Are You New to Twitch Streaming & Get the Same 1-2 Viewers?
Or maybe you have been at it for a few months, but you aren’t seeing the same growth that others have received.
We put together our top 5 reasons we believe your number of viewers aren’t where they should be.
Luckily for you can start making these simple changes to your channel today.
(5) You Just Launched your Channel
Yup, its the truth. There is no magic pill or web application that is going to instantly give you hundreds of live viewers right away.
It takes time to build a active community and it falls upon your shoulders to commit to a schedule. You need to show your followers that it’s worth their time to keep showing up when you go live. This means to give yourself a break at the initial launch.
Rather than get down on yourself about only having 1 viewer think about how their is actually 1 person in this World who is taking time out of their day to watch your stream.
Once you flip your mindset this can be a very empowering way to think.
(4) No Schedule
Imagine if your favorite TV show went live at random times. What if the NFL just randomly decided to play games whenever they wanted?
How would that change their popularity? How would that change your ability to watch and be a fan?
There is absolutely no difference between the importance of their scheduling and your scheduling. You need to commit to a weekly schedule and you needed to do it yesterday.
Before you do anything else involving your stream commit to a schedule moving forward. Make sure its at the same time each week. Be vocal about your schedule with your audience.
One last thing…stick to your schedule. If you don’t your fans won’t show up.
Imagine if the NFL just decided they weren’t going to play any games this Sunday? #RageQuit
Speaking of schedule, we send out a weekly newsletter to give you free tips on building your online channels, make sure to sign up on the sidebar!
(3) No Communication
If you’re aren’t at least using a microphone when you stream you’re missing out on one of the biggest strengths of Twitch and live streaming.
Communication with your LIVE viewers is what makes all this so special. It allows for a different type of experience that not even the best YouTubers can replicate (unless they live stream on their channel).
Being able to actively acknowledge your followers on Twitch, not only strengthens your relationships with your fans, but it also makes for a more entertaining stream.
If you can’t commit to a face cam at this moment, you need to commit to getting a simple microphone to chat with your audience.
(2) Your Stream isn’t About Your Audience
The reality of streaming is that the channel isn’t about you. It never will be.
Your stream is about your audience. If your viewers are low you might need to take a step back and look at why this is. Are you communicating with each person that shows up?
Are you doing giveaways? Are you giving mod status to followers that constantly show up for streams?
What value are you providing to your audiences life? If you can make your viewers lives better through your stream you will see it grow.
If your stream is about you and not your audience your number of viewers will be proof of that.
(1) You’re Not Promoting your Channel
No this doesn’t mean to spam your channel to other people. It means how are you trying to introduce your channel to new viewers?
Are you watching other peoples streams? Are you contributing to others streams in order to grow yours?
Most streamers mess this one up. They think promotion has to be sleazy and the “bad press is good press” mentality will lead you down a path you don’t want to go.
One of the best ways to grow your channel is through already established streamers, but how exactly do you do that?
The key here is building relationships with those established channels, but how are you supposed to do that?
You need to ask yourself this one important question…
“How can I make this persons life easier/better”
This is about being real. Its about being a real person with real emotions and actually caring for the well being of others.
Provide value to other peoples lives and you will see it come back to you.
Do This Now
What are some other reasons you think your number of viewers is low?
Share in the comments below
Be clear. Be concise.
PS – we have a dedicated facebook community that helps Reel Gamers learn to build & grow their youtube/twitch channels. If you’re interested please email us at steve@reelgamer.com
one of the most important things you can do right now is to commit to a schedule.
what schedule will you commit to?
Wow I really have an issue here. I don’t have a consistent life scheduled therefore I am not streaming at consistent times.
I will try to have a consistent time these next few days test that out.
By the way I am documenting my streaming shenanigans on my website if you want to check it out. http://www.shoegamer.com
Good post by the way.
Having a website is a great place to have a homebase! Become the authority in your space and the games you play!
I definitely have a new way of looking at it now. SO hopefully i can get my channel up in numbers.
Keep focusing on community building!
What if I have a weird work scheduled like one week I work 2 day but the next I work 5 days of that week do I need to post and the beginjng of every week what my schedual is like on Sundays or even Mondays plz respond
Hey Adam,
You can schedule your streams a week in advance then. Have your schedule change with your work schedule and notify your community of it. They won’t be dissapointed!
I’ve found that the choice of game is important; I’ve only been streaming for less than a week, but when I started out I was streaming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and nobody was watching, even if I streamed it for hours on end; nobody.
I started playing more unusual titles like Sunset Overdrive and now I’m getting fifteen or so viewers who will watch for two to three hours at a time. Rather than be just another CS:GO or Cod player, you need to have some originality to your channel and stand out by highlighting more obscure titles that people might not have played.
Would love to connect on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/hammyhavoc
Originality is key for sure. One of the best things you can do is become part of the communities you wish to stream games of. That means create content outside of streams thats compelling. That means writing blogs, podcasts, youtube channel, micro bite sized content (think snapchat, instagram etc). When you become part of that world you will find that more and more people will look at you as the authority in the space.
Thank you for the useful guide! Another thing I would recommend for promoting your stream is adding your stream to databases such as http://1shotgg.com/streams or http://topstreamers.com/. They helped me a lot!
http://www.twitch.tv/termin8ters
I have been a live streamer for about 7 months now.The first word of advice I have to give you it TALK, TALK, AND TALK. Even if you have no viewers just keep talking because when someone does show up and they see you just sitting there, they are going to leave.
2) Engage with your Viewers. Just play a game with them or have something going on in the chat say Bankheist or betting on what team is going to win, viewer engagement is key. They are a lot of bots to help support that. I am currently using deepbot which runs like a dream.
3) I believe in song requests. Let the viewers decide on what they want to listen too. A good program for this is either Deepbot or Nightbot. Nightbot is also used for chat control to stop spammers.
4) Be yourself! Don’t act like someone else. It would take too much time and effort and you want people to follow you for you.
5) Branch out to different types of social media! Facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram. Let YOUR channel be known! Also get to know other streamers and host their streams when your offline!
6) (APPLIES TO GIRLS ONLY) Please Please Please don’t show your boobs and pretend to play games. If you like games then truly try to play the games and wear something that looks professional. You don’t want followers who just want to stare at your boobs. Unless if your in it for the money, like some of the whores on twitch. I will not name names.
7) STREAM A LOT. I am talking about streaming 4-6 times a week and when you just start out. Stream as much and as long as you can to get that viewer base started and develop a community. There will be a snowball affect the more you stream and the viewers will come. It just takes time.
If any of these tips helped you please follow the channel and if you have any questions jsut ask me (= Have a good one all!
Great advice, thanks for sharing!
Hi. I think that one of my reason noone is watching is because of my bad english. I know how to speek it and write it but im not good at it. I also dont have a Schedule
Focus on what you’re good at, maybe you play music instead to keep viewers interested?
US Army Combat Veteran and avid target shooter, so of course Shooters are my favorite video game genre.
I’m new to this whole streaming thing myself, it’s surprisingly fun and hilarious so far. So tell your friends to watch me be an idiot, and/or share my link! I usually use my mic, and also have my camera set up. I try to be attentive to everyone in the chat, unless I space out or something…So yeah, comments and questions are always more than welcome.
All these things are a great way to focus building your stream
One Of My Biggest Problems Is When I Stream A Certain Game Or Something Randomly 4 Viewers Awesome! But I Have A Mic I Want To Talk But Not One Of The 4 Viewers Are Actually Saying In Chat??
thats all part of your delivery, you need to find ways to engage your viewers. which comes down to thing like, what motivates them? what are the things they care about? if you can find what those things are about your viewers than you will keep them around
Hey guys, I honestly don’t know why my stream doesn’t get as maby viewer’s I have a schedule I keep to I go live around 7pm every night except the weekend I’ll stream from maybe 12noon straight through to maybe 3-4am. I have a great anount of followers but my views are horrific.
Hey Ross,
What are you doing to become recognized in other peoples communities? Are you building content out so people learn who you’re?
I’ve been doing alot of streaming on Twitch but cant get any viewers. I went to people live stream and try to promote mine but i didnt know that some people dont like that. So what do i do?
404. Grammar not found.
I’m terrible with grammar. 404 agreed.
Be unique. Give viewers a reason to watch YOUR stream. Showcase something in your stream that people cannot get anywhere else but your own stream. Find what you’re good at and use it. I’m a singer for example, someone wants me to sing? I sing for them! I use what i’m good at and people come back because they cant get it anywhere else.
You got it!
I’m just starting out with my Twitch and find it fun to have a side project to my biggest interest. I have a great job and doing it purely for the fun. Trying to stream a few hours a day with a few set days and times a week.
I think it’s great to have an idea about what kind of content you want to stream and try to have a theme, concept or “program idea”. I always want to do something unique. Not being the best FPS player in the world limits my wow factor. I can be fun and entertaining anyway.
It’s also important, like the article is saying to get away from the streamer & viewer boundry. I want to include my viewers in my gameplay and bring them along to a raid in Destiny they havn’t done yet. Or have them set my tactics/loadout in Metal gear solid or try other wierd stuff like challanges.
My stream is like having a few friends over playing video-games, everyone is welcome to join in as long as they have a good attitude they can come hang with me. I wouldn’t sitt in my livingroom with 5 friends over not speaking to them. I would invite them to talk to me and engage them in topics they could bond with each other over.
So if you want to come hang! Follow me on my channel, I will post my schedual and more information this week. If you play Destiny and want to raid you can add me to PSN as well. I do sherpa runs weekly!
Best
Ninjiah
Thanks for sharing Ninjiah! Side projects are HUGE. Lots of people ask the question “should I go at twitch or youtube full-time” The answer is NO! Not when you’re first starting. You need to build it up at first. Look at it as a side project and build it to the point where it has value to bring income for you!
http://www.twitch.tv/ongs
Hi, my close friend just started to stream one month ago. He loves games, and I like the way he plays game. I was actually the one who suggested him to stream, but he always have only one viewer: me. I feel sorry for him. He streams everyday from 6pm to 10pm. Please drop by his streaming whenever you can and leave some comments for his improvements. Thank you.
P.S) I’m sorry if it’s not appropriate to post this comment here.
Thanks for sharing, Ill check his stream out when I get a shot
I definitely have a new way of looking at it now. SO hopefully i can get my channel up in numbers.
I don’t even know, how to promote channel. And I suck at talking with mic. But people still watch me.
“(2) Your Stream isn’t About Your Audience
The reality of streaming is that the channel isn’t about you. It never will be.
Your stream is about your audience… ”
So my stream isn’t about my audience, but it’s not about me, it’s about my audience. This is completely clear and I definitely understand what you are saying.
HA! Your stream isn’t about YOU***** Sorry!
Follow me on twitch future_sg17
I just made a twitch channel and how do I get even one veiw?
Hang out in other streams and become part of that community and then start letting people know about your channel. Don’t be spamming, but be real cool friend to the other peoples streams!
So my issue is this. I have been streaming for just over a year. 1500 followers in that time and I do monthly giveaways and have subs. Good overall time! The last two weeks have been dead! We have gone from 20-30 average to 5 and maybe 10 on a good night!! What has happened!? School, spring break, people just not interested? I play Destiny, Division, CODs and really anything that tickles my fancy. Just weird that it has dropped so hard.
Hey Flake,
It could be the “off-season” of your games cycle. Can you try playing a new game that is hot at the moment? Clash Royale?