Getting paid to have people watch you play video games might be your dream. But is it realistic?

For most people, streaming on Twitch isn’t worth it if you’re approaching it as a business. Most streamers will never earn a significant amount of income or be able to replace their job with livestreaming. However, it can be lots of fun if you’re just doing it as a hobby.

In this article, I’m taking a break from talking about freelance writing to share my first-hand experience streaming on Twitch.tv. Plus, I’ll give my explanation for who I think it is or isn’t worth it for.

Is Streaming on Twitch.tv Worth It?

Whether streaming on Twitch is worth it or not for you will depend on your motivations for getting into it.

If you want to stream because you think it’s an easy way to get rich or famous, you’ll most likely be very disappointed and disheartened.

Streaming on Twitch.tv is something that I have a fair amount of experience with. I built my own channel up, became a Twitch affiliate, and streamed regularly for over a year.

The truth is that streaming on Twitch is unlikely to be a profitable business for you, if that’s what you’re approaching it as.

Maybe if you got into streaming early on many years ago, there was a lot less competition. But nowadays, the categories for every game are filled with other streamers. To show up on the first page of results for League of Legends for example, you’d need to have more than 1,000 people watching you at any given time.

As a brand new streamer, your stream will be listed way at the bottom of the results with 0 or 1 viewers, and it’s unlikely that many people will ever find you. So it can be super hard to get started.

People like Shroud or Ninja are one in a million. Making streaming into a six-figure (or more) job is about as likely as playing in the NBA. Less than 1% of all streamers on Twitch or Mixer are earning a living from what they do.

It’s just the sad truth that for most people, Twitch will never provide you with a significant amount of income or replace your job.

So if you’re getting into livestreaming in the hopes of being rich or famous, you might want to quit before you start and look for something more lucrative. Chances are you won’t get any donations or subscribers for the first few months of streaming. Most people give up long before then if they’re just obsessed with view count or making money.

What Are The Right Reasons To Get Into Streaming?

If you want to succeed as a streamer, I think you really need to get into it just because you enjoy streaming. It has to be something that you’d do for the next several years for free, with no expectation of getting paid.

If you have ulterior motives for streaming, you’ll come across as disingenuous to your viewers and they aren’t likely to turn into loyal fans.

Streaming is perfect for someone who loves playing video games and wants to share their passion with the world.

You don’t have to be an extroverted person to stream, but it helps. I personally got into streaming to try and help with my anxiety and get more comfortable being on camera. It will definitely help you with that! But if you’re an introvert, you’ll have an uphill battle in terms of developing the kind of personality that will get people to keep watching your stream.

Twitch viewers have really short attention spans. So if you aren’t constantly engaging and entertaining them, chances are they’ll go find someone else who will. Even if you’re streaming with 0 viewers, you need to constantly be on point. Otherwise when someone comes to your stream and sees you just sitting there, they’ll likely click away if you don’t say something within 10 to 20 seconds.

Why Twitch Isn’t Worth It For Most People

There are simply so many better online business opportunities than streaming on Twitch.

You could write a blog, start a Youtube channel, write ebooks, or any number of other things.

All of those have something that Twitch doesn’t, which is the ability to earn passive income. The bad part about Twitch is that you’re always trading your time for money. People are only watching you and donating while your stream is live. If you take time off, your subscriptions and other income will start to plummet.

Worst of all, your VODs and other content on Twitch will disappear after a month or two unless you uploading it to another platform.

So Twitch can be a kind of content black hole where you put in a ton of effort, but a few months from now there will be nothing left on the internet to show for it.

How To Get The Most Out of Streaming on Twitch

If you do stream on Twitch, there is one thing that I highly recommend doing to make the most of it. That’s repurposing your content.

You may already notice that most of your favorite Twitch streamers have their own Youtube channels where they upload clips and highlights from their stream. This is what you need to do if you want your livestreamed content to stick around for years to come.

You need to cut up clips and post them to Youtube, Instagram, Tik Tok, and other sites and apps.

If you’re doing this all on your own it can become quite time-consuming. So once you have a bit of a following, you will most likely want to hire an editor to do all of this for you. But in the beginning, expect to spend a couple of hours after each stream just cutting up your content and uploading it to other platforms.

Conclusion

Is streaming on Twitch or Mixer worth it? I think that really depends on what you want to get out of it.

If you want to stream as a hobby, go for it. But if you’re getting into it specifically to earn money, I would recommend not wasting your time, and looking at other options instead.

Be honest with yourself as well as your audience. If you’re getting into streaming for the money or clout, you are going to get burned out and give up pretty early on.

I personally tried everything that I could think of to make my Twitch channel a success. Including playing specific games that I thought would have the best chance of getting views, streaming at specific times of day, and really nothing is the magic solution. A lot of streaming is just luck and hoping that you get noticed and hosted by a big streamer. And if you don’t have the right personality for Twitch, chances are you won’t be able to make it.

Instead of livestreaming, I think Youtube is a much better option for most people. It’s still risky and there’s a chance no one will watch your content. But at least all of your videos will stay on the platform forever and passively gain views over time.