Streaming Fundamentals aims to provide you with a solid foundation of knowledge in order to help you stream.
Whether you have just started to consider the idea of streaming or you have been doing it for quite some time, this series should be beneficial to you. Each individual episode covers a specific topic that will be tackled as objectively as possible, while striving to use a range of sources and factual references rather than just a singular opinion.
Anyone can dive in and start broadcasting their antics, but the sheer number of streamers nowadays can make it harder for those who are just getting started to stand out from the crowd. Whilst Streaming Fundamentals cannot provide you with guaranteed success, the series aims to get you to think about streaming in a more deliberate manner than you may have done previously.
Growth Across the Board
A few weeks ago, Twitch announced the most recent metrics relating to the growth of the platform. The numbers are certainly impressive, and here are some of the highlights:
- 355 billion minutes watched
- Over 2 million unique monthly broadcasters
- 27,000 partnered streamers
- 124 million total clips
- 15 million unique daily visitors
- 30 million dollars raised for charity
- 150,000 affiliate streamers
- 223% more creators earning money
If we dissect these numbers, there are some notable trends. Overall, the platform itself has not grown that much over the past year; however, the amount of people that are making money (partners and affiliates) has certainly grown. Just under a year ago there were only 17,000 partnered streamers; so a 10K increase is indeed impressive! When the affiliate program was introduced, there were 110,000 affiliates within the first 6 months.
Whilst you may hear some broadcasters complain about their own growth, or that the platform is stagnating; the numbers clearly show that there is growth, it is just a matter of taking advantage of it.
Streaming Fundamentals: Episode 8
Following on from Episode 7, this episode discusses the concept of Channel Growth. For many broadcasters, growth of their channel can be a considerable hurdle to overcome. Many become so focused on other people’s numbers, that they end up losing hope or even giving up.
There is no ‘secret recipe’ to guaranteeing consistent channel growth on any platform, and each and every broadcaster will have a different journey. Whilst you cannot force people to watch your content, there are some good practices that can assist greatly in your endeavors to grow your channel. Whilst growth is directly linked to the quality of your content and your personality (and of course whether you are entertaining or not), there are some deliberate steps we can take to increase our chances of growing. Episode 8 explores what many consider the 3 main pillars of growing your channel: Branding, Schedule, and Networking.
I hope you enjoy watching this series, as I know I will enjoy recording it.