How to make money streaming (YouTube/Twitch/Facebook)
Millions of viewers tune in to their favorite streamers daily as streaming has grown in popularity in recent years.
In addition, many people have chosen streaming to generate income due to its growing popularity. But is streaming worth a career?
Is streaming a good career?
The streaming industry can be a viable career choice if you enjoy connecting with others, entertaining them, and being flexible.
The top 100 Twitch streamers earn over $30,000 a month through ads and donations. They are also hugely popular on social media.
It can take a while to earn enough money to make streaming your career if you're just starting out. For someone who has an Instagram following, streaming can be a lot easier than for a newbie.
The bright side is that you can earn money by playing video games every day or interacting with thousands of viewers every day. Sounds amazing, right?
Can you make a living as a streamer?
Yes, you can support yourself as a streamer. The truth is that thousands of people around the world are making a career out of live streaming; however, if you want to make a living as a streamer, it will take time and effort.
Also, your efforts may not pay off anytime soon and it may take months or even years to get your first few dollars through streaming.
The average Twitch streamer with a decent amount of viewers can easily earn between $3,000 and $5,000 per month. Please note that this is the income of the average streamer. If you make it into the top 1% of streamers, you can earn more than any regular office job!
It all sounds amazing; however, how do streamers make money? Let's find the answer to this question.
How do streamers make money?
Every streaming platform broadcasts ads on your stream, and the streaming platform gives you an incentive to do the same.
However, most streamers receive only a fraction of their income from advertising. Often, additional streams of income contribute to streamers' income.
Numerous full-time streamers are not dependent on the platform's income generating opportunities to meet their financial needs.
Here are some of the ways streamers earn their paycheck:
Donations
While you can't set subscription levels initially, you can still receive donations from viewers of your video streams.
A third party business can customize this option. For example, create a PayPal donate button in your account, or use a tool like Streamlabs to create a tips page to earn extra money from tips and contributions on your channel.
Amazon Associates
Streamers can use the Amazon Associates Partner Program to generate additional income.
Streamers can mention and affiliate links to Amazon products on their streams and on their channels through the Amazon Associate Program. The streamer receives a share of every purchase made by a viewer who buys this product through an affiliate link.
Patreon membership
Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for creators to get paid. It offers creators the opportunity to be compensated for the work they are currently doing (webcomics, videos, songs, podcasts).
Fans can pay as little as $1 per month for every post they publish. After your customers' payments are processed, you receive the total amount on the first of each month.
Patreon is a great way to generate income from followers because it adds another source of payment to a creator's income. As a streamer, you can list your subscription tiers and the benefits associated with each on Patreon.
Goods
Once you have a large enough audience, selling your products or merchandise is another way to make money. These can be products with your brand or design, such as T-shirts, blankets, sweatshirts, pens, and hats.
With websites like Streamlabs, you can set up and sell your Twitch store with your products so your viewers can buy them and support you even more.
Create Course/Mentorship/Lessons
Offering services to new Twitch streamers is another way to monetize your audience on the platform. For example, you can offer coaching services to share your knowledge on how to grow your Twitch, Facebook, or YouTube followers.
If you have a loyal audience, they will certainly agree to sign up for your mentoring lessons. You can add a price tag to these courses when they become popular in the community.
Collaborate with brands
To start collaborations with brands, there is a general consensus that brands only partner with top-tier streamers for integration. However, micro-influencers have recently begun to attract the attention of firms looking to get their products to relevant consumers.
This is especially true when you are trying to attract younger customers who are loyal to the platform. You usually respect streamers' opinions and suggestions when you're loyal to them.
In addition to providing discounts on products, there are many other ways to work with brands. Broadcasting unboxings, giveaways, brand promotions, product listings, or posting new product launches are all ways to start making money.
The typical branding format leaves a lot of room for creativity in your feed and social media.
Beats/Superchats from fans
Super Chat is a commercial message that enhances a viewer's comment by making it more striking and attention-grabbing than regular comments.
New comments in the thread thread replace old comments, but super chats are unique and float to the top of the chat window.
In essence, live viewers are paying for your attention. (If they are very kind, they may do this to support you; perhaps both.)
If you're interested in these potential sources of income and are considering streaming as your career, you might want to explore the different streaming options.
Here are some tips to improve the performance of your super chats:
- Perform interactive actions
- Explain how donations from your subscribers can help your channel increase live traffic by promoting them.
- Make viewers feel valued.
What kind of streamer can you be on different platforms?
Streaming is an amazing career opportunity and there is a huge element of creativity in the process. You have to prove your creativity every step of the way, starting with choosing the right streaming category.
However, when there are so many categories to choose from, it often becomes difficult to choose the one that perfectly matches your strengths.
While games are at the top of all streaming categories, there are many more streaming categories that get a significant audience and can be a great career option.
Here are some streaming categories you can choose from:
Video games
The most viewed streaming category is video game streaming, regardless of platform. Whether it's YouTube, Twitch, or even Facebook, video game streaming dominates every other category of streaming.
However, with a big audience comes a lot of competition, and video game streaming will test your patience to the last bit. Viewers will be difficult to attract, but game stream watchers are an extremely loyal audience.
We recommend choosing this category only if you are passionate about the game and ready to take part in fierce competition.
Benefits associated with video game streaming:
- Give an informative commentary or analysis of the game.
- Learn about the gaming community
- Gain knowledge of game mechanics
- Establish yourself as a trusted source for gamers.
Reaction streamer
We are looking for confirmation of our choice, and the reaction channels use this human need. As a reaction streamer, you can react to the latest videos, movie trailers, or meme compilations and your audience enjoys all of this content and also enjoys your reaction.
Also, broadcasting reactions is one of the easiest ways to get new viewers, as reacting to a trendy topic can easily increase your audience. However, on the other hand, this audience may not be as loyal as the game's viewer base, and this audience may also be temporary.
Here are a few things to keep in mind if you want to be a reaction streamer:
- Keep track of all trendy topics and react to them as quickly as possible.
- Be as witty as possible to retain viewers and turn them into subscribers.
- Make sure the content you are responding to is not copyrighted.
Music streamer
If you're an independent musician who loves to tinker with tunes, you might want to try streaming music. There are moments when the hits of hits become monotonous, and the public wants to listen to something fresh and unknown.
This audience loves to join the flow of indie musicians and appreciate their music.
Just like video game viewers, music viewers are also extremely loyal and they are also great at sending super chats to support their favorite creators.
Here are a few things to keep in mind if you want to stream music:
- Try your hand at music streaming only if you truly love music.
- Try to showcase new music while talking to your audience.
- Avoid tunes that are similar to existing music on the streaming platform, as this may lead to copyright infringement.
Just a chatting streamer
The Just Chat streaming category is quickly gaining popularity as viewers love getting messages from their favorite streamers. The charm and entertainment of chat streamers attract their audience as community organizers.
Anything can happen during a Just Chat stream on Twitch, including watching comedy videos, a karaoke night, community building, or even cooking.
If you want to become a "Just Chatting" streamer, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- While viewers are tuning in for a heart-to-heart conversation with their favorite streamer, make sure you are constantly engaging with your audience.
- Simple chatting can easily become monotonous, so make sure you do something new in each of your threads.
Become an expert on a niche or topic
Let's say you have sound programming, filmmaking, or even cooking skills. It usually makes sense to collect your knowledge in the form of pre-recorded videos and post them online.
However, you might be surprised to learn how quickly niche seasoned streamers are gaining popularity on streaming platforms.
If you know something under the sky that might be relevant to your audience, broadcast it and spread your knowledge.
While we've divided streaming into different categories, the beauty of streaming is experimenting with your genre! You can react to something trendy even if you play mostly on your streams. Or you can cook something live with your audience even if you are a music streamer.
How to Become a Successful Streamer: The Complete Guide
To be honest, there is no perfect guide to a successful streaming career. However, here are a few things you should look out for in order to get ahead of other streamers:
No. 1. Define your goal
Before you start your streaming journey, write down your goals. What do you think your streaming success should look like? Think about your motives for starting to live, and stick to those motives even when you are successful.
#2. Choose a Niche and Define Your Experience
Think about what will differentiate your channel from the rest in order to define its niche. How are you different from the millions of other streamers available?
Consider what you can specialize in when it comes to live streaming. Make sure you focus on activities that you enjoy or don't mind doing.
Number 3. Make sure you portray yourself in a good light.
Your personality plays an important role in why viewers tune in to it. Your audience expects sincerity from you, no matter how attractive and open you are.
#4: Don't be afraid to invest in good equipment
A high level of quality is expected from streaming content. The quality of your stream will not keep viewers interested if it is poor quality or the connection is constantly dropping. Invest in a good webcam and microphone to create a broadcast that viewers will love.
#5: Follow the rules of the streaming platform
Breaking the rules of a streaming platform can kill your streaming career before it even starts. Read the terms of service before you start streaming to avoid nasty surprises later.
You should also pay attention to how you look during a live broadcast. Streaming services will penalize you if you use obscene language or express unpleasant points of view that prevent you from pursuing your dream career.
No. 6. Steam in series
You can't grow an audience if you're inconsistent. Make sure you stream consistently, preferably on the same day of the week or at the same time. Once you prove your consistency, your audience will also consistently watch your live streams.
To keep up with your broadcast schedule when you're away, you can pre-record and schedule your broadcasts with Restream Events.
Avoid burnout
Live streaming quickly eats up your time, leaving little time for anything else. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance cannot be overstated, especially if you are self-employed.
Is becoming a streamer worth it?
Streaming is useful if you like to have fun and connect with others. Every day more and more people are making a living from streaming. Not to mention that you will put effort into the hobby.
Streaming can be rewarding, even if it can be a lot of work. Even though it may take some time, streaming can be an amazing job.
It can take a lot of work to be successful as a streamer. Many streamers go on streaming for years with little to no improvement. However, it can be an amazing job for a select few who manage to break through and create a community that supports them.
Here are a few benefits, aside from the monetary gain that streaming brings:
Live streaming is a great way to build your brand and reach more people. You can connect with a new audience, make them feel like they're part of the show, and increase their loyalty to you.
It's also a great way to promote your business or product and get valuable insights from your audience.
One of the best things about live streaming is that it's very easy to get started. All you need is a webcam, computer and internet connection!
Here are a few downsides to becoming a streamer:
Live streaming can easily take up your time and all day. Moreover, long hours of streaming can easily affect your mental and physical well-being.
Also, it can be heartbreaking to put in the effort and not see your channel grow.
What is the success rate and how much luck does it take to become a successful streamer?
There are over 8.5 million streamers on Twitch alone, and the site hosts thousands of live streams simultaneously. There are many broadcasters on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and other live platforms, but most of them have few viewers.
In order to attract viewers, you have to compete with all those other streamers, which is tough. Building a fanbase takes a lot of effort outside of streaming and takes time—even years.
However, if you're willing to put in the effort, or if you already have a loyal following on another platform, you may end up making live streaming your main career.
Final Thoughts
So here it is! The above points are just a few of the things you can do to grow your Twitch, Facebook or YouTube streaming channel. Your creativity and your approach will largely determine the trajectory of your channel.
Finding a solution that works for everyone is impossible, so experiment with different approaches to see which one works best for you and your audience. In the end, it's all for fun.
Using this tactic will improve your online visibility and help you build loyal followers. It's time to activate your camera and microphone, launch your streaming channel, and start doing your best.
Finally, be patient and stay motivated no matter the numbers. In the end, there will be fruitful results!
You can then check out the best webcams to stream on YouTube/Twitch.