New streamers on Twitch often overlook the power of social media in building their brands. Many successful streamers use apps such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to keep their fans up to date and connect with their fans on a more personal level. One of the biggest benefits of social media is that it can expose you to potential new followers who wouldn't have discovered you otherwise.
Connecting with followers and fans online can be effective, but not much beats meeting people in person. Numerous video game and streaming events are held throughout the year in almost every major city around the world, and they can be great places to meet other streamers, exchange tips, make new friends, and gain followers. Some of the best to attend are Twitch Con, PAX, MineCon, and Supanova. Numerous groups on Twitter and Facebook meet up in smaller towns and cities, too.
Meet other Twitch streamers (and have them follow you) by watching other streams and being active in their chats. If you seem like an interesting person, other viewers may check out your channel and follow you. If you manage to build up a real friendship with another streamer, he or she could even plug your channel or host you, which would give you massive exposure.
Spending the time and effort to design a quality graphical layout for your stream will attract more viewers to it in the Twitch search results and will communicate dedication and professionalism to those watching. A good layout should include a webcam in the upper left or right corner, a chat box for those watching in fullscreen, and your social media usernames either in a list or rotating slideshow. Adding special widgets that display the latest followers and hosts also will encourage action from viewers.
Be strategic when choosing a video game to stream. Playing an old or unpopular game will likely result in no one watching. Playing one of the most popular onescould leave you competing for attention against a hundred or so other streamers. For best results, browse Twitch and look for games that have between 10 and 20 streamers streaming. A game in this category will rank higher in Twitch search results, but you won't be lost in the number of streams being displayed.
Set aside several hours a day to broadcast. Very few people will discover your stream if you're online for only an hour a day. Streaming for at least three hours will help you acquire viewers, which will result in higher rankings in Twitch search results and greater exposure to even more viewers. It's no coincidence that the more successful Twitch streamers are online for five to 10 hours a day, sometimes even more. You don't need to stream this much when starting out, but the more you do, the faster you'll build a following.
Through free services like Restream, simulcasting your Twitch stream to other sites such as Mixer or YouTube has never been easier. What's more, doing so can be a great way to reach a larger audience whom you can ask to follow you back on Twitch. The best thing about this strategy is that it requires no additional work after the initial setup.
Snowboarding at high speed has never been as relaxing as it is in Alto's Adventure. Very simple one-touch controls let you guide Alto (and several other unlockable characters) down the mountain while getting big air, grinding edges and performing multiple backflips.
Beautiful endless mountain scenery, amazing day-to-night transitions and a mesmerizing soundtrack (you should definitely wear headphones) make this is a must have on any device.
PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) for mobile is a free survival shooter that lets you experience what it's like to be dropped on an island with 99 other players to see who will ultimately survive. But what's great about the mobile version of this extremely popular game on PCs is that it seems to run even better on a smartphone. In other words, this is one heck of a port.
Just like the original, you'll parachute in, loot buildings to gear up, and do your best to survive all the way to the end. You can go it solo, or create a squad of up to four players if you want to try out a team effort. Be careful though, this game is incredibly addicting.
The recently released sequel to Alto's Adventure is called Alto's Odyssey and -- while the original is still amazing -- it might be even better. You get a new trick to add to your arsenal with wall rides, making it possible to have more control over your combos. There are new environments to explore and you can you play a Zen Mode that lets you just take in the sights and sounds of the game.
If there is any game you download from this list, Alto's Odyssey is extremely easy to recommend.
You can't really play a console-level quality Destiny game on your iPhone, but with Shadowgun Legends, it's about as close as you can get. This first-person shooter might be the best in all the app stores, with a base camp (it's more of a city) where you can hit up shops to buy weapons and armor, a place to gamble for more in-game currency, a black market for new items, and so much more. There are tons of in-app purchases here, to be sure, but you can easily avoid them.
The gameplay itself is excellent as you plow through story missions, unlock puzzles and blast your way through enemies in order to achieve greater and greater fame. Find new weapons as you play with unique exotics and other firearms that will remind you of Destiny. Though it's a whole different setting, Shadowgun Legends is basically Destiny for your phone and it will definitely surprise you with its depth.
Want to get your battle royale gaming fix without all the complexity? Battlelands Royale is the game for you. Pick your drop point on the island map beforehand, then parachute in to find weapons and shields. You also can chase down weapon drops for more advanced weapons like rocket launchers. From there, you can hide out in buildings and shrubbery as you lay in wait for opponents to step into your path.
What's particularly great about this simple dual-stick survival shooter is that a game rarely lasts more than 10 minutes. This free game is fun on its own, but you can also use in-app purchases to buy new skins and it even has a Battle Pass (a la Fortnite) you can buy to earn cosmetic items as you play.
]]>Richard Blevins or Ninja, as he is better known to Twitch users, is the most prolific earner on Twitch with an estimated annual income of a whopping $5.4 million. He earns at least $500,000 per month from his over 50,000 subscriptions alone.
Ninja gained massive popularity by streaming the equally popular game Fortnite daily and even hosted a game with rapper Drake and Travis Scott who broke the record for the maximum views on a single video.
Nearly 60,000 viewers watch Ninja’s live stream every week on an average. Richard used to be a professional Halo gamer before taking up Fortnite on Twitch, and he hasn’t looked back ever since with many other perks coming his way owing to his sudden success.
Michael Grzesiek is a former professional gamer known for playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive who became successful as an eSports gamer. Now the Canadian is better known for playing PUBG under the moniker Shroud on Twitch.
With a little over 40,000 subscribers to his channel and an average viewership of around 30 thousand per week, Shroud earns an estimated $4.4 million in yearly revenues.
He has quit playing Counter-Strike professionally, but he now splits his stream between PUBG and Fortnite. Shroud streams in English and is supported by HyperX. Find him on social media via the following links.
imothy John Bater aka TimTheTatman is an active gamer who live streams on Twitch every day except Sundays.
Timothy mostly plays World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Counter-Strike among others and his videos garner nearly 25,000 viewers per week.
His estimated income from his near 35,000 subscriptions alone is $1.8 million a year, and along with sponsorships Ad revenues, his total yearly income goes up to $2.7 million.
Benjamin Lupo is a professional gamer specializing in Fortnite and PUBG. He also used to play Destiny 2: Forsaken, Ring of Elysium and even SpongeBob Square Pants but now he is a dedicated Fortnite player. He sometimes streams Call of Duty too.
Known to Twitch users as DrLupo, he once played Fortnite along with Ninja which made him famous overnight. Now with an average of 10,000 viewers per week, he is one of the highest earners on Twitch thanks to his gaming skills.
He plays for the ASUS Republic of Gamers, and his subscriber count stands close to 20,000 for which he earns annual revenue of roughly $1.9 million- a little less than 2 million dollars.
Guy Beahm is a big gamer and live streamer on Twitch where he goes by the nickname of DrDisRespectLIVE and plays for ASUS Republic Gamers team. He is popular for playing battle royale games and most notably Call of Duty- Black Ops 4.
Guy also plays League of Legends, Fortnite, and PUBG. He streams on weekdays only and has an average 15,000 views weekly. He also has quite a handsome subscriber base amounting to 32,000 which leaves him with an estimated $1.8 million at the end of the year.
With his subscriber base increasing day by day, his income can only go upwards from here on.
The next streamer on our list is known for playing Red Dead Redemption on Twitch and has approximately more than 17,000 subscribers to his channel. MOONMOON_OW is a professional gamer and also an anime aficionado who plays a wide range of games such as Super Mario Maker, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Call of Cthulhu.
He goes live on Twitch at 10 am EST and 10 pm EST. He also uploads live streaming of games on YouTube where his channel has 147k subscribers. He earns just over 1 million dollars from subscriptions alone, and his projected yearly income is $1.6 million.
This channel, as the name aptly suggests, is for the inner geeks in you. The channel claims to “celebrate pop culture” all the while acting as the foremost representation of “geek voices” online. It was founded by Felicia Day who also happens to be the creator of popular web series The Guild. The channel streams in English, games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Fallout 76, Poker, Board games as well as Talk Shows and Podcasts.
GeekandSundry has more than 54 million views on their channel and an average viewership of one thousand per week.
They have a large subscribership of over 21,000 which earns them over $1.45 million. Check out their website at https://geekandsundry.com/.
Jaryd Lazar is an American Twitch streamer who also used to be a pro Counter Strike – Global Offensive player much like Shroud. Known to his followers as summit1g, he now streams Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and plays for the team 1G SQUAD.
With sponsorships from Monster Energy, Discord and Corsair among others, summit1g boasts of a weekly viewership of around 25,000. A minimum of 13,000 subscribers contributes to his nearly $50,000 a month earnings which amounts to roughly $1.4 million in a year.
]]>