Introduction

We wanted to find what tactics were optimal in finding success on the platform Twitch. There are many different avenues to take in terms of fostering an audience, and many different theories from top streamers on what strategies are ideal. Specifically, we wanted to figure out when the optimal time was to co-stream, how optimal it was to bandwagon on new releases and drama, and if there is any importance to diversifying your content as a creator.

Our Network

⊕Our network with the “Just Chatting” category pulled from the center to illustrate certain links between nodes

Initially, we all had our own thoughts about what tactics were key on Twitch. It seemed like being creative with new, innovative content would lead to growth, as it would make you stand out from the rest. We theorized that networking would be beneficial to short term growth, but not for maintaining viewership. Rather, our main theory was that having a finger on the pulse on drama, new releases, and new content was key to finding an audience. It seemed like factors that made you stand out were the most important in having success on twitch.

Our Findings

This network shows the relationship between every game played by the top 50 streamers from 2018-22. There are 8 main categories that make up the majority of streamed games. These categories consists of collaborative, continuously updated games & environments. This collaborative nature allows for different creators to interact with each other, hone their skills, and express their personalities to new viewers through networking. This demonstrates that large events for content might prove for a good way to spike viewership, a consistent game that can be played at any time for a large viewer base may prove to be more successful in the long run. The ability to have a game that has infinite hours to pour into helps increase consistency for new streamers.

⊕Our network with the 8 largest nodes pulled apart

In this Network11 [The Big 8: Chatting, Apex Legends, Fortnite, Fall Guys, Minecraft, League of Legends, Grand Theft Auto, & World of Warcraft], we pulled apart “the big 8” games that resemble what content has dominated Twitch from 2018-2022.

Top 50 Players & Their Audiences

⊕This linegraph depicts our top 50 streamers and their viewer peaks througout January 2018-November 2022. We can see trends of increased viewership during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The Significance of Time

Below, we have compiled a timeline that sources factors that could have affected streaming for the better or the worse. we have separated them into 5 categories to simply visualization of this data.

⊕The first timeline depicts videogame releases from the month of January 2018 to November 2022 Notable appearances include(s) Fall guys, COD Warzone Beta, Apex Legends, Genshin Impact, Among Us, & Elden Ring.

⊕The second timeline depicts conventions/community events that occured from January 2018 to November 2022. Notable events include(s) E3, TwitchCon, Minecon, & Comicon.

⊕The third timeleine depicts game updates and their newfound popularity played from January 2018 to November 2022. As we can see, there are a few notable games that consistently updated month to month, Apex Legends is one that was fairly consistent through the years displayed.

⊕The fourth timeline is all about the news throughout the months of 2018-2022. We wanted to see if there were any correlation behind pop-culture, social justice, or political events that would affect twitch in any way. Some events had more of an effect than others, The Twitch Banning incidence, Blizzard’s Scandal, COVID-19, & The Johnny Depp Amber Heard defamation trial are a few notable events that made the list.

⊕Our fith and final timeline displays the peak of each game/topic per month from January 2018 to November 2022. Some games performed well over certain periods of time, we noticed peaks of Among Us played during the COVID-19 lockdown, The “Just Chatting” topic performing well during the social justice struggles of 2020, and Warzone performing well as a battle royale multiplayer.

These graph illustrate unexpected results. While there are many events that occur monthly on the Twitch platform that affect viewership numbers, the increase in numbers are almost directly relational to already popular streamers. If a hot topic drama was being covered by streamers, the top streamers were the ones who gained viewership. However, newer streamers covering drama were not given the opportunity to benefit in the same way. A similar case can be seen for new releases. While anyone can stream a new game, only those with an established viewer base truly benefited from the spike in viewership, as they are directly tied to the popularity of a game that has already peaked. Therefore we see that hopping onto a hot topic may be a tactic to gain short term success, but having a consistent game to fall back on proves to be more important in the long run.

Our Takeaways

Contrary to our original assumptions, most of the top 50 streamers have maintained their success due to consistent streaming and playing popular games. Collaborating with larger streamers seems to be a gateway to success, but only when the content being played can be linked back to your own consistent games that you stream. Being a bandwagon on new releases and participating in drama is only beneficial for already successful creators, while for new streamers it only results in short term success. Lastly, unique content and diverse game-play is not promoted nearly as much as we thought it. Consistency out rules diverse content creation.

Growing on Twitch is a process that seems to largely revolve around networking, playing what is consistently popular, and growing a fanbase on platforms other than solely Twitch. The top 50 streamers largely reflect the landscape of Twitch as a whole, that creativity and uniqueness is less important than the numbers of hours streamed. This is in direct contrast to a website like YouTube, where most growth is gained through unique, highly produced content that targets trends and niche subjects.

Through one way or another, an audience must be introduced to your personality. From there, consistent high energy streams are needed to maintain steady growth. Most of the top 50 streamers have a consistent streaming schedule, which means viewers can plan on when they want to watch. If streamers have content planned, they usually do not let the preparation of that content get in the way of the consistent streaming, or else the content may be a net negative on viewership. 

In essence, streaming on Twitch is a game of retention, where everyone’s experience is slightly different due to differing personalities, games played, or ways in which they enter the streaming environment. But in order to emulate the top 50 streamers and their tactics, you must minimize creative content to exclusively side projects, while focusing on putting large amounts of hours into popular multiplayer online games. Gaining a solid foundation of viewers will then allow you to branch off to your own content.