So you’re thinking about getting started live streaming on Twitch or YouTube? I will assume that if you found my article, you are likely planning to streaming games! This is my complete guide to everything you need to know on how to start streaming on Twitch or YouTube.
Setting up the basics to starting your own live stream can be set up in less than 1 hour depending on how much time you want to put into it.
There are plenty of places you can stream like on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Facebook, etc. and several ways to connect your live stream to each of these platforms. I used a software called Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) which is the software that allows you to connect the game play footage from you computer to be captured and sent to the streaming platform of your choice.
Open Broadcaster Software worked best for streaming my PC games, but also for capturing my webcam and console gameplay footage. I highly recommend downloading it if you plan to set up a full streaming setup.
With that being said, you can also stream directly using a Playstation 4 or Xbox One by downloading the Twitch app, entering your Twitch API key, and syncing up your streaming profile on your gaming console. This is very easy to do in just a few clicks of a button, but it does not give you the level of customization allowed by using the OBS software mentioned above.
I don’t usually stream directly from my consoles, but if you are interested in how you can do these, here are a couple links with instructions:
You can use the following link to learn how to stream to Twitch on your Xbox One: https://www.lifewire.com/stream-to-twitch-from-xbox-one-4153326
- Start playing the game you wish to stream
- Press the “share” button on your PS4 controller
- Select the option that says “Broadcast Gameplay”
- Choose the platform you wish to stream to (Twitch.tv)
- Link your Twitch account to your PS4 (You will see instructions on your PS4 to complete this)
- Choose the title and streaming options for your live stream
- Click the “Start Broadcasting” button
- Enjoy live streaming!
As far as I know, there is no way to stream directly from your Nintendo Switch to a Twitch or YouTube account.
In order to capture any of these console devices (including all retro consoles), I highly recommend using an Elgato HD Capture Card which will allow you take any console into your PC and capture all of your game play footage and create a highly customizable stream setup like you see most Twitch streamers have set up.
The first thing for setting up your stream through your PC is to download the Open Broadcaster Software and sync it with the API stream key provided to you from the platform you plan to stream from (i.e. Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, etc).
Once you have downloaded OBS, it will look like this:
With this software you can add as many “scenes” and “sources” as you like to your stream depending on how complex you want your stream to be. To get started, you will just create a base Scene called something like “My Live Stream” and add one or two source which will be your game play and your webcam.
Here is a quick beginners guide tutorial on how to use it, but feel free to write me if you have any questions:
Once you have your OBS setup showing everything you want to show in your live stream, the next step is connecting the OBS software to the streaming platform you wish to stream on. Each platform will give you a “stream key” or “streaming API key” which is your accounts key to connect with your gameplay.
Once OBS is connected to your Twitch or YouTube channel, you are ready to begin streaming. You can start with just gameplay or gameplay and a web camera, and as you become more familiar with streaming and the OBS software, you can overlays like donation tracking, chat overlays, and pretty much anything you can imagine to enhance your viewers experience in your stream.
Once you hit the “Start Streaming” button, whatever you are seeing in your OBS window will now be live streamed to Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, or Facebook.
A tip for streaming is to take advantage of the ability to record your live streams to your PC. Many people stream live footage to their favorite social media platforms, but OBS does a very good job of allowing you to record every live stream you create as a savable file to your computer which you can then edit and publish to your YouTube channel after the live stream.
To enable OBS to save your gameplay footage to your PC, you can use the following setting to choose where the video file will save on your computer. This will automatically record your footage to your computer after you complete your live streams and does an excellent job of condensing your video files into compact resource friendly file sizes.
I always set my live streams to take advantage of this feature while I was streaming Twitch so that I could then later use the footage to edit and upload to my YouTube channel.
Now That You Have Your Basic Stream Set Up
once you have your basic stream set up, I would recommend doing a few tests to make sure everything is displaying properly. Before sharing the link with your friends and social media, I would do a quick 5 minute stream where you test the audio levels, microphone levels, gameplay footage, and any other features you added to your OBS layout.
Have a screen open with your own live stream running in the background and pay attention to the gameplay audio and microphone settings to make sure everything is balanced and sounding how you like. Then, if you have your settings so that the footage is recording, make sure that you are happy with all of the audio balances, video settings, bitrates, etc.
Once you are happy with the settings for your live stream, you are now ready to share it with friends, family, and social media to get started playing your games and connecting with your audience!
Everyone always asks what are the best games to stream on Twitch?
Fortnite? Call of Duty? Overwatch? Minecraft?
The answer is different for every streamer. Some streamers are professional gamer level where they just demolish their respective game.
Other streamers aren’t professionals at any particular game, but are very good at building an excellent community and creating an audience who will watch them play a variety of games.
Luckily for me, I was a mix of both of these. I was very good at Dark Souls so doing no-death runs gained me a lot of viewers initially. My viewers enjoyed watching me struggle through the game only to die and have to start all over again.
I was also lucky enough to have been one 10 or so people to get Five Nights at Freddy’s games on early release and was the first person in the world to beat many of the game’s challenges live on stream.
While being very good at these games did help me get a lot of my viewers, my skill was not the reason I found success. The reason I found success on Twitch and YouTube was that I found that I was very good at building communities.
When I first started streaming on Twitch, I was happy when I had a single viewer in my chat. For the first few months of streaming, I usually didn’t get over 2-3 viewers max at any given time. I just kept streaming and learned a few very important elements that greatly helped to start building a community rather than single viewers. Creating a community feel in your stream takes a little bit of a mental adjustment, but once you make the switch it can really start helping you see viewers returning stream after stream.
In order to create a Twitch community in your stream, try following the following tips:
Set A Consistent Streaming Schedule
The first step toward building a Twitch Community and getting return viewers to your stream is to set a streaming schedule. Your schedule can be streaming once per day, two days per week, or even just once per month so long as when you finish your streams, you are able to tell your viewers exactly when you will be streaming next.
The reason this is such a crucial part to getting more viewers on Twitch is that if a viewer doesn’t know when your next stream will be, you’re leaving it up to chance that the few viewers you worked so hard to get will just happen to be on their computer when you decide to stream next.
Think of it like this…
The first time a viewer comes into your stream, they likely have no idea who you are. The join the stream, hopefully say hi and start interacting with you and your other viewers in chat. They have a good time and start to enjoy your stream and who you are, but then it comes time for you to stop streaming for the night.
If you asked them to give you a follow, hopefully they did.
But more importantly, if you tell them something like, “I’ve got to finish up the stream and get to sleep. I will be continuing the next part of this game on Thursday at 7 pm EST. Hope you can join us for the ending!”.
This increases the chance that the viewer will come back to see the rest of the game and greatly increases your chances of them returning rather just forgetting about your stream and hoping they’re around when they get notified.
What you will likely find is you will have 3 viewers for your first stream of a game. Then the next you will have 2-3 right from the start and get 3-4 new viewers for a total of 5-7 viewers. You tell those 5-7 viewers to return for the next stream and continue this until you complete the entire game with 10+ viewers.
This takes advantage of three major components. The first is that people get invested in the story of the games you play and want to see what happens next. Second, it starts to let viewers get to know each other as they continue to join and watch the games with you. And the third is that people will start to set aside time out of their day if they know you will be streaming.
When I streamed, I did a challenge to stream 365 days in a row. I streamed daily from 7-10 pm EST every single day for an entire year. One of the biggest surprises I found while completing this challenge was one day when I had to work late and did not get home until 7:15 pm.
When I looked at my phone, it was blowing up with Twitter messages asking, “Dinky! It’s 7 pm and you’re not streaming! Are you okay?!?!?!”
Since I was so consistent with my schedule, people set aside that time out of their day to be in my stream before I even started and when I was late, they got worried because it rarely ever happened. It was pretty amazing when I realized that people actually cared that I streamed for them and I made sure to send out notifications if I was going to start streaming late from that point on.
Many people often say that streaming requires “luck” in order to be successful. I do believe this is true, but there are ways to increase your chances of getting lucky and your stream schedule is one of them.
Consider your streaming schedule like this…
If there are two streamers and one streams 5 days per month and the other streams 20 days per month, the streamer who streams 20 days per month is 4 times more likely to get a lucky break, hit a big stream, or have that moment where they get raided and get 100 followers.
Streaming takes commitment and streaming on a schedule can make all the difference.
So I know it can sometimes be hard to set a consistent schedule, just trust me when I tell you that it works!
Decide Who You Want Watching Your Stream
When deciding how to create your Twitch community, consider ahead of time who you think your ideal viewers will be. Who do you want them to be? What kind of stream do you want to have?
Do you want a stream that joins into your games to play with you? Maybe games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Fortnite, or Minecraft?
Or do you want a community who enjoys watching you play through newly released story games? Retro games? Or maybe you only plan to play one game for nearly all of your streams like becoming a Hearthstone streamer?
Depending on which you choose, you will have a much different style when interacting with your viewers. This can also be the deal breaker when you get a big break with your stream as playing games like Call of Duty and Fortnite are nearly impossible to get traction on if you don’t have a unique hook to your stream and community.
For example, when I began streaming, I knew I wanted my community to be a clean stream that would be acceptable for all ages. This meant no vulgarity/swearing and trolls were not tolerated in chat. I also wanted to be a variety streamer which means that I wanted to play a mix of games including story games, retro games, and I wanted the ability to switch games depending on what I was in the mood for without losing all of my viewers.
Luckily, I’ve already dealt with the struggles of both streaming styles, so I will share what I have learned with you!
Pros/Cons of Streaming the Same Games on Twitch, YouTube, or Mixer
Pros:
- Creates a loyal fanbase who are very invested in the game you play
- Viewers will return to your stream over and over if you are able to teach them how to play better
- You will continue to improve in the game as you play
- Great for people who invest heavy amounts of time per week into a single game
- Can invite viewers into your game to play with you which leads to community engagement
Cons:
- Will almost always get pigeon-holed into your specific game
- If you try to play a different game you will often see a very significant drop in viewership
- Can lead to burnout being unable to stream other games without penalizing your viewer counts
Benefits of Being a Variety Streamer on Twitch, YouTube, or Mixer
Pros:
- Get to play whatever you want, whenever you want
- Viewers will usually relate to you and your personality rather than the games you are playing
- Helps reduce burnout because you aren’t forced to play the same exact game every stream
- Viewers can suggest games they want you to play which is an excellent idea for creating an engaged community
Cons:
- Can often be much harder to get your initial community started since they need to be interested in multiple games
- Harder to keep return viewership since games are constantly changing
- Can be rough if you are playing a game that is slow with low chat engagement
- Story games often lead to less interaction in chat since people lurk and just watch the story
So Which Style of Streaming is Right For You?
When it comes down to it, there are no right or wrong answers to this question.
More often than not, it will depend on what your favorite games are and how you best interact with people. If you are a professional level gamer, streaming your specific game will likely be the best option. If you aren’t a professional at any games, being a variety gamer could be the perfect choice.
For me personally, I started as a variety streamer playing my favorite games and changing games even week or two. I then discovered Dark Souls no death runs so I started really enjoying those and as I streamed Dark Souls more, I started getting more consistent viewership.
This led my stream to be a mix between 50% being a variety streamer and 50% streaming just Dark Souls.
I then discovered Five Nights at Freddy’s and I got so popular with this game that I then became a solo game streamer for at least 6 months playing almost solely Five Nights at Freddy’s every stream. Playing only Five Nights at Freddy’s is definitely the game that I found the most success with, achieved partnership, and went from 2,000 followers to over 30,000 followers in less than 1 year.
Granted, there were a lot of special circumstances to my success like emailing the creator of Five Nights at Freddy’s and getting on his early access list which allowed me to be the very first person in the world to defeat some of the game’s most difficult challenges.
I truly believe that having a consistent game you love playing 75% of the time and playing a variety of games the other 25% is the best approach. This allows you to get the best of both worlds: the highly engaged audience for your “core” game while also being able to brand out 1-2 days per week playing any game you choose (or chat votes for) which gives you a little variety so you can prevent burning out.
Or reach out to me on social media with questions!
What Are The Best Games To Stream On Twitch?
When choosing the best games to stream on Twitch, I suggest starting with games that you are going to have the most fun streaming. Choose games that you would be playing whether you were streaming or not and just play to have fun!
Invite your friends into games, share the stream with people you know, and have fun playing your favorite games.
After you’ve gotten the hang of how streaming works and have tweaked all your settings and gotten the hang of how everything works, you can then start determining which games will get more attention to your stream.
If you’ve been streaming your favorite games and just aren’t getting any new viewers, then you can decide whether to change games. Twitch and YouTube are incredibly competitive now and that makes it very difficult for a new streamer to get any traction when they first start.
I stand by my suggestion to always stream games you enjoy playing and never play a game just because you think it will help you get viewers.
With that in mind, here are some suggestions when it comes to choosing which of the games you enjoy playing will help get you the most viewers.
When it comes to deciding which games are best to stream on Twitch, there are a few factors to consider. If you are brand new, you will need to start with games that are less popular, but still have a good amount of viewers so you can start getting new followers.
For example, if you are a brand new streamer and try to stream a game like Fortnite, you’re going to have a very hard time being seen because you will not enough viewers to even show up in the search for Fortnite on Twitch.
However, if you start with a less popular game, you have a better chance of appearing at the top of the Twitch search when people are looking to watch their favorite games.
When I first started streaming, I started with retro games like The Legend of Zelda, Contra, other NES games. This worked kind of well for me because my viewers from YouTube loved retro games and would pop into my streams to watch me play the games I found at flea markets and thrift stores on my channel.
The problem was that retro games just didn’t have much of an audience on Twitch. When I would stream a game like Contra, there were zero people searching to watch that game so I never got any new viewers or followers.
I decided to change things up a little bit and started playing Super Meat Boy which is a game I am pretty good at and really enjoyed playing. Once I started playing Super Meat Boy, I started getting a few new viewers. The reason for this was because Super Meat Boy had a small community that people would be searching for on Twitch and since I was one of the few streamers playing the game, when people found my channel, they would enjoy watching me play and would follow to see when I was playing next.
After a while, I decided to continue experimenting with bigger and bigger games. I tried games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc but the competition was just too high and I got buried in the bottom of the list when I would play these games.
So I tried one of my all-time favorite games… Dark Souls. I have been a fan of the Souls series since I imported Demon’s Souls on PS3 and I actually posted the very first video of Demon’s Souls on YouTube back in 2009! I started streaming Dark Souls and found that this was a perfect game for me on Twitch.
It wasn’t too popular that I’d get buried in the bottom of the list, but it was just popular enough that I would consistently get new viewers cycling through my channel. This allowed me the chance to get to know the new viewers and if they liked my stream, they became followers!
The way I like to recommend people choosing games is that if you are going to stream a game, go onto Twitch and search the game and who is currently streaming it. If stream the game on your channel, would you be within the top 10 streamers playing the game according to your viewer count?
If you would be, then that is a good game to play. If you show up in position 20-30, it’s very unlikely you will get many new viewers streaming that game.
The Proactive Strategy
As I mentioned above, switching to playing Dark Souls was an excellent choice for my stream. It was a game I absolutely loved playing and could play all day long and never get bored. It was also perfect to try and attempt no-death runs of because it is a ridiculously hard game so most people can barely beat the game normal, let alone with no deaths. This helped me gain traction on my stream because viewers would come to learn how to get better at the game.
It was also a game with a reasonably sized community. I would visit other streamers and learn from them, talk about the game, and they would sometimes host my stream and send viewers my way. This helped me get big clumps of new viewers all at once and they would continue to watch my stream and follow my channel.
Dark Souls got me to around the 2000-3000 follower mark on Twitch. The game that broke me into the top 0.1% of the site was a game called Five Nights at Freddy’s.
In the month of October 2014, I chose to do a month long event call “Horror Month” where I would only be playing horror games for the month until Halloween. I gave my chat a list of horror games I owned and asked them to vote on which games they wanted me to play.
The votes came in and Five Nights at Freddy’s was by far the hands down winner.
So throughout the month, I beat 5-6 horror games including Silent Hill, Dead Space, The Evil Within, and more. I saved Five Nights at Freddy’s for last and played it the day before Halloween.
Not only did I love the game, but the Five Nights at Freddy’s community was pretty large on Twitch so I started getting followers like crazy! I had never streamed to so many people before and it was so much fun discovering and experiencing the game for the first time with everyone.
Then the best thing ever happened! I was playing through Night 6 which is a pretty difficult challenge and I caused a glitch in the game. I had no idea what had happened and neither did my chat. The glitch continued and I was able to complete the challenge and it amazing so I decided to post the clip up to YouTube. I was also doing giveaways for the game during the stream, so viewers had a chance to win their own copy of the game!
This video became my most viewed video on my entire channel with over 2.5 million views and brought a ton of viewers to my Twitch channel to watch me play Five Nights at Freddy’s.
You can watch the video here:
Shortly after I posted this video, I decided to reach out to Scott Cawthon who developed the game. I wrote him an email saying how much fun me and my chat had with the game and send him the video footage. I didn’t even expect any sort of reply at all, but to my surprise, he replied back very grateful for my email and gave me early access to all of the future Five Nights at Freddy’s games!
This helped catapult my stream into the top 0.1% of streamers on Twitch because I got early access to all of the Five Nights at Freddy’s games and was the first person in the world to beat many of the challenges in the games.
The reason I like to share this story in a “How to Start Streaming on Twitch” blog is because it’s incredibly difficult to get traction on Twitch and YouTube right now. My success came from combining a lot of different ideas to create a unique experience for viewers on my stream.
I didn’t want to just sit down and stream the same games everyone else was playing. I wanted to create a community and a unique experience that viewers could only find in my Twitch channel.
I chose to let viewers choose the games I played for horror month. This let viewers feel like they were a part of the community and deciding what we did and what we played. That led to my viewers suggesting Five Nights at Freddy’s which I never would have even played had they not suggested it.
Then the random thought to share my footage with Scott Cawthon was just icing on the cake as he allowed me to be the first to bring the experience of the new games to my viewers. My viewers continued to come back because they knew I would also be showing them something fun and exciting that other streamers couldn’t always provide.
So when it comes to thinking of games you should play and how to build your stream, I highly recommend thinking of unique ideas, playing unique games, and letting your chat know who you are and why you want your stream to bring them the best experience.
If you bring your viewers exciting experiences and they feel like they are part of your community, they will be very likely to support you by following and returning to your stream and also by donating and subscribing if you are able to achieve affiliate status on Twitch or Twitch Partnership.
So I’m sure many of you are wondering… how exactly do you make money on Twitch?
Get paid subscribers to your Twitch channel
Earn donations from your viewers
Get sponsorship for promoting products on your stream
Create merchandise or products to sell while you stream
Generate revenue through affiliate links you share with your viewers
Run ads on your Twitch streams
If you are hoping to earn money streaming on Twitch, these are the areas you will want to focus on. You can make money on Twitch using just one of these strategies or all of them, depending on how much effort and thought you put into your stream.
Many streamers just want their stream to be fun and have a good time, so they may choose to just go for subscriptions and donations which are the most natural and basic ways to make money on Twitch.
Others may want to look at their stream as more of a business opportunity which would lead to corporate sponsors, creating merchandise, and generating revenue through promoting affiliate links to their viewers.
I will cover the standard ways Twitch streamers earn money to help give you an idea of what route you may like to choose.
Breaking Down the 5 Best Ways to Make Money Streaming on Twitch
How to Get Subscribers on Twitch
In order to start getting subscribers on Twitch, you first much achieve “affiliate” status on your Twitch account. Once you have become a Twitch affiliate, you may then begin getting subscribers on your Twitch channel.
In order to become a Twitch affiliate, you must meet the following Twitch Affiliate Requirements:
- Have at least 500 total minutes streaming a live broadcast in the last 30 days
- Have at least 7 unique broadcasts on separate days in the last 30 days
- Have an average viewer count of 3 concurrent viewers or more over the last 30 days
- Have at least 50 followers on your Twitch channel
Once you have accomplished the tasks required for Twitch affiliate, you will then be able to apply for Twitch affiliate. If approved, you will begin being able to have people subscribe to your Twitch channel on a limited basis.
The hardest part of these requirements is making sure that you have at least 3 concurrent viewers on your stream. It’s understandable that when you first start streaming, you will likely have 0 viewers for many of your streams if you just sit down and start playing.
Some things to consider when working toward affiliate would be to ask your friends and family to join and participate in your stream for the first month. Tell them that you need help getting viewers and even if they don’t watch your stream all the time, if they leave a browser open in the background with your stream on, they will count as a viewer.
If you do this with 3-5 of your friends and family, this could make all the difference between getting accepted or rejected from the Twitch affiliate program.
It will also help if they do actually participate and comment in your channel at least once while they’re watching so they are classified as an “engaged viewer”.
If you do not have friends or family that can help by watching your stream, you can use these tips if you are streaming to no viewers on Twitch and need to find a way to get new viewers to watch your stream.
You can see your “Path to Affiliate” status in your Twitch dashboard or by using the following link and swapping in your Twitch username:
Once all your achievements for Twitch Affiliate are accomplished and showing green, you can then apply for your Twitch affiliate status.
As far as I know, once you receive Twitch Affiliate, you have it for good. Keep this in mind when you are going to attempt to get approved. Follow the examples above by setting a schedule for when you will stream, make sure you get 8 hours total worth of streaming across 7 different days minimum. Then have your friends and family participate during your streams in order to make sure you have 3 viewers and help get you to 50 followers.
If you need help getting followers and viewers, feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to join your streams and help you have at least 3 viewers.
Once you have achieved these tasks, you will see that your “Path to Affiliate” will show “Completed” like in the image below:
You will then have to apply for Twitch Affiliate which is all described in detail here on the Twitch website:
https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/joining-the-affiliate-program
Once approved and payments are set up, you will then be able to start earning revenue from subscribers, ads, and bits.
In order to become a Twitch Partner, you used to have to meet the following Twitch Partner Requirements:
- Stream for at least 25 hours in the past 30 days
- Stream on 12 different days within the past 30 days
- Have an average of 75 concurrent viewers on your stream during all broadcasts
A note about becoming Partnered on Twitch… Twitch shows these as their requirements, but on their website, they also say this:
It is becoming increasingly more and more difficult to become partnered on Twitch as the platform is continuing to grow and expand. Since you are just beginning your stream, I would focus solely on getting Twitch Affiliate to start which will allow you start making money without having to worry about achieving the massive achievements required to get fully partnered on Twitch.
In the future, I will write a guide on how I became partnered on Twitch with a lot more detail and the strategies I used to get accepted into the Twitch Partnership Program.
How Much Do Twitch Streamers Make Per Sub?
The average streamers makes 50% of the Twitch subscription money while the other 50% goes to Twitch. As a streamer accumulates more subscribers, Twitch compensates the streamer with a higher percentage cut. So for example, a streamer with 500 subscribers will make a higher percentage of each subscription than a stream with 50 subscribers.
Many people complain that the big streamers make more money per subscription, but I think this is an idea that helps motivate streamers to continue to get more and more subscribers. As they get more and more popular, they are bringing more and more people onto the Twitch platform, which makes Twitch more money and allows them to give the streamer a higher percentage.
I’ve been on many other platforms and I have found that Twitch is the most fair platform at rewarding it’s content creators and allows for one of the easiest barriers of entry for any new gamer or content creator out there. I make YouTube videos before joining Twitch and it was near impossible to make any money without treating it like a full time job.
That being said, if you are just starting out on Twitch, I would definitely consider how you would like to build your stream and which elements of making money you wish to focus most on.
How Much Do Twitch Streamers Make?
Streamers can make anything from $100 per month to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.
My advice is to start small and work toward making your first $50 through donations and people helping you maybe purchase a game or donating you games on Steam to play during a broadcast.
Once you know how it works and start getting a few viewers who know who you are and appreciate your stream, they may be more inclined to support you and donate to you.
Do NOT start asking your viewers to donate or give you money.
If you want viewers to help and donate to your stream, create an overlay that says you have a goal you are looking to reach saying something like, “0/$60 for Buying Animal Crossing” or “0/$100 for Buying a Better Microphone”.
Just having things like this visible on your stream will let people know that if they do choose to donate, their money is going toward a good cause that will help benefit their experience watching you in the future.
You’ll be surprised how much people want to help you when you provide them with entertainment and help make them feel welcome in your stream.
I remember two moments in my stream where I got donations from viewers to help me purchase things:
1. The first was when I was doing a 24-hour Five Nights at Freddy’s Release Day stream. I hadn’t eaten in so long that one of my viewers donated $75 out of the blue with the message, “Hey Dinky, I noticed you haven’t eaten in the past 10 hours of this stream, so here’s $75 to order PIZZA! Order whatever you want!”
I was completely blown away and actually stopped the stream to order pizza from Domino’s live on the stream. The delivery guy got completely lost finding my place and we all had a good laugh once I finally received the pizza and the guy who donated a special streaming moment that I’ll never forget.
2. The second is when my viewers wanted me to stream Pokemon! I had never played a Pokemon game before so they donated for me to send my Nintendo DS to Japan to get modded so I could connect it to my PC and stream Pokemon. I streamed Pokemon X and it was one of my favorite games I’ve streamed. Each time I caught a Pokemon, we would have a raffle and I would name the Pokemon after the winner!
You can watch my final battle in Pokemon X here:
Watch Most Epic Pokemon X Champion Battle Ever! from Dinky_Dana on www.twitch.tv
Other Ways to Make Money on Twitch
Other ways to make money while streaming require you to have a solid base of viewers before you can really make much from them. These would include:
- Running ads during your live streams
- Sharing affiliate links to websites like Amazon or sponsored websites to make a % of sales
- Creating merchandise to sell like t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.
- Getting sponsored to promote products on your stream and advertise as overlays on your stream
For now though, I would just focus on getting a base of 5-10 viewers and reaching the Twitch Affiliate Status.
If you’re been trying to do this without any luck, read my tips on streaming to 0 viewers on Twitch and how to get your first few consistent viewers.
Do NOT Focus on Making Money Streaming
When it comes to starting your Twitch stream, the biggest advice I can give is to NOT focus on how you will make money from streaming video games.
Yes, it will be nice to make some money while playing video games, but if you come into streaming with the intention of making money right away, you will likely get disappointed and not last very long.
Instead, here are the areas I would suggest focusing on when first starting out:
- Focus on streaming games you enjoy playing
- Focus on welcoming new viewers into your stream and creating a community in your channel
- Create a consistent schedule for your Twitch Streaming
- Get your stream quality as high as you can (overlays, bitrate, video/microphone quality, etc)
- Focus on the viewers you have, not the ones you want
- Throw everything you’ve got at the wall and see what sticks (experiment and pay attention to the results)
- Have fun with it!
Since you are new to streaming, there will be a ton that you will learn as you test and experiment to see what works for you and your stream.
Experiment with different games, try different stream times, share your streams on social media. Keep experimenting and pay attention to the results to determine what works best for your personality and style. Every streamer is different and finds their own rhythm and audience.
If you have favorite streamers that you watch all the time, start paying attention to why you enjoy their streams so much and work to incorporate their best qualities into your own stream.
I hope this guide will help you level up your streaming game and help you get your Twitch stream up and running smoothly.
And of course, if you have any questions or want me to check out your stream, you can always reach out to me on social media to shoot me a message.
Hey Dinky,
Thank you so much for this. It was an amazing read. I have been contemplating streaming as a hobby for a while now. Since we’ve been under quarantine, I’ve finally gotten the nerve to give it a go.
A lot of your tips I will definitely start implementing into my stream. It’s all great advice. Since I’m fairly new at this, I have a relatively small audience. Mostly one consistent viewer that doesn’t speak in chat. I’m perfectly ok with this and extremely great full that they are there and they enjoy watching.
With that being said, I have no idea what to say during my stream. Besides making comments on what I’m thinking as I’m playing.
I just felt compelled to thank you for all the great advise to help someone small time, like myself, grow my stream.
FallingScissors
Hi Joe,
Appreciate you leaving some information about your own stream! You’ve taken the first big step which is just getting over the nervousness of starting. It’s not easy to do a live stream, so it’s awesome you’re actually doing it. I like that you say you are grateful for your one consistent viewer even though they don’t speak in chat.
What I always suggest for what to say while streaming… I remember when I first started and it was kind of weird just talking to myself while no one was watching. What I did to fix this was to just look at it as if I were just thinking my own thoughts out loud. I wasn’t talking to viewers that weren’t there or trying to force conversation, I would just say things like, “Dang, I wonder how I need to figure out this puzzle. Maybe if I move this block here…. then I’ll go over here and press this button…. Dang, that didn’t work. Let’s try this.”
It takes a lot of the pressure off trying to actually have something to say because you’re constantly thinking while you’re playing so just speak your thoughts out loud. When a new viewer comes in, they’ll at least hear you saying something and are more likely to stay. Also, when viewers hear what you’re thinking as you do things, they’re more likely to chime in and say, “Maybe you should try this!”. Give it a shot and see if it makes you feel a little more comfortable talking while streaming.
I’ll assume your Twitch username is FallingScissors and give your stream a look. Hope the tips help and let me know how it goes!
We just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to give back and help other streamers who are serious about taking their hobby to the next level.
We just recently reached affiliate status and have been having a lot of fun. Now, just for patience as we grow our community and keep learning how to improve the stream.
<3 Kaelstrom & CMB from PartyofII
Awesome to hear you just recently reached affiliate! Congratulations! And yes, just keep up the good work and I’m sure your community will continue to grow 🙂
– Dinky