9 things you didn't know about streaming

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

They can inspire you to try streaming yourself. Even if it seems to you that you are too old for such fun.

Going on an excursion anywhere in the world, attending a concert of an idol, learning something new - all this, as shown by quarantine, can be done online. And thanks to him, we realized that almost all activities on the Internet are available to people of any age - from schoolchildren to their grandparents. And streaming too. You can start streaming right now, build an audience and, over time, even make money on it. We've prepared some of the most inspiring streaming facts for you.

Fact 1: even a miner can become a streamer

Wherever you live, whoever you are by profession, you have a chance to gain a huge audience. For example, Dmitry Pustovarov from Ukhta, a miner and part-time DJ at weddings, decided to quit hard and boring work for the sake of playing, and then streaming PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds). Today he is one of the most popular gamers in the post-Soviet space.

Dmitry became interested in computer games at school, and at the institute he even was a member of the semi-professional team for the legendary shooter Battlefield. Having accumulated 100 thousand rubles, which amounted to several of his salaries, the guy bought a powerful computer and registered on the Twitch streaming platform. He spent the first broadcasts without spectators, since the sound and picture quality was terrible, and there was no camera at all. But MakataO used a life hack: realizing that it was difficult to compete with popular streamers in the evening, he launched broadcasts later - when the Far East was connected.

Soon the first donations, or donations, began to arrive: viewers sent 20-50 rubles each to support the player. Gradually, earnings grew, and when in 2017 MakataO switched to the increasingly popular game PUBG, the audience increased several times. Today Dmitry is engaged only in streaming.

Fact 2: Streaming Doesn't Require Space Investments

You don't have to buy an ultra-expensive computer to get started. Try at first to work on an existing laptop or home PC. It is definitely worth buying a microphone and a web-camera: the built-in ones will not provide the required quality.

Once you understand what exactly you want to stream, you know exactly how you should upgrade your computer. So, there are specific system requirements for games. You also need to consider the "reserve" for the work of Twitch or other applications for launching broadcasts. A setup for streaming on other topics - from 8 GB of RAM, the latest generation i5 / i7 processor, a pair of Full ‑ HD ‑ screens.

Carefully approach the choice of monitors: their quality directly depends on how long you can broadcast without inconvenience. Two ordinary screens for streaming are not the most comfortable option: if you deploy the broadcast to both, the strip in the middle will prevent you from enjoying the process. Solution -. For example, LG's 21: 9 UltraWide lineup will provide a large viewing area for any content on a single screen.

Ultra-wide monitors reproduce the color palette to the smallest detail and are also suitable for processing photos, videos, playing your favorite films in cinematic format.

Fact 3: being a streamer is more profitable than working in a bank

Another well-known Russian streamer, Roman Oleinik, aka Gnumme on Twitch, first worked in different banks, and at the age of 31 he decided to seriously devote himself to a new hobby. Over time, Roman left the financial sphere because it was boring, and streams brought in more money and at the same time took a lot of time. Today he earns several hundred thousand rubles a month on this.

By the way, Roman's example proves that streaming is a good option for those who are tired of getting up early every day and going to the office half the city. Oleinik said that he wakes up at about five in the evening, has breakfast and starts streaming - just when people come from offices and sit down to watch broadcasts. On his occupation, he spends from 8 to 12 hours a day - a full and even irregular working day.

Interestingly, Gnumme started with the card game Hearthstone, in its first broadcasts there were a lot of obscene expressions, and the main audience was schoolchildren - about 10 thousand people. Then he changed his policy: he gave up swearing and bearded jokes on the air, and began to block users on the channel for swearing. The audience dropped to 3-4 thousand people, but the income remained the same. After all, the reputation of a streamer is more important to advertisers than the number of its viewers.

Fact 4: there are several ways to make money streaming

Novice streamers make their profits mainly from donations. Subscribers can transfer any amount to them, and usually it is a maximum of 100 rubles per person. But once you have a large enough audience, you can make money from advertising. For example, on Twitch, you can acquire the status of a partner and, by placing banners on your channel, make a profit from their impressions.

It is difficult for novice streamers to work with platforms directly - too large an audience needs to be gathered. Therefore, they cooperate with intermediaries who provide not only advertising materials and tools for withdrawing money, but also consultations, music for broadcasts and much more. In this case, a financial reward can be received for switching to the desired game using a link under the stream or downloading a game application.

Well-known streamers work directly with advertisers. They review games, place banners, arrange prize draws. The amount of profit is determined by the terms of the contract or the number of views.

Finally, you can make money on Twitch. They give access to certain content, as well as additional emoji for your viewers and a "sponsored" badge. Subscription cost - from $ 5 per month. You get half, the rest is streaming. If you have tens of thousands of subscribers, you start getting more - up to 3.5 out of that $ 5. Also, income is possible from bits - colorful messages in the chat.

Fact 5: streaming can make you rich

Incredibly, top streamers are at the level of Hollywood stars. Maybe you will join their ranks. For example, streamer Ninja (Tyler Blevins), whose Fortnite success is of interest to 24 million YouTube users, over the past year about $ 17 million. Each of his streams is watched by several tens of thousands of people, and the number of paid subscriptions has exceeded 45 thousand. At the height of his career, Ninja was making over half a million dollars a month from Twitch subscriptions alone, excluding advertising contracts. His fame in the streaming world allows him to make money from other things, such as collaborations with sports brands. Tyler Blevins' contribution to the popularization of Fortnite was also appreciated by its creators: since this year, it has an avatar of Ninja.

It happens that viewers make sudden and very impressive gifts to their idols. For example, streamer Sick Nerd in January 2019 for broadcasting donations for 20 bitcoins, which at that time was 70 thousand in dollar terms. Now this amount is about three times more.

Fact 6: you can stream anything

Streamers do not make money by playing games alone! If you are not a gamer, try streaming in IRL (in real life, "in real life").

Topics can be anything. For example:

• - an aged woman streams how she knits.
• - round-the-clock broadcast with cooking.
• - video chat to Russian pop music, as in the days of the beginning of MTV.

Twitch has a Just Chatting category for that. And people spend more time in it than in game streams.

You can create a channel and just broadcast what you love the most. Surely there are those who are interested in how you bake buns, communicate with your pet, or fiddle with the carburetor (what if!).

Fact 7: the easiest place to start is by streaming games - even solitaire

Twitch stars broadcast mostly games. For example, summit1g runs The Elder Scrolls Online, shroud fights Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Apex Legends, NICKMERCS shows off his skills in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and xQcOW spends hours on Minecraft and Dark Souls II.

But you don't have to play the latest games. For example, a streamer under the nickname demonstrates the passage of the third "Heroes" and makes great money. There are broadcasts on StarCraft, Diablo, Half-Life and other projects well known to those who grew up in the 90s.

If you are serious about joining the ranks of streamers of games, you want to enjoy hours of broadcasts and topped the ratings, screen refresh rate and image quality will be especially important for you.

For advanced gamers, gaming monitors are fine. They have a response speed of up to 1 millisecond (a record for the market!), Support refresh rates up to 240 hertz and synchronize with the video card. The 21: 9 curved screen and wide color range of Nano IPS panels provide an immersive gaming experience.

Fact 8: you can stream even at 90

Japanese Hamako Mori, known as Gamer Grandma, has become the oldest streamer in the world. Her name is even in the Guinness Book of Records.

Mori became interested in computer games back in the 80s. Her favorite project is Grand Theft Auto V. But, despite her age, she is not conservative and has tried a lot of games: from Spec Ops and Dauntless to Call of Duty and NieR: Automata. The oldest video on Hamako's YouTube channel in 2014 shows Mori's character flying a dragon in Skyrim.

And Gamer Grandma is not going to stop at all. In an interview with representatives of the Guinness Book of Records, Mori said that she would be glad if more of her peers were fond of computer games.

Fact 9: even those with serious health problems are streaming

The streamer, a 67-year-old Apex Legends fan, has over 20 years of service with the SEALs and a 7-year successful history of fighting cancer. At work, he was injured: he unsuccessfully fell from a chair and damaged three vertebral discs. Now the plate in the neck regularly reminds of this with acute pain.

It is difficult for GrndPaGaming to use the keyboard and mouse due to the almost complete loss of sensitivity in the hands. However, this did not stop him from broadcasting the game for 29 hours and gaining more than 160 thousand followers on Twitch. The streamer broadcasts more than 100 hours a week, that is, plays more than 12 hours a day!

Usually GrndPaGaming sits down at the computer at noon and takes a break around 5 pm. Then at 8 pm he starts the broadcast again. And on Friday and on weekends, he can sit at the computer even longer. Game streaming helps him to take his mind off the pain and have a good time.

GrndPaGaming has been playing since 1976. He started with the text game B-1 Bomber and couldn't stop it. His favorite project is Wing Commander: Privateer, presented in 1993.

By the way, the experience of serving in the SEAL division helps the streamer to play games like PUBG. He also hates cheaters and seeks to motivate his viewers to play fair.