- Today, I'm here to discuss streaming on Twitch.
If YouTube is your primary home for making content,
is there any reason you should be hosting streams
over on Twitch?
- [Male Announcer] VidIQ
- [Female Announcer] VidIQ
- [Male Announcer] VidIQ.com
- Hello, I'm Dan and this is VidIQ.
We are the YouTube Tool Academy
and channel that helps educate you
along your YouTube journey.
Now, have you spent any time on Twitch?
Have you spent time streaming,
have you spent time watching streams?
In either case, let us know in the comments below.
When compared to YouTube, Twitch has a whole different
set of rules when it comes to growing a channel.
Any full-time Twitch streamer will tell you
that it takes a hefty time commitment to maintain
a live viewership day in and day out.
So a lot of creators have had to sit down
and actually find a balance between streaming
on one platform and making videos on the other.
One of them becomes the primary platform,
while the other is secondary.
At VidIQ, we've actually set up our own Twitch channel
to better engage with our community.
And there's a link in the description below.
If you want to give us a follow.
Now in our case, we're not using this platform
to make YouTube educational content like we are here.
Instead, it's way for myself and other VidIQ personalities
to get together, kick back, play some games
and just chat with our community.
In some cases we do some Q and A.
But for the most part, our Twitch channel
is completely separate from our YouTube channel
in terms of the type of content you're going to see.
So there are a lot of ways
Twitch can play into your YouTube strategy,
if indeed YouTube is your primary home for making content.
As YouTube creators, we're always looking for new ways,
especially as we grow, to expand our reach
and our influence.
So we use places like Twitter, Instagram,
or even just an active Discord server.
Like those social platforms it's possible to use Twitch
in the same way.
In a previous video, I've actually discussed
the key differences between YouTube and Twitch.
So I highly recommend checking that out.
But let's talk about the biggest differences right now.
So on YouTube, when you post a video,
it can actually show up in a lot of places
over a very long period of time.
But on Twitch, you actually don't show up unless you're live
because people don't really search
for video content on Twitch, even though it is there.
If YouTube is your primary focus,
this is something you really need to keep in mind.
So if growing a Twitch channel
requires such a time commitment, why should you be there?
Well, for one thing, YouTube channels,
especially smaller ones,
really need to have a very strong focus.
If you're a cooking channel that likes to occasionally
do a lifestyle vlog that has nothing to do with cooking,
that's going to be a tough sell for your YouTube audience.
The lesson being that YouTube is gonna have a hard time
recommending your channel when it doesn't have
that clear niche, that clear focus.
But what if you really enjoy making these vlogs
that aren't about cooking and it's just you
chatting with your audience?
Well, that's where Twitch can actually come in handy.
Twitch actually has a home for such content
and a subset of your audience may be happy to join you
for a fireside chat and using this other platform
can protect your YouTube channel,
keeping it focused and on its primary topic.
Another example of course, would be gaming channels.
Gamers tend to like more than one game.
and yet our general advice,
especially for newer gaming channels,
is to try and niche down to at least one genre of game.
If not one game altogether for an entire channel.
Yet an occasional Twitch stream,
where you try out different games, may just
scratch that itch.
So you can play games you enjoy, while interacting with
and entertaining an audience.
I would say that creating content
on two major platforms at one time,
really isn't going to be for everybody.
Twitch streams can last several hours,
which is time you could be using
to create your regular YouTube content.
So if you're a student or you have a full-time job,
it's gonna be pretty tough to balance the two endeavors,
especially if you're new to YouTube,
you should really be focused on building an audience.
Unless Twitch is where you're making content full time,
the streams you do will likely be shorter.
And you probably won't do that many within a given week.
This means that your regular Twitch audience
is actually gonna be the regulars from your YouTube channel.
So to earn those viewers, to earn those fans,
you actually need to be focused on YouTube.
Making content that's gonna find its way to a new audience.
But if you've been looking for a way
to make some new content, some different content
and try it on a different platform,
Twitch could be something for you to explore
with your audience.
It's honestly no secret that as you continue to grow
as a content creator, you have more ways
and more opportunities to diversify your content
and try different things.
Perhaps that's in the form of a weekly Twitch stream,
or perhaps it's in the form of a brand new YouTube channel
that focuses on another passion you have.
At the end of the day, you could use any of these platforms
in a multitude of ways.
So if you're a YouTuber, there is a way
for you to utilize Twitch as just any other social network
that you're already on.
Come watch us do the same thing every week
on our Twitch channel, which is linked down below.
If you enjoy this video, be sure to leave a like,
subscribe and we will see you in the next one.