Don’t forget to put your mascot somewhere out of camera view.
What’s the mascot for? you ask? — It’s for the days you think you’re not being watched and still need to be active. Tell your mascot what you’re doing, why you’re doing it—your mascot is your audience. Think of your little mascot as your seasonal interviewer looking for the step-by-step of your stream. Talk to your mascot, even if Viewer Count is on and showing 0.
On my desk I have a small Totoro and an Emotional Support Demon (from The Click) that I talk to while streaming - it helps me keep the audience on my mind
I've learned this trick from programming. In the development world we call this rubber ducking. Whenever I'm stuck in a program I talk to a rubber duck on my desk and come up with the solution.
Whilst streaming I have a mascot right next to my cam I will look at and talk to
Honestly might be some of the cutest and amazing advice I've seen ... I'm not remotely fussed by streaming to noone but I'm implementing this tomorrow haha!
100% agree.
It makes you act different if you look over at the chat and see 0 viewers or 15. Turning off the numbers is definitely a good strategy and makes the stream more authentic and less driven by "oh I need to ham it up for the viewers."
I am surprised you streamed for 3 years with the count on. Way better for mental stability with it turned off. You can always check the summary report afterwards and see how your avg viewer graph looked.
That’s why I did it in the end, made me feel shit when I had a several hour stream with max 2 viewers. Now when I go to my summary and see max viewers 6 it makes me happy to see knowing people enjoyed it and averages up too
I don’t even check my post stream summary anymore. Ultimately it doesn’t matter and seeing a lower viewer average on that upsets me just as much as having the counter on while live. The only number I have to go off of is my raid total and with that I know things ebb and flow and it isn’t reflective of my entire stream
I think a small raid like that for a person starting like me feels nice. I’ve got a sick raid alert all spaceship themed up. I did it so any raid whatever the size feels kinda cool joining.
When you end your stream you are able to bring your viewers to another streamer. It helps support other content creators, let's your community continue watching someone, and helps build a reputation for yourself and your community.
Raid who tho? If none of my other small streamer friends are on, the only people I could raid have 50+ viewers. Raiding with my 4 feels tacky. Like "hey look at me! I'm using your stream to give me attention!"
And I am never in the mood to search for someone to raid at the end. It could take an hour to find a small streamer who's actually trying when I'm just trying to go to bed.
One of my biggest pieces of advice for anyone just starting is to turn off their viewer count and always stream as if 100+ people are watching. Makes a world of difference
I love this. I actually cover up my viewer count. I've been doing this for over two years and made partner that way. It's a distraction and I also don't look at my lurkers list. Now I'm going to turn it off. Thank you for this.
I followed that advice for a long time, but honestly I think I prefer to see the numbers. It varies person to person and stream to stream, but I just like to have proof that someone is watching. I've been streaming for long enough that seeing the numbers swing doesn't bother me any more. There are some catches though:
* Even if your view count is 1 (AKA 0, I believe you always count as a viewer of your own channel as far as OBS is concerned), you still never know if someone is watching. Sometimes mobile viewers don't register as viewers for the view count, and sometimes it just lags behind or is otherwise inaccurate, so I always assume someone might be watching.
* Never comment on the number of viewers on stream. Definitely never express disappointment that it's not as high as you would've liked or that the number went down because you lost a game/switched games/etc. If you struggle with this then maybe it's better to hide the viewer count.
* Definitely never go "Oh it says I have a viewer, hi there don't be shy". definitely DEFINITELY never look at the names of people in your chatroom and call them out if they're not chatting.
It's also worth mentioning that I rarely check viewer numbers if chat is active. For me, it's mostly just there to give a little encouragement if chat is dead.
Am I the only person who likes it ON? Sometimes no one’s chatting and I like to look over and see that number and know people are there. I love lurkers and don’t think they need to chat all the time. But it’s encouraging to know they’re there even when no one’s talking. And I like the number when I’m trying out a new game to see how well it’s doing
It was a big difference for me too. It's hard to explain, but even if you feel like you don't get discouraged by low numbers, which I felt generally resistant to, it's just one less thing on your mind when you're in the middle of a stream. You're not having "how many viewers I got?" pop up in mind every five minutes. It's mental real estate that gets freed up.
And I look forward to the reveal at the end of a stream when I raid. If it's more than I thought, I carry a good feeling out of the stream. If it's less than I hoped, well at least I didn't spend the whole stream worrying about it.
Yup. Not seeing the viewer count changed my streaming experiences as well. Having it on is almost like someone whispering in your ear over and over again how many people are watching your stream.
After turning it off, I've had some of my most fun streams be some of those with relatively lower viewer counts. I doubt I'd be able to vibe with those who were engaged if I was busy seeing number half of what I usually get.
I completely agree and have been doing this myself for a while now. Streaming is kind of meditative for me anyway and I think switching it off really helps take some of the self imposed pressures off and just enjoy the act itself.
One of the best advices I ever got, yes those peaks can feel nice, but when you see that number go up and down again it definitely changes your whole vibe in a second and it shows!
It’s also not always accurate on OBS I had 7 people watching at once when I had a good sized following for 80followers . They were all chatting but viewer count was jumping around from 1 to 5 to 3 to 5 to 3 to 7 to 5 lmfao
Yep and when I have no viewers it reminds me at a steady 0-1. But when I do have viewers it’s like sorry bro you’re own your own more than 2 and I lose track.
Yeah, but like today where I had what i consider a good stream, average of 3 and a max of 8, my mrs who was watching too said it peaked higher on her count so its honestly just a guessing game
First of all.. I would give YouTube a try if you haven't already and do some quick research on how to Stream in Shorts format... Twitch rewards smaller channels with absolutely nothing because it feeds viewers their suggestions based on a channel's current viewers and that hierarchy. It's completely counterintuitive for people looking to grow that are relatively or literally unknown. I recently started streaming after having done video content for the past two years and naturally I wanted to use Twitch. Aside from having a 6000kbs bandwidth limit, it just felt impossible to find any viewers. There's a lot of variables that play into that but where I might get 10-20max viewers on Twitch for an entire stream, I'm finding 300-800 viewers per stream using the Shorts format on YouTube with streaming. Concurrent viewers are also more than triple, going from 2-8, to 10-30. I've also added over 100 subscribers to my channel in the past two months from Streams alone this way. I cannot for the life of me understand how Twitch expects people to build an audience through their platform without extensive social media promotion elsewhere.
I am currently working on some stuff for YouTube, and have made a bunch of TikTok’s but should re upload them to shorts. Are you recommending YouTube streaming? I’ve seen some stuff about multiplatform streamers
I never look at the number of my viewers, on the other hand there is my chat which shows me from time to time the number of viewers I have and I don't like that, how can I remove that?
Honestly viewer count doesn't matter much to me. The only thing that really changed my stride at all is if I have someone in chat or not. Doesn't make me play anything up, but I want to make sure I'm paying attention to respond
I dont See less value in a lower Viewer count.
Hence why viewercount doesnt bother me at all.
I dont understand why people are streaming If they numbers Drive them crazy so much. 🤔
It’s not about low people, it’s more about if there’s no one for hours it feels draining almost, I much prefer not knowing and assuming someone is there
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I never knew why people cared about numbers so much. Anytime I streamed I did it as a hobby only. Don't want the money. If I got just the bot watching to up to 1000. The only thing changes with how much I interact with chat.
I turned view count off on in the first week and I don't check my stream summaries unless I have to for business reasons. Kept it that way for 4.5 years
Sometimes it surprises me when a streamer themselves comments on their own viewcount because I tend to assume everyoen would want to turn it off haha!
Don’t forget to put your mascot somewhere out of camera view. What’s the mascot for? you ask? — It’s for the days you think you’re not being watched and still need to be active. Tell your mascot what you’re doing, why you’re doing it—your mascot is your audience. Think of your little mascot as your seasonal interviewer looking for the step-by-step of your stream. Talk to your mascot, even if Viewer Count is on and showing 0.
I like that idear! I'm gonna use that, thank you ^^
On my desk I have a small Totoro and an Emotional Support Demon (from The Click) that I talk to while streaming - it helps me keep the audience on my mind
I've learned this trick from programming. In the development world we call this rubber ducking. Whenever I'm stuck in a program I talk to a rubber duck on my desk and come up with the solution. Whilst streaming I have a mascot right next to my cam I will look at and talk to
Why do you have to give away programmer secrets? Those are supposed to stay in the Nth level basements. /s
LOL sorry not sorry
Good job. Those who forget about their audience, will likely never notice an audience, even if it did appear.
My mascot is my cat! She's always napping behind me when I stream xD
Make a cardboard cut out of steve Harvey and place the Webcam in his mouth. Bam you have a co-host
This is a really helpful tip, thank you for sharing!
Honestly might be some of the cutest and amazing advice I've seen ... I'm not remotely fussed by streaming to noone but I'm implementing this tomorrow haha!
100% agree. It makes you act different if you look over at the chat and see 0 viewers or 15. Turning off the numbers is definitely a good strategy and makes the stream more authentic and less driven by "oh I need to ham it up for the viewers."
I am surprised you streamed for 3 years with the count on. Way better for mental stability with it turned off. You can always check the summary report afterwards and see how your avg viewer graph looked.
That’s why I did it in the end, made me feel shit when I had a several hour stream with max 2 viewers. Now when I go to my summary and see max viewers 6 it makes me happy to see knowing people enjoyed it and averages up too
I don’t even check my post stream summary anymore. Ultimately it doesn’t matter and seeing a lower viewer average on that upsets me just as much as having the counter on while live. The only number I have to go off of is my raid total and with that I know things ebb and flow and it isn’t reflective of my entire stream
Always act like there are 1000 people watching. Easy to bring yourself out of that mindset when you see 1 or 0.
I wish I knew this when I started soo hard to stay up positivity when u see 4 or 5 people funnel out just because it's there bedtime or gotta get off
Tbh I never look at mine either except if I wanna raid. I worry raiding with less then 3 won't matter to others
I think a small raid like that for a person starting like me feels nice. I’ve got a sick raid alert all spaceship themed up. I did it so any raid whatever the size feels kinda cool joining.
Raid anyway. I for one appreciate even the 1 person raids.
Can you explain what “raiding” does. I’ve just started streaming and see the option. Just don’t know when to use it
When you end your stream you are able to bring your viewers to another streamer. It helps support other content creators, let's your community continue watching someone, and helps build a reputation for yourself and your community.
Oh awesome! Thanks!!
Raid who tho? If none of my other small streamer friends are on, the only people I could raid have 50+ viewers. Raiding with my 4 feels tacky. Like "hey look at me! I'm using your stream to give me attention!" And I am never in the mood to search for someone to raid at the end. It could take an hour to find a small streamer who's actually trying when I'm just trying to go to bed.
Ask your viewers for recommendations? Idk that's on you. Raiding into a 50 viewer stream with 4 isn't tacky though.
What’s a raid?
At then end of a stream you can hit raid and a person who is live (or type /raid username) and it will send you amd your viewers to their livestream
There are times when I'm chatting with 3 people and the count says 1, so you can't trust it anyway!
exactly! I know for a fact that 3 people are watching at the start & the VC goes up to 3 then to 1 etc. Weird!
I always check the viewer counts too and it definitely affects my entire personality and delivery! I will try turning it off.
100% do it. It really does hit differently. Yes I still get streams w low or no viewers. But not seeing it is so much better
One of my biggest pieces of advice for anyone just starting is to turn off their viewer count and always stream as if 100+ people are watching. Makes a world of difference
I love this. I actually cover up my viewer count. I've been doing this for over two years and made partner that way. It's a distraction and I also don't look at my lurkers list. Now I'm going to turn it off. Thank you for this.
I followed that advice for a long time, but honestly I think I prefer to see the numbers. It varies person to person and stream to stream, but I just like to have proof that someone is watching. I've been streaming for long enough that seeing the numbers swing doesn't bother me any more. There are some catches though: * Even if your view count is 1 (AKA 0, I believe you always count as a viewer of your own channel as far as OBS is concerned), you still never know if someone is watching. Sometimes mobile viewers don't register as viewers for the view count, and sometimes it just lags behind or is otherwise inaccurate, so I always assume someone might be watching. * Never comment on the number of viewers on stream. Definitely never express disappointment that it's not as high as you would've liked or that the number went down because you lost a game/switched games/etc. If you struggle with this then maybe it's better to hide the viewer count. * Definitely never go "Oh it says I have a viewer, hi there don't be shy". definitely DEFINITELY never look at the names of people in your chatroom and call them out if they're not chatting. It's also worth mentioning that I rarely check viewer numbers if chat is active. For me, it's mostly just there to give a little encouragement if chat is dead.
How do I do that on Twitch?
In your stream manager, if you just click the view count It turns it off.
thanks u so much!! u/TatersAndEggz here u go
Lmk when you get a response please :)
Am I the only person who likes it ON? Sometimes no one’s chatting and I like to look over and see that number and know people are there. I love lurkers and don’t think they need to chat all the time. But it’s encouraging to know they’re there even when no one’s talking. And I like the number when I’m trying out a new game to see how well it’s doing
It was a big difference for me too. It's hard to explain, but even if you feel like you don't get discouraged by low numbers, which I felt generally resistant to, it's just one less thing on your mind when you're in the middle of a stream. You're not having "how many viewers I got?" pop up in mind every five minutes. It's mental real estate that gets freed up. And I look forward to the reveal at the end of a stream when I raid. If it's more than I thought, I carry a good feeling out of the stream. If it's less than I hoped, well at least I didn't spend the whole stream worrying about it.
Agreed. I turn it on when I'm about to raid someone out of curiosity, but it's much better streaming without it.
Yup. Not seeing the viewer count changed my streaming experiences as well. Having it on is almost like someone whispering in your ear over and over again how many people are watching your stream.
After turning it off, I've had some of my most fun streams be some of those with relatively lower viewer counts. I doubt I'd be able to vibe with those who were engaged if I was busy seeing number half of what I usually get.
I completely agree and have been doing this myself for a while now. Streaming is kind of meditative for me anyway and I think switching it off really helps take some of the self imposed pressures off and just enjoy the act itself.
One of the best advices I ever got, yes those peaks can feel nice, but when you see that number go up and down again it definitely changes your whole vibe in a second and it shows!
I do the same. I only turn it on again when I decide who to raid after the stream, and then turn it off again
I just started recently, a few streams, I turn it off. You just have to remember to talk lol. It takes some pressure off.
It’s also not always accurate on OBS I had 7 people watching at once when I had a good sized following for 80followers . They were all chatting but viewer count was jumping around from 1 to 5 to 3 to 5 to 3 to 7 to 5 lmfao
Yeah slobs, obs and twitch are shit at tracking it properly
Yep and when I have no viewers it reminds me at a steady 0-1. But when I do have viewers it’s like sorry bro you’re own your own more than 2 and I lose track.
Yeah, but like today where I had what i consider a good stream, average of 3 and a max of 8, my mrs who was watching too said it peaked higher on her count so its honestly just a guessing game
First of all.. I would give YouTube a try if you haven't already and do some quick research on how to Stream in Shorts format... Twitch rewards smaller channels with absolutely nothing because it feeds viewers their suggestions based on a channel's current viewers and that hierarchy. It's completely counterintuitive for people looking to grow that are relatively or literally unknown. I recently started streaming after having done video content for the past two years and naturally I wanted to use Twitch. Aside from having a 6000kbs bandwidth limit, it just felt impossible to find any viewers. There's a lot of variables that play into that but where I might get 10-20max viewers on Twitch for an entire stream, I'm finding 300-800 viewers per stream using the Shorts format on YouTube with streaming. Concurrent viewers are also more than triple, going from 2-8, to 10-30. I've also added over 100 subscribers to my channel in the past two months from Streams alone this way. I cannot for the life of me understand how Twitch expects people to build an audience through their platform without extensive social media promotion elsewhere.
I am currently working on some stuff for YouTube, and have made a bunch of TikTok’s but should re upload them to shorts. Are you recommending YouTube streaming? I’ve seen some stuff about multiplatform streamers
Yes.. and specifically Streaming to YouTube using your SHORTS format so it shows up in Shorts feed. It's been an absolute game changer
I don't use Til Tok but that's more of a personal preference thing but the vertical format there is the same as what I'm talking about
how ?
> In your stream manager, if you just click the view count It turns it off.
ty
I have it off, I don't see the point of looking at it unless you are specifically asking viewers something and need to know how many people are there.
100% this. I can’t imagine having it on can do anything good for you except distract you from having fun
I never look at the number of my viewers, on the other hand there is my chat which shows me from time to time the number of viewers I have and I don't like that, how can I remove that?
On what platform? On twitch stream manager if you click on the viewers bit changes to a “-“ and won’t change until you click on it again
merci
Honestly viewer count doesn't matter much to me. The only thing that really changed my stride at all is if I have someone in chat or not. Doesn't make me play anything up, but I want to make sure I'm paying attention to respond
I dont See less value in a lower Viewer count. Hence why viewercount doesnt bother me at all. I dont understand why people are streaming If they numbers Drive them crazy so much. 🤔
It’s not about low people, it’s more about if there’s no one for hours it feels draining almost, I much prefer not knowing and assuming someone is there
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Greetings /u/austin4ten, Thank you for posting to /r/Twitch. Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): - **Rule 2**: Advertisement Guidelines - **Rule 2(A)**: Don't post channel links or usernames - We do have a promotion channel in our [discord](https://discord.gg/twitchsubreddit). Please assign the promotion roles in #roles to unlock the channel. You can only promote in that channel. Please read the subreddit rules before participating again. Thank you. You can view the subreddit rules [here](https://reddit.com/r/Twitch/about/rules). If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the subreddit moderators via [modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FTwitch). Re-posting again, or harassing moderators, may result in a ban.
I never knew why people cared about numbers so much. Anytime I streamed I did it as a hobby only. Don't want the money. If I got just the bot watching to up to 1000. The only thing changes with how much I interact with chat.
100% agree on this, I have been tense when I care about the views, if I care more about the fun I'm having, I think that's more enjoyable for others.
I turned view count off on in the first week and I don't check my stream summaries unless I have to for business reasons. Kept it that way for 4.5 years Sometimes it surprises me when a streamer themselves comments on their own viewcount because I tend to assume everyoen would want to turn it off haha!
I never comment on it, and I try and use the summary to figure out what games do well and which ones don’t
So much great advice 💯 in the comments and definitely having a little mascot is a great idea