When I say ‘now you can’ I really should say, “you’ve been able to for a while now’.
People have known and seen for ages that YouTube allows it’s channels to be monetised and will pay out money to youtubers who have good viewing stats, a lot of followers, and generate good income via adverts to youtube itself.
To qualify you need something like 500 followers, and a hoard of channel views, and good, original content.
A few years ago justin.tv (don’t ask me about the name, I have no clue why it was called that) started up allowing people to broadcast LIVE. Soon, the gaming the community hooked on to this and started live streaming their gameplay. Then the gaming comunity took over, and justin.tv had to create twitch.tv to separate the gamers from everyone else.
Since then Justin.tv has folded, Twitch.tv has taken off, gaming streamers are king, and only now are ‘craft’ streamers getting any momentum.
So, how do you make money playing games?
Well, it’s simple … ish.
- You need a machine (or two), and an internet connection capable of playing your games AND of streaming video and audio out at the same time. OBS is the tool of choice among most streamers, and is pretty good at it’s job.
- Then you need to set a schedule of when you’ll be playing … and STICK TO IT. Imagine you’re hosting a TV show; it’s on at the same time every week, so folks know when to look for it. Change that at you peril!
- Get used to talking to the void – initially you will have no audience, it takes time to build up, and will fluctuate. Get used to the emptiness.
- Make a youtube / twitter / facebook page for your twitch channel, and promote the hell out of it. Use social media as your advertising outlet, it’s free and without it no one’s going to know you exist.
- Get family and friends in your channel. If you’re shy about streaming to friends and family, then earning money by streaming isn’t for you. Having people, even friends and family, in your channel does three things: 1 – it saves you from an empty channel, and 2 – makes you talk to people and that is always more entertaining, 3 – it bumps you up the browse list for your game.
- Pick your starting game carefully: If you pick Mechwarrior 3, no one will look for it, and your channel will go unnoticed by the casual browser. Conversely if you pick League of Legends your channel will be at the bottom of a 6000 channel list .. and go unnoticed.
Also, pick a game you feel comfortable playing. If you’re comfortable with the game it’ll be easier to interact with your audience. - Interact! Don’t just commentate your game, talk to your viewers. If they talk about another game, join them, make them feel a part of your community. Your channel isn’t just about you – you’re building a community, so make your viewers feel a part of it.
- Branding! You are more than just a broadcaster, you are, or need to be, a marketable brand. Make your imagery on your channel unique and ‘you’. Pick a schtick, a character, a theme, and go with it. For instance g33kgrrrlygaming portrays herself as an Elf, she wears a pair or ornamental elf ears, and frequently refers to herself as an elf, Old_Man_Blue is a US Army veteran using his channel to raise cash for homeless and disabled military veterans (a worthy cause imho), his channel is themed around patriotism.
Although you don’t get to use custom emotes (yet – that comes later) make some that are in keeping with the theme of your channel. - Use channelbots – There’s a number of channelbots for Twitch that can take some effort out of streaming, especially in terms of channel moderation. Fine one you like the features of, set it up, and use it.
- Get some channel mods. You will have some regulars (eventually), and you’ll get to know the temperaments of your regulars, choose one or two who you get on really well with, are balanced and fair, and match your outlook, and make them mods on your channel. They will be able to help you in your busy times.
- Now the really hard part – Making money!
There’s a few ways to make money off your channel:
– The first is to stick a donate button on your channel.
Most channelbots have a donate feature, use this to enable your viewers to donate money to you. The bot takes a skim off the top, that’s to be expected.
Mention the donate button, but don’t beg for donations.
Thank all who donate, make them feel that their $5 (or whatever) is really helpful and appreciated.
You could even set up your bot to mention the donate button.
Don’t ever feel guilty about it.
– Get partnered. This is a toughy. You need to have a lot of followers, a lot of regular views, a good solid branding, and your own set of custom emotes ready for use. Once you have this you can apply for partnering. This may take several attempts.
Once partnered you will have a subscribe button, allowing viewers to ‘subscribe’ (for $5 a month) to your channel. Twitch get a chunk of that money, but you get to see the start of a regular income, and your subscribers get a few benefits (use of the custom emotes you created, subscriber only chat etc…)There are other ways, but they’re more involved and less reliable.
- Keep your channel fresh (new games, new takes on existing games etc).
Good luck!
Me? Yeah, I stream. I don’t do it for cash, I do it for fun.
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