Short-Form Content for Twitch Growth — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:02] Well, here's the harsh truth. Twitch isn't built to help new streamers get discovered. There is no algorithm, no push, and no chance for random growth. If you want people to find your stream, you've got to bring them in yourself.

[00:15] And right now, the best way to do that is short form content. Tik Tok, YouTube shorts, Instagram reels, these platforms want to show your content to new people. So, in this video, I'm going to give you the only shorts guide you'll ever need.

[00:31] Plus, I'm also going to show you how to make a week's worth of highquality clips in under an hour using today's sponsor, Nexus Clips. More on that later. Hi, my name is Barry Eps. I'm a cryptographer turned content creator and Twitch

[00:44] partner looking to help you grow your channel the right way. Short form content is the best way to get discovered, and that is because you are finding your viewers where they already are. I asked you how you find the

[00:56] streams you want to watch and 62% of you said you just check your follow channels. 21% said by recommendation either by Twitch or a friend and 17% of you said you regularly browse for new channels using the categories. So you

[01:12] don't find new viewers on Twitch. You simply don't. But your viewers are spending hours on Tik Tok, YouTube shorts, and Instagram reels, swiping through content that makes them laugh, gasp, or double tap. Short form content

[01:25] puts your personality, gameplay, or moments right in front of them without them needing to search for you. The question is, how do you make that viral short form content that works for your channel? And for that, you need to know

[01:38] the analytics that really matter. First, the easy one, average percentage watched. As the name might suggest, of all the viewers that see your short, how watch? There will be a lot of people

[01:52] that watch your short for a few seconds until they realize it's not for them and almost the whole thing, but when they understood or saw what they were there for, they will scroll on. Getting a good

[02:04] average view duration is crucial to going viral with your shorts, but it's not the only thing that matters. Look, platforms such as YouTube and Tik Tok their website for the longest time possible. So, what do you think is

[02:21] better? A 30-cond short with an average 90% viewed or a 50-second short with an average 70% viewed? Well, if you said the first one, then you are wrong because the second video is longer. 70% of that video is more than 90% of the

[02:39] short video. So, what are the actual numbers? If you're doing shorts that are under 15 seconds, you might be screwed. Unless you make content that is so funny or interesting it needs to be rewatched at least twice for the full experience,

[02:53] these shorts are doomed to fail. For shorts between 15 and 30 seconds, you are looking at an APV of 90 to 95% for them to really hit the algorithms well. While for a short between the 40 and 60 seconds, that percentage only has to be

[03:09] 75 to 80%. But that doesn't mean these longer shorts need to be any less action-packed. How you edit your shorts to maximize the retention, which is what the average percentage views measures, is a little magic, and I'll show you the

[03:23] three things that viral creators do to make their retention amazing in a bit. First, we need to have a look at the second analytic that matters. Average view percentage was all about retention. Once your viewers are watching, how long

[03:37] do they stay? But to get people to keep watching, they first have to start. And that is exactly what the viewed versus swipe percentage shows you. When you appear on screen, if someone swipes away within 2 seconds, they do not count as a

[03:50] view. If they stay any longer, and that really isn't much more than a second, they are counted as a view. And when you are making a short, it is therefore the first three seconds that are the most important to focus on. A good short

[04:04] needs to hit at least 70 to 75% viewed versus swiped. While viral shorts often versus swiped. While viral shorts often get 80 to 85% viewed versus swipe ratio. That is why one of your biggest challenges that you face as a creator is

[04:18] long enough to have them count as a view. You need to work to make them not swipe away by hooking your viewers in really well. That takes time to learn, though, and requires you to put in a lot of reps of making bad shorts for a

[04:33] while. And that is not something all creators can afford. Before I can show you how you can make a whole week's worth of content in less than an hour, we first need to talk about the most difficult part of short form content,

[04:46] the 300 viewer trap. The truth is, if you get 300, 500, or even a thousand views on your shorts, that's actually not that good. Unlike long- form content where you make a thumbnail, give it a title, and people click your video to

[05:00] watch it, shorts don't get clicked. To find out if your video is good, they need to find viewers that like the topic you are talking about. To do that, the platform needs to serve your video to 300 people and check if they scroll

[05:13] past, watch, or react to your videos. Your video will get points and once it crosses 50 points, that is when it will be shown to a,000 people. The platform then waits for points again and serves it up to more people if it crosses the

[05:27] threshold again. At the time of writing this video, this is how the point system works. A like gives you one point. A comment gives you two points. A share gives you three points. Watching the whole short gives you four points. And

[05:41] if somebody watches the short again, that gives you five points. That means the easiest way to get a lot of points is when people watch it all the way to the end and then some. If people scroll by instead of watching, they are not

[05:55] going to do any of it. Luckily, there is a structure to every short that will work for everyone. And it comes in three simple steps. Step one, the hook. The is to stop the scroll. So the first

[06:10] thing your viewer sees or hears has to be something scroll stopping. You only should be watching, otherwise they're gone. And make sure you are direct. That is why I start many of my shorts with

[06:23] streaming tips for noobs part X. I've just told you what you will get. Streaming tips and who these tips are for. new streamers and that is enough to keep people engaged. You can do the exact same thing with your videos. What

[06:37] you use as the opening is up to you, but it is important that it is punchy and leaves the viewer with a need to know. Am I crazy or is this not supposed to happen? And then you go to show a game-breaking bug or I didn't think this

[06:51] would actually work before doing something insane. Once you've got your viewers captured, it is now time to deliver on the promise you set out with your hook. That is your only goal for the rest of the video, but you're going

[07:04] to do that with good storytelling. One of my favorite movies of all times is Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It starts off very innocent. A investigate the disappearance of a patient. As the investigation unfolds,

[07:19] Teddy becomes increasingly suspicious of the hospital staff and believes they are hiding something sinister. But then it turns out that Leo is not there for the reason he thinks he is, which completely redefineses everything that happens in

[07:33] the movie. I watched Shuddter Island one night and was so shocked that I had to rewatch the whole movie again the day after. It is these twists that make us stick to a good story every single time. And the same counts for short form

[07:47] content. Show your viewers a little bit of the opposite what is supposed to happen. Like when you are fighting Melania, you can show yourself dying again and again and again. You need to

[08:00] deliver the twist to keep people interested and invested in your success. But once you've told your story, your content is there. It's time to deliver. It's time for the epic explosion, the payoff. And that is step three of this

[08:14] framework. At the end of the video, you need to have fulfilled your promise. The hook set out. That is where you show the final strike against Melania and your reaction to finally beating her. But watch out. Once you've given the payoff,

[08:28] it's time to end your short. And because it is a short, every second counts. Just going on for one or two seconds longer can cost you 5% of your average percentage watched. And as we said earlier, that can be the difference

[08:42] between a viral hit and an early grave for your short. Keeping to this structure gives you a very good system to create shorts. But that is because most shorts have some amazing retention hacks built right into their editing.

[08:55] The first thing that you notice when you open a good short is that the most viral creators are able to create a double hook. Not only do they tell you what the video is going to be about, they're also showing it in a little card to double

[09:08] down on the power of the hook. The second thing that they do is probably the most important one. You need to have captions for everything. And you need this for two very different reasons. One, when people watch shorts, it is

[09:22] waiting in line at the supermarket, or when they're on the toilet. Okay, except where it can be hard to hear what's going on in the shorts. The captions mean that your audience doesn't need to hear exactly what you say because it

[09:37] doesn't really matter as they can read along and still understand what's going on. And two, the captions are always animated because that creates a point of movement. Humans are just like T-Rexes in that. You lose interest unless you

[09:51] can see something moving. These captions help to create more movement and can help you keep your audience interested even when you're still setting up the point. Finally, you will often see a little banner come up with their channel

[10:04] name on Twitch, YouTube, or both. They do this because then they don't need to spend precious seconds on telling you about their channels. They can just show you and hope you see it. This keeps a short compact and raises your average

[10:17] percentage watched. You might think to yourself right now, that all looks really hard. you've not edited before and then you need to learn that on top of your already busy schedule of work, streaming, and real life. Or you find

[10:31] editing boring and just thinking about it makes you want to take a nap. Trust me, me too. Wouldn't it be incredible if you could make a short for every day of the week in less than an hour without you having to scrub your stream, find a

[10:44] clip, edit a clip, generate captions, and all that jazz. That's exactly where Nexus Clips comes in. Nexus Clips help streamers like you turn your Twitch moments into short, powerful clips that are perfect for platforms like Tik Tok,

[10:57] Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts. Instead of grinding hours live with no growth, Nexus Clips lets your best moments work for you, even when you're offline. It automatically pulls highlights from your stream, lets you

[11:11] tools to post them across multiple platforms, so you're being discovered 24/7 instead of only when you are live. All you need to do is log in, add your Twitch account, and it immediately starts scanning all your future streams

[11:25] for good clippable moments and even gives you a virality score. So, you can see the chance that these go viral before you even start editing. The editing process is super easy as well. You choose a format and it will

[11:37] automatically add titles, subtitles, and a call to actions for you, which you can, of course, style to fit your brand and preference. I've been using Nexus Clips myself to make short form content. I love using their editor and clearly

[11:51] it's working. Some of my clips have gotten well over a hund,000 views. If channel, then you can check out Nex Clips right now. I've left a code in the

[12:03] And if you choose to sign up through that link, you are supporting the channel. Thank you Nexus Clips for sponsoring this video. Just like this, you are ready to create amazing short form content and watch your channel

[12:16] explode. But what if you can't get clips from your stream that are entertaining? What if you, just like me when I started, struggled with being entertaining and being able to keep people engaged? Then check out this

[12:28] video right here where I show you how Kaisunat, Jinxy, Queso, and soon you become as entertaining as they are. And as always, stream better, stream