If you apply these strategies, we’re confident you’ll not only reach Affiliate status, but also continue to grow your channel significantly beyond that.

1. Choose the right game category. While popular games have a large audience, there will also be high competition. You’ll need to find a trending game that isn’t over saturated, or find a niche that aligns with your interests or talents. It should be a game with high viewers and channel followers, but a low amount of streamers, so people don’t have to scroll too far to find you. But it should also be a game you’re going to enjoy, because if you’re having fun, your audience will also be having fun.
2. Consider streaming during off-peak hours. If you have a low average view count, we recommend streaming during less competitive, off-peak hours (e.g. early mornings, late nights). This can lead to higher visibility/discoverability. Use data driven insights and your own Twitch Analytics to figure out what works best for you and your community.
3. Once you figure out a schedule, stick to it! If you only stream on a whim, then your followers will have no idea when to tune into your show. Sure, you have notifications on Twitch and Discord for when you’re going live, but in general, people tend to have a routine schedule themselves. It’s easier to get returning viewers if you stick to the same schedule and try not to re-schedule or cancel your stream too frequently. Life happens, but if you cancel too often, people’s interest in your stream will start to die off. Post your schedule in your About section, Schedule section, and in your Discord.
4. Write catchy or provoking stream titles. If you have a funny title, an unpopular opinion or even a question in your title, this could get viewers to pop in and start chatting with you immediately, because people love giving their 2 cents, so give them something to talk about!
5. Add tags to improve discoverability. Don’t underestimate the power of this small addition to your stream! Tags are keywords viewers can use to refine their search results within a game category and act as powerful filter that can lead viewers directly to your stream. We recommend browsing other channels just to get an idea of what others are using, but here’s a few recommendations from us to think about:
   • Languages you speak (ex: “English”, “Russian”, “French”)
   • Playthrough types (ex: “FirstTimePlaythrough”, “Speedrun”, “PermaDeath”)
   • Interaction styles (ex: “BackseatGamingAllowed”, “PlayingWithViewers”)
   • Content themes (ex: “CommunityGames”, “Anime”,  “ASMR”,  “Horror”, “Reactions”)
   • Stream esthetic (ex: “GoodVibes”, “Cozy”, “Educational”, “Comedy”, “Safespace”)
   • For special events (ex: “Subathon”, “Birthday”, “DropsEnabled”, “Followathon”)
6. Make your thumbnail stand out. Your thumbnail is your first impression and it’s key to make it stand out against the crowd. Since many games have similar in-game scenery, even at different points of the game, adding a unique overlay to your stream is a great way to differentiate your stream. This decorative touch on top of your gameplay will help you shine in a sea of other streamers playing the same game. We also recommend placing your camera on the right side of the screen, so  your face is not covered up on the thumbnail by “Live” or the viewer count.
7. Learn to talk to yourself. In the beginning, you will likely have 0-2 viewers at best, so you’re going to have to learn to talk out loud to yourself. This is because you won’t know when a viewer is going to randomly pop in, and if you’re just silently playing a game, they’ll likely get bored and leave. If you’re talking about something interesting, you may entice viewers to stay or even join in the conversation themselves. Consider turning off  your viewer count and just pretend you’re always talking to a room full of people. You can also plan topics you want to talk about during stream ahead of time, or narrate what you’re doing in game — just don’t go silent and remember to smile!
8. Be Engaging. Once someone finally speaks to you in chat, respond to their chat message as soon as possible. Read their messages out loud (be careful of trolls trying to get you to say something inappropriate on stream though), and use their username to address them.
9. Thank everyone. For every follow, sub, raid, bit, and hype train be sure to thank those viewers individually and show the same level enthusiasm no matter if they donated 1 bit or 10,000. Have alerts setup so you don’t miss anything, and because people love seeing their username on screen and being recognized for their generosity. When you have a fun alert or reaction, follows and subs tend to set off chain reactions in chat, with multiple people following or subbing one after the other. If you don’t have alerts, they’re included with all our free and premium overlay packages.
10. Follow raid etiquette and prepare an elevator pitch for these moments. Whenever you receive a raid, thank the streamer for choosing your stream and entrusting their community with you, but also give them a shoutout using the /shoutout command and tell your chat to follow them. Welcome the streamer to talk about themselves, their stream and promote themselves to your chat while you introduce yourself to the raiders. Say who you are, what you typically stream, and what you’re doing today/what you were doing as they raided in. Welcome all the raiders and thank them for any follows. If you have a raid video, definitely play it now to show off clips from your stream that best represent who you are and what people can expect if they continue to hang out here. You want to try and convince as many of the raiders as you can to stay or at least give you a follow, if they also have to go.
11. Make your stream interactive. Have interesting channel point redeems, so people want to farm up channel points. Even if your chat is just lurking most of the time, their views still help you get visibility in your game category! Some redeems can be disruptive to stream, but you can always set limitations on how many times it can be used, how frequently it can be redeemed or make it more expensive so it’s harder for chat to redeem.
12. Have your goals visible on screen and in chat. If you list your follower, bit, donation or sub goal on stream, people are more likely to contribute to your goal, especially if you’re getting close to end. Follows especially, since it costs the viewers nothing to follow you. You can easily add the goal to your overlay, and setup automatic messages in chat to go off every 30 minutes using bots to remind people to follow or to talk about what your goal is for. Perhaps  you’re saving up for a green screen, and that’s where all the donation money will go towards if the goal is achieved. Mention if you plan to reward your community with a special stream, a giveaway, or something simple like a dance once the goal is reached to incentivize them.
13. Leverage other social media platforms. YouTube shorts and TikTok are great places to post highlights and share short clips of funny moments from your stream. With the announcement of vertical clips and dual format streaming coming to Twitch in 2025, creating content for these external platforms will become even more seamless. This means you can easily repurpose your best moments to attract viewers to your live stream. Twitter and Instagram are also social media platforms to consider.
14. Network with other streamers. This doesn’t mean going into other streamer’s chats and self-promoting your stream — that’s the equivalent to Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift during the Music Video awards. Don’t be like Kanye. Instead, be polite, sincere and build a genuine connection with other streamers (typically in your same niche and with a similar audience size). Join and engage with their community, watch their streams, participate in their chat, raid into them, and invite them to co-stream or collaborate with you on your stream. This is a great way to cross-promote each other. Remember, mutual support means collective success.
15. Don’t get discouraged by numbers. Don’t obsess over viewer count or follower numbers, especially early on. It’s going to be slow growth to start, no matter what you do, so don’t let that demotivate you. Focus on improving your content and enjoying the process. Re-watch your own streams, because you are going to be your own worst critic, and will see areas for improvement — whether that’s talking more, reacting to chat sooner, lighting, sound, etc. Think about what you enjoy when watching other people’s streams and incorporate that into your own stream. But don’t compare yourself to other streamers’ success, as everyone’s journey is different.
16. Avoid mute and faceless streams. We’re not saying it cannot be done, but it’s going to be a much more difficult journey to grow on Twitch without a mic or cam. If viewers were only interested in gameplay, they could easily watch pre-recorded content on lots of other platforms. People who come to Twitch are generally looking for engagement with the streamer and enjoy seeing peoples’ reactions to the game or to chat. Non-verbal cues like facial expressions, gestures, and body language convey personality and emotions stronger than voice alone. However, if you would like to maintain privacy, both VTubers and PNGtubers allow you to create a unique persona and be fairly expressive on stream without showing your face. This keeps the stream more lively than just audio and gameplay.
17. You don’t need top-tier gear to start streaming. While you don’t have to break the bank, prioritize a few areas:

• Audio Quality: Poor audio will drive viewers away faster than anything else. A gaming headset can work initially, with decent options available for as little as $20. You can always aim to upgrade to a dedicated microphone later, once you raise enough funds through subs and ad revenue.
• Lighting: If your room is too dark, you lose all the benefits that a camera gives to a stream. Good lighting ensures viewers can see you clearly, and with ring lights as cheap as $20 out there as well, these are both very achievable goals early on in your streaming journey.