through that lens, you’ll see places where your time could be better spent in order to find true fans.
Getting true fans definitely requires effort, but that small incremental effort adds up over time. 50 new true fans a year might not seem like a lot, but that’s a basis you can grow from. And sometimes you’ll see more. A solid new game choice or a bit of luck in general can help your exposure and increase the number of people that want to see you succeed.
Sometimes, growth will be slow. You might go weeks or months without seeing a change in your viewer count. You might backslide and see less people in your channel. Before you get worried, stop and think about your true fans. Chances are, they’re still with you. Chances are, you’ve gained a few new ones even as your overall numbers dropped. And if you’re working hard, you might even be getting more as you go. Audience sizes change. They fluctuate at different times of the year, influenced by game choice and schedules. And that doesn’t matter. Your true fans matter. Remembering that might help get you through even the roughest times.
This essay is based on something my co-caster Brawli talked about a bit in the past. When we started broadcasting, I introduced him to the concept of 1000 true fans. He pointed out some numbers about our broadcast. At the time, we’d been broadcasting for about two years with around 15,000 followers and concurrent viewer counts between 120-250. In the time since then, we haven’t seen explosive growth. Life’s forced us to spend less time on our broadcast than we’d like and change our hours, hurting our growth. Our follower count has only gone up to about 19,000 and our average concurrent viewer counts have stayed about the same, with some a decent sized drop coinciding with the normal summer slump.
The interesting thing though? Brawli pointed out that at the time, we should have had about 100 true fans and our interactions with regulars and channel subscription numbers were incredibly close to that number. I looked at our sub count today, again about a year and a half since his post, and did some rough counts based on the people interacting on Discord, Twitter, our Twitch chat, and the names on our sub list. If we’re hitting our goal of one new fan a week, we should have about 75 more true fans today. Despite not seeing much growth based on concurrent viewers or follower count, we’ve been meeting and exceeding our true-fan growth goals. And that makes me happy.