Regularly people ask in the chat of our channel: "how do you get so many viewers?".
Here's a basic, incomplete, brainstorming style list of rules of thumb, good practise and trends, some of which are not for everyone. Please let us know if there's anything to change of add.
Stream quality
Face cam
Audio
Overlays
Stream timing
What games to stream
Interaction & attitude
Channel page
Social media, networking, etc
Here's a basic, incomplete, brainstorming style list of rules of thumb, good practise and trends, some of which are not for everyone. Please let us know if there's anything to change of add.
Stream quality
- always stick to the settings recommended by Twitch
- stream from a PC, if you stream console exclusives stream through a capture card and PC
Face cam
- always stream with cam
- best stream with chroma key, if not at least ensure a tidy environment
- take care of proper lighting and framing
- ensure the cam overlay is not hiding important parts of the game, such as the health bar in fighting games...
- ensure you look towards the game, not out of the player frame
- hide the face cam overlay in cinematic cut scenes
Audio
- always stream with mic
- ensure an appropriate volume for game audio and commentary
- avoid noise, set mic sensitivity accordingly
Overlays
- use overlays as sparingly as possible, focus on the game
- avoid gamification such as donation/follower goals
Stream timing
- have a fixed schedule and 100% stick to it
- the more fixed time slots the better
- stream in the European evening hours, 19:00 UTC - 23:00 UTC
- and yes, if you cater a global audience always use UTC
- stream for 3-6 hours per time slot, generally the longer the better but also in a volume you can keep up consistently for months
What games to stream
- stream games for which you can reach the top 5 ranks for the Twitch game page
- the newer the game is the better, but the line just above beats this one
- best stream games/genres you like and know
- stream interesting parts of the game, for example you might want to grind levels offline and only stream the story questing
- stay as consistent as possible in what you stream
Interaction & attitude
- always interact with viewers, if necessary take breaks from the game
- comment a lot, even when no-one is watching
- stay friendly, even in case of harassment, let mods handle the dirty side of streaming
- make viewers feel as welcome & appreciated as possible
- answer the same questions asked over and over again always as if you answer them for the first time
- never ask for donations, avoid sales shows
- be yourself
- keep in mind that a Twitch channel is never a solo project, it is a community of viewers, moderators, streamer and maybe even more roles involved
- have patience, depending on the games you stream, when you stream & the compatibility of your personality with Twitch it can take months if not years to get anywhere
Channel page
- ensure visual consistency all throughout the page
- have a "Profile Picture", a "Profile banner", a "Video Player Banner" and a bio
- enable past broadcasts ("Automatically archive my broadcasts" checked)
- create highlights, but only if you have real highlights, really outstanding moments, properly edited, described
- have a panel introducing yourself, your channel, your games, etc
- have a panel with your schedule
- have a panel with social links
Social media, networking, etc
- use social media a little as possible, instead rather stream as much as you can
- use consistent visuals for all sites
- have FB page (and like ours)
- have a Twitter account (and follow @ludophilia please) and connect it to your Twitch account
- increase your "value" as much as possible before you engage in "networking"
- once everything else is done, and you regularly reach a number of viewers that ensure a constantly active chat start to promote your channel wherever you can but never spam