10 Twitch Settings That Are Killing Your Channel (2026)

[00:00] It's 2026. If you're streaming on your

[00:02] channel with default settings, then

[00:04] you're streaming with the handbreak on.

[00:05] Today, I'm showing you 10 different

[00:07] hidden toggles on Twitch and some are

[00:09] off by default. And some of them you may

[00:11] have turned on by mistake. And one of

[00:13] these is the main reason that your

[00:15] Twitch chat is dead. So, let's fix it.

[00:17] First up, let's take a look at the

[00:18] setting that absolutely destroys your

[00:20] chat interaction. If your Twitch chat

[00:21] feels empty, it might be because you're

[00:23] broadcasting from the past. Go to your

[00:25] Twitch channel, go to the top right

[00:26] corner, click your icon, and go to

[00:28] creator dashboard. Then look on the

[00:30] lefth hand side, click on settings, and

[00:32] then click stream. Then you're going to

[00:34] want to find latency mode. Twitch tries

[00:36] to set this latency mode to low latency

[00:38] by default. However, updates to OBS

[00:40] Studio or account resets. [music]

[00:42] Can actually flip this back to normal

[00:44] latency without you knowing. And if

[00:45] you're on normal, then you'll have about

[00:46] 10 to 20 seconds of delay, which means

[00:48] you'll tell a joke, then sit in silence

[00:50] for 20 seconds, and then chat will

[00:52] finally laugh. But that's not a stream.

[00:54] That's a voicemail. So, go in your

[00:56] settings and double check that low

[00:57] latency is selected and don't trust the

[00:59] default. Now, while we're on the topic

[01:01] of fixing chat interaction, if you're a

[01:03] new streamer, then you got to stop using

[01:04] followers only mode. You're absolutely

[01:06] destroying your growth. I see people

[01:08] turn this on because they're scared of

[01:09] the box. But if I find your stream and

[01:11] want to say hi and a popup that says

[01:13] follow for 10 minutes comes up, I'm

[01:15] leaving out the door. You're essentially

[01:16] putting a locked door on an empty store.

[01:18] So, go to your Twitch chat. Go down to

[01:20] the very bottom where you hit the cog

[01:21] wheel chat settings next to the chat

[01:23] button. Then you'll scroll down and

[01:25] you'll see followers only chat. Make

[01:27] sure this is turned off. Use automod to

[01:29] catch the trolls or bots. And don't

[01:31] punish real humans for saying hello.

[01:33] Just go to the top right corner, click

[01:34] your icon, creator dashboard, moderation

[01:37] on the left hand side and settings, and

[01:39] you can customize all your automod stuff

[01:41] here. Now, this next one is actually

[01:42] really dangerous for your content. If

[01:44] you're a new streamer, Twitch actually

[01:45] doesn't save your streams when you press

[01:47] end by default. That means if you had a

[01:48] really good stream yesterday, but you

[01:50] didn't toggle this setting on, then it's

[01:52] going to be gone forever. We fixed this

[01:53] by going to your Twitch channel, going

[01:55] to the top right corner, clicking the

[01:57] icon creator dashboard settings on the

[01:59] left hand side, click it, and then go to

[02:01] stream. And then we're going to scroll

[02:02] down to where you see store pass

[02:04] broadcast. Make sure this is turned on.

[02:06] And while you're here, you might as well

[02:07] enable always publish VODs on because if

[02:10] you don't, then your little past

[02:11] broadcast, aka your streams that you've

[02:13] done, will be hidden by default for all

[02:15] your viewers, which ultimately hurts

[02:16] your discovery, and we don't want that.

[02:18] Now, those settings are all sort of set

[02:19] and forget. But there's a whole other

[02:21] set of settings that you need to check

[02:23] every single time you go live. I'm

[02:25] talking about your bit rate, your mute

[02:26] button, your game audio, and that's why

[02:28] I created the pre-stream cheat sheet.

[02:30] It's the exact Pilots checklist that I

[02:32] use before every single stream, and it's

[02:34] free. The link is in the description

[02:35] down below in the pinned comment. So,

[02:37] grab it, save your stream, and thank me

[02:38] later. Now, let's go back to the

[02:39] dashboard. But this one's a little

[02:41] controversial. We got to talk about

[02:42] raids because you might be blocking your

[02:45] big break on Twitch without knowing. Go

[02:46] to your Twitch channel, go to the top

[02:48] right corner, click your icon, creator

[02:50] dashboard, go to the left hand side,

[02:51] click settings, and then stream. Scroll

[02:54] all the way down until you see raids

[02:56] because sometimes the Twitch safety

[02:58] onboarding you fill out encourages you

[03:00] to lock this down to getting raids from

[03:01] friends only. So, make sure that you

[03:03] don't have any of these checked because

[03:05] if a bigger streamer than you wants to

[03:07] dump their 500 plus viewers to your

[03:09] channel and you have your door locked,

[03:10] then you just cost yourself a

[03:12] career-changing moment. Just make sure

[03:13] to allow raids from channels that meet

[03:15] the following requirements. And you can

[03:16] set these to what you want. I have it

[03:18] set to two because I don't like getting

[03:19] spammed with one person raids cuz that

[03:21] means literally anyone can raid you. But

[03:22] other than that, I like to keep

[03:24] everything pretty clear. You could

[03:25] theoretically change this from 30 to

[03:26] one. So, if you want to do that, you can

[03:28] too. But speaking of bots, if you turned

[03:30] off the follower only mode like we did

[03:32] earlier, then you're going to need a

[03:33] bouncer to make sure that you don't get

[03:34] hit. Here's how to stop those art

[03:36] scammer bots on Twitch without lifting a

[03:38] finger. Go to your Twitch channel, top

[03:40] right corner, click the icon creator

[03:42] dashboard. Look on the left hand side

[03:43] where it says moderation and then hit

[03:45] settings. Then we'll go to automod and

[03:47] message filtering and we're going to

[03:49] click on view advanced settings. Then

[03:51] scroll all the way down until you see

[03:53] block terms and phrases. And this is

[03:55] where you're going to click in this box

[03:57] and you're going to type in all the

[03:58] common phrases that these stupid bots

[04:00] use all the time. Start with things like

[04:01] get famous here, get big follows, buy

[04:04] followers, get cheap viewers, and that

[04:06] filters out about 90% of the bots you're

[04:08] ever going to get. That way, your chat

[04:09] stays clean. You don't have to ban

[04:11] people manually, and you're not

[04:12] distracted from those epic gameplay

[04:14] moments you're getting. Now, the next

[04:15] setting isn't a toggle, but it is a bad

[04:17] habit. Stop using the retro category on

[04:19] Twitch. When you're updating your stream

[04:21] information like this, are you tagging

[04:23] your game correctly? If you're playing

[04:24] Fortnite like this, but your category

[04:26] says just chatting, nobody looking for

[04:28] Fortnite can find you. And if you're

[04:30] playing an older game, don't use the

[04:31] retro category. It's honestly too

[04:33] crowded. You're better off using that

[04:34] specific game in order to get found cuz

[04:37] there's less competition. So, that was

[04:38] an easy one. But for my Twitch

[04:39] affiliates and Twitch partners, this is

[04:41] how you save your attention. Pre-roll

[04:43] ads on Twitch are destroying your

[04:44] discovery. Here's how to fix it. If I

[04:46] click on your stream and I instantly get

[04:48] hit with a 30-se secondond ad, then I'm

[04:50] gone. In order to fix this, go to the

[04:51] top right corner of Twitch, click your

[04:53] icon, go to creator dashboard, then go

[04:55] to monetization on the left and hit ads

[04:57] and go to the ads per hour and change

[05:00] this to exactly 3 minutes. That way, you

[05:02] fully disable those pre-roll ads for

[05:04] incoming viewers whenever people click

[05:06] on your stream. Because interrupting

[05:07] your loyal viewers for a quick 30 or 60

[05:10] seconds every now and then is a lot

[05:11] better than instantly blocking your face

[05:13] to any new viewers that might click on

[05:15] your stream. Now, I know what you're

[05:16] probably thinking. Cody, won't my

[05:17] viewers hate me for running midroll ads?

[05:19] Here's the secret, though. You control

[05:21] the narrative. When you see the ad

[05:23] incoming text appear above your chat

[05:25] room, don't let it upset you. Simply

[05:26] pause the game or do whatever you're

[05:28] doing and tell the chat, "Hey, there's

[05:29] an ad break coming up, so let's use this

[05:31] as a time as a health break instead. We

[05:33] can go grab some water, grab a snack,

[05:35] stretch your legs." Because when you

[05:36] reframe it as a health break instead of

[05:38] just an ad break, nobody complains. You

[05:40] get the revenue, even if it's pennies,

[05:42] the chat stays hydrated, and you don't

[05:44] have to piss your pants, which is half

[05:45] the reason I'm filming on a toilet

[05:46] today, and not because my power's been

[05:48] out for 2 weeks. But this next setting

[05:50] I'm going to show you is the only reason

[05:51] that saved my stream when my internet

[05:53] crashed last time because Twitch has a

[05:55] secret setting that instantly saves your

[05:57] stream when your internet dies. It's

[05:59] [music] called disconnect protection. Go

[06:01] to Twitch, go to the top right corner,

[06:02] click your icon, creator dashboard, then

[06:04] go to the lefth hand side, hit settings,

[06:06] and then stream. And right here at the

[06:08] top, you'll see disconnect protection.

[06:10] Make sure this is enabled. If your

[06:11] internet drops for a second or OBS

[06:13] crashes, instead of ending your stream

[06:15] and kicking out all the viewers you've

[06:16] gotten over the hour or so you've been

[06:18] streaming, Twitch will keep your channel

[06:19] live for about 90 seconds, showing a

[06:22] technical difficulty screen, which gives

[06:24] you time to reboot your router and

[06:25] computer, or restart OBS without losing

[06:27] your viewers. It's literally a

[06:29] lifesaver. So, make sure this is turned

[06:30] on. Now, we need to make sure that the

[06:31] people in your chat are actual real

[06:33] people. Stop letting anonymous accounts

[06:35] on Twitch ruin your stream. Go to

[06:37] Twitch. Click your icon in the top

[06:39] right. Hit creator dashboard. Go to

[06:41] moderation on the left and hit settings.

[06:43] Then go to chatter permissions and then

[06:45] go to view advanced settings. This is

[06:47] where you can set your chat

[06:48] verification. Like if you want to do

[06:50] some chatters must have a verified

[06:52] email. You do it just for the first time

[06:54] chatters in my channel because that's

[06:56] going to be a good firewall for trolls

[06:58] in box which is going to prevent them

[07:00] from spamming in your chat. Could also

[07:01] do phone verification for firsttime

[07:03] chatters for that same reason. But

[07:05] whatever you think is going to be best

[07:06] for your channel, you should at least

[07:07] have some sort of chat verification to

[07:09] prevent the bots and trolls because most

[07:11] bots and trolls will not burn a real

[07:13] phone number just to troll you. That one

[07:15] setting blocks 99% of hate raids before

[07:17] they actually happen. And setting number

[07:19] 10 is the one that's going to make you

[07:20] go viral. You're making it too hard for

[07:22] your viewers to make you famous. Go to

[07:24] your Twitch channel, hit the icon in

[07:25] that top right corner, hit creator

[07:27] dashboard, go to settings on the left,

[07:29] and then hit stream. Scroll down until

[07:31] you find clips. Make sure that enable

[07:33] clips is enabled. But the secret is

[07:35] making sure followers only is off.

[07:38] Because if a random person's watching

[07:39] your stream and finds a funny moment,

[07:41] you want them to clip and share it.

[07:42] That's all the work done for you. If you

[07:44] force them to follow first, then they're

[07:46] not going to bother to share the clip

[07:47] right away. So, let the strangers make

[07:49] you go viral and remove the friction.

[07:51] So, go change those 10 settings. Don't

[07:53] assume they're already set up correctly.

[07:54] And seriously, stop guessing with your

[07:56] tech. Download the free pre-stream cheat

[07:58] sheet right below this video. It's

[08:00] completely free and has stuff we didn't

[08:01] talk about in this video as well. So,

[08:03] grab it in the description below. And if

[08:04] you want to know what streaming gear you

[08:06] should buy, watch this playlist to the

[08:07] side of me. I have so many

[08:08] recommendations in this playlist. So, go

[08:10] give it a watch. My name's Cody and I

[08:12] will see you in the next