How to Create a Successful Twitch Stream
Online streaming is an industry that’s unlike any other with the level of growth it has achieved in the past decade and yet it’s often not acknowledged as such. If you’re a millennial or anyone with a background in gaming tournaments, you know exactly what I mean.
Video content in general has picked up the pace over the past few years. Online livestream audiences are at an all-time high, with 63% of young audiences prefer watching live-streamed content daily.
Lets roll back a bit. What is live streaming anyway? Live streaming means broadcasting video without first editing or storing it anyway. It sends video over the internet for a global audience to see in real-time.
And the gaming industry is spearheading this niche.
Twitch, a live-streaming platform for gamers and other lifestyle casters, is the crowned King of Live Game Streaming!
Viewers can log on and watch any tournament live with just a few clicks, and they can watch their favorite personalities play or do whatever they are best at, live.
And the best part, they have a chance to interact with their favorite personalities as well. An artist may take requests for their next painting, or a gamer may offer advice on a particular facet of the game they’re currently playing.
Ten years ago, who could have believed the immense popularity of live streams, let alone a whole community dedicated to online gaming?
Why is Live Streaming so Popular?
Streaming platforms like Twitch and Facebook Gaming have allowed gaming enthusiasts to connect with professional gamers like never before.
And the numbers are startling. It’s believed that 82% of internet traffic will contribute to live streaming by the end of 2020. And marketers are beginning to take notice. 57% of them have incorporated live videos in their social media marketing.
Currently, there’s a slice of pie for everyone involved. So if you’re looking to build a stream that’s successful and a reliable source of revenue, keep reading.
How Can You Get More People To Watch Your Stream?
Besides knowing about how to increase your viewership, we will also cover aspects of what you can do to make a high-quality live stream that renders professionalism and engagement.
Stream On To A Fixed Schedule
The cardinal rule of setting up a stream for success is consistency. Treat it like a day job, and have a reasonable schedule. You also want to limit yourself to one streaming platform. At the time of writing, the top three streaming platforms are Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube.
Twitch is the number one streaming Platform at the moment with the highest audience numbers, but it’s also the most saturated. Facebook Gaming and YouTube are relevantly new in the streaming business, with few watchers. You want a consistent stream because:
Your audience will know when and where to find your stream.
Your audience traffic will not get divided between various streams, as you will be streaming to one platform at any given moment.
Communication is straightforward. Having an irregular schedule means you’ll need to constantly inform your audience on your social media channels of your stream timings.
Twitch even offers widgets to inform viewers of your stream timing, so that everyone is on the same page.
Create An Eye-Catching Banner For Your Stream
Creating a visual brand around your stream is a crucial aspect to it that often gets overlooked. Creating stylistic, and attention grabbing graphics isn’t easy but with our new Twitch banner templates, you can create a professional Twitch channel banner as well as an offline stream banner easily.
If you’re new to PosterMyWall, consider watching our video tutorials to get acquainted with the editor in no time.
Use High-Quality Equipment To Go Live
You can’t have the ‘professional’ in professional streamer without the equipment to match. So the laptop microphone and webcam need to go.
Your stream must not have technical issues like low video and sound quality or issues with buffering. No one has time for that. According to a study, viewers are willing to wait no more than 90 seconds for your stream to buffer. In other words, they will not hesitate to leave your stream if it’s plagued with crashes, buffering or pauses. Make every second count.
So how do you ensure a high-quality live-stream?
Get a multi-camera professional setup with a hardware or software encoder (for professional broadcasters)
Use a hard-core professional gaming rig or gaming PC. A good quality gaming rig will be able to dedicate your CPU to the streaming process
Use software to record your stream that is optimized for sound quality
Use a high-quality microphone interface
And lastly, get an efficient internet connection to ensure a good quality stream. It is never a good idea to rely 100% on your Wi-Fi, so using a wired Ethernet connection is preferable
Interact With Your Audience
The most popular streamers have this one thing in common. They interact with their audience in meaningful ways. This can mean simple banter on Twitter, responding to their questions on stream or even playing together on live stream.
You can also use the live chat feature to encourage viewers to interact with you. A live chat is usually more encouraging for your audiences since it garners instant replies.
Many streamers use Discord groups to interact with their audience. A common tactic is making the group exclusive to patreon donors. Patreon, if you don’t know, is a platform where talented artists and groups can meet people who are interested in funding their projects.
Patreon is commonly used to monetize livestreams, and a great way to create an incentive for that is making some content exclusive to patreon donors.
Let the Games Begin!
Video has room to grow in the future, and this is especially true for live streaming as more avenues for streaming arise, and larger, younger audiences segments are tapped.
Twitch even announced that they might expand their services to include live streaming of television shows and partner with the NFL. Twitch is most definitely here to stay!
So now would be the perfect time to get going on your Twitch channel and make it fun, engaging, and interactive for your subscribers. Don’t forget to step up your design game to create an unforgettable experience for your audiences.
Happy streaming!
