October 5, 2023
Twitch is the most popular site for streaming gameplay for all types of games. It has the most channels and viewers and gets a lot of traffic. You may think Twitch is the right platform to start your content creation journey. Unfortunately, Twitch is saturated with talent, and it can be hard to be seen on the platform. Most people go to Twitch to watch streamers they already know, or they don’t get past the first page of streamers when searching for a game. Trying to grow your followers on Twitch can be difficult. There are plenty of other options to try out.
YouTube Gaming
YouTube Gaming is one of the more popular platforms for gamers. Since many gamers already create YouTube content, live-streaming on the platform just makes sense. As a content creator on YouTube, you will only need one account for your videos, streams, and shorts.
YouTube Gaming has an average of around 500,000 concurrent viewers (as of Q1 2022), according to Statista. This number doesn’t hold a candle to Twitch’s 2.84 million average concurrent viewers. While this may seem like a drawback, it may be a blessing. The difference in viewership also comes with a difference in channels. YouTube Gaming had an average of 494,000 channels in the first quarter of 2022. This means that on the platform, there is a little over one viewer on average available per channel.
Twitch has an average of 9.2 million active streams monthly. This leaves only around a third of viewers per channel. These numbers show how easy it could be to earn viewers and a consistent following. Less competition will make your transition easier.
Facebook Gaming
Facebook Gaming allows users to stream directly from their Facebook channel. For some, this may be a benefit. In addition, the platform automatically integrates with your profile; anyone with a Facebook can watch your streams and comment on them.
Since the platform is run by Facebook, it’s easy to promote your Facebook Gaming stream on social media and elsewhere. Picture this, you log in to Facebook to stream, but before you do, you are prompted to create a social media post (also on Facebook) with the details of your stream. You don’t have to head to Twitter or anywhere else to send a Tweet. Everything happens right there.
If you are into virtual reality streaming, Facebook is probably the best choice for you as well. Since Facebook owns Oculus, they make it super simple to set up VR streams and ensure they run flawlessly.
Like YouTube Gaming, there are far fewer channels on Facebook Gaming than on Twitch, meaning it won’t be as difficult to carve out a viewership.
For those gamers looking to build their professional network, going live on LinkedIn may be the move. Many professionals in the esports space choose to go live on LinkedIn to connect their professional audience with their gaming audience. This makes sense for those gamers building a professional brand.
People you are connected with will be notified when you go live on LinkedIn. This means that your professional network can tune in to whatever you choose to stream. Because of this, you may want to offer some educational value in your stream and ensure that it is appropriate for your professional network that may choose to tune in.
Unlike the other streaming platforms, LinkedIn doesn’t offer any sort of monetization options for streamers. As such, the main goal of streaming on LinkedIn is to increase engagement with your profile and build your professional brand.
TikTok Live
While not strictly a gaming platform, TikTok live has many perks. As the fastest-growing social media platform, TikTok is an obvious consideration for streamers. Many creators are swapping over to TikTok since it’s easy to use and still reasonably untouched by gamers.
TikTok also recently implemented a subscription system, similar to Twitch, in which viewers can pay to subscribe to the channels of their favorite viewers to support them. Subscription is currently only available to a select few creators but will be rolled out to the rest of TikTok in the coming months. Any creator with at least a thousand views will eventually be able to take advantage of the program. In addition, live streamers will be able to create custom emotes and subscriber badges and will be able to host a chat specifically for subscribers only. By taking a page or two out of Twitch’s book, TikTok’s will continue growing the gaming content on their platform.
Instagram Live
Instagram is a social media site for posting photos and has more recently crossed over into the video creation space with stories, reels, and live streams. Like TikTok Live, Instagram Live is not strictly a gaming platform. If you want to grow your Instagram presence along with your streaming persona, however, Instagram live may be a perfect choice.
Also, similarly to TikTok, Instagram recently implemented a subscription program. Subscriber-only live streams, events, and badges are the perks Instagram subscribers can enjoy. However, they have taken a different approach than TikTok, which requires streamers to create extra content for their subscribers which may be too much of a hassle for some creators.
Whatever platform you choose, make sure you pick whatever is best for you. Whether you stream on Twitch, any of these platforms, or something else entirely, the important part is choosing what works best for you, your content, and your goals.