Live streaming has breathed new life into eSports. The main role was played by Twitch, but not everyone is familiar with the project. What is Twitch and why is it interesting?
History
Recently, more and more people have become interested in eSports. Broadcasts of the championships and recordings of the game on YouTube attract a huge number of spectators. The number of visitors to some broadcasts reaches hundreds of thousands, and this is not the limit.
In 2007, players used the Justin.tv website, which allowed everyone to start their own broadcast. Having noticed the increased popularity of e-sports, the co-founders decided to create a separate resource. So there was a "Twitch". The stream on the site was with many flaws and problems, however, it developed rapidly. Whereas in 2011 on Twitch there were only a couple of million visitors, in 2014 the number of viewers exceeded tens of millions.
Google became interested in the project, and even negotiated terms of sale. However, the deal did not take place. In the summer of 2014, the resource was sold to Amazon, which offered the best price. The cost of "Twitch" amounted to one billion dollars.
Catalyst
Having learned what Twitch is, the players immediately found use for it. The resource has become a kind of catalyst in e-sports and has directed its development into a more productive channel. With the help of video broadcasts, players exchange experience, tactics or simply browse records.
Watching "Twitch" by a huge number of people speaks of an unprecedented rise in popularity. About a million viewers visit the site daily. Video broadcasting allows not only watching games, but also making money on it.
Affiliate program gives an opportunity to get income to any streamer. Earnings on broadcasts pushed people to devote more time to games. Now every gamer can combine pleasure and benefit.
Affiliate program
Before you learn how to make “Twitch”, you should throw out of your head thoughts about easy and quick money. Although the affiliate program of the resource looks simple and attractive, in fact, everything is more complicated. The streamer should be ready for a long unpaid period.
The first step will be to register and create your own channel. Minor difficulties may arise, but serious problems should not happen here. The most time-consuming is next.
Streamer needs to get 500 visitors on his broadcast. However, the number of viewers should be constant. The site has more than 600 thousand broadcasts, and this is incredible competition. Most visitors prefer well-known streamers.
In addition to knowing what Twitch is, it is necessary to study the conditions of service. You should also know the copyright document. The slightest violation will cause failure.
The amount of free time is also important. The streamer is required to start broadcasting three times a week. The approximate duration should be 6 hours.
Sharp corners are smoothed by manual application processing. Each request to join the program is reviewed by people. If the user does not reach for some criteria, they can make concessions.
Main income
Before streaming to Twitch, you need to make a earnings plan. There are several ways to get income, but it is important to achieve a balance and not to forget about content first of all.
The main earnings will be brought by ad units. Their launch depends on the streamer. You can enable ads at least every five minutes, but this will affect the number of views. The ideal solution, in order not to lose the audience, is to start the unit several times per hour.
The earning method has its pitfalls. First of all, this is a decrease in the number of views. Viewers come to watch games, not ads. If the duration of the broadcast is approximately six hours, you can run the blocks 4 times per hour. This will not scare people away by advertising.
Launched on the Twitch stream, which attracted a large number of viewers, does not necessarily bring a lot of money. Many users have applications installed that block unwanted ads. If the viewer does not see the block, the streamer does not accrue money.
Side ways
Having asked what “Twitch” is and how to make money on it, you can find several options. The main one is advertising, but there are also secondary ones. How else to increase your profit?
A streamer will generate revenue for a paid subscription. The method is simple and straightforward. The viewer who liked the channel pays for a monthly subscription. The cost is $ 5, of which a streamer receives half. The income is independent of the launch or operation of the channel, but the profit is small.
Unprofitable, but having the right to exist, a way - built-in advertising. The streamer is required to find those who want to hang a banner on his channel. Advertising will be displayed on top of windows, which is not very nice. The income from the venture is small and depends on the number of viewers.
Program selection
Before streaming to Twitch, you need to create a channel. Open Broadcaster, working on the principle of a virtual camera, will help in this. The program captures the image, and then sends it to the Twitch channel. Difficulties will not arise even for beginner streamers.
The main reason for using Open Broadcaster is the large number of advantages. The program almost does not load the system and allows you to achieve high quality. Free access and constant updates also play a significant role in the selection.
There are also disadvantages. The main problem is that the program was released not so long ago. Deficiencies and minor problems are noticeable. Functionality also leaves much to be desired.
Broadcast Settings
After installing Open Broadcaster, you should choose the language to work. Image quality and bit rate are set in the "Encoding" tab. Filming of the broadcast will depend on this tab. Before you configure Twitch, you must adjust the settings to the speed of the Internet. A balance of quality and bit rate should be found for optimal performance.
Going to the "Broadcasting" section, you need to select "Twitch / Justin", and then enter the stream key. This will enable the system to select the optimal server for the user. You can find out the key on the Twitch website in the broadcast section.
Next, the video and sound tabs are configured. The user must choose the appropriate parameters. This completes the channel setup. The future streamer should restart the program.
To start the broadcast, you need to launch Open Broadcaster and launch the "Scenes" tab. Then the source of capture is indicated. The broadcast game must be running in windowed mode. In the program, “window capture” is selected and “start” is pressed. Stream started successfully.
Total
Understanding what Twitch is, many draw bright prospects for making money for any gamer. You can share not only your successes, but also receive monetary incentives for them. Twitch has become a new milestone in the development of e-sports, and this is already noticeable.