The Truth About Variety Streaming: Why You're Stuck at 0 Viewers

[00:00] No other words for it it's boring  it's repetitive and if you ever   If you're lucky it's usually much worse than half!

[00:13] The thing is you and almost every small streamer  or Creator want to be variety streamers but you   also misunderstand what variety actually means and  because of that misunderstanding you struggle to   you never grow your average viewership and you  stay small streamers so instead do we just stream  

[00:32] the same thing every day and deal with it God no  because playing one game forever as I said sucks   worse than my vacuum cleaner when I was a curious  teenager so let's talk about what variety actually   is and the best way to grow your average viewers  as a variety streamer because you see before I  

[00:46] even started this YouTube channel I managed to get  over 80 average viewers as a variety streamer how   do they do that well I'll tell you in a second  but first speaking of variety let me tell you   about the best way to use a variety of different  overlays own.tv I want to say thank you to our  

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[01:31] keep making these videos so thank you so much so  your idea of variety is fundamentally wrong you   think a variety of streamer plays what they want  when they want and if you're a variety streamer  

[01:44] you might be playing Minecraft today but tomorrow  you're streaming Call of Duty Warzone which is   that still a game or is there a new one now I I'm  old and I have a wife I don't know anymore but the   truth is variety doesn't mean playing different  games all the time and when I tell you to Niche  

[01:57] down you guys think I mean playing a single game  forever and I promise you niching isn't playing a   single game forever so yes variety does mean you  do different types of content but as a variety  

[02:09] streamer you still have what I call a target  audience or a key demographic AKA a specific   type of person that you will make content for I  want you to think of niching down as picking a key  

[02:21] demographic of people who enjoy the same types of  content if you can Define who your audience is and   what they like to watch what content they already  watch and what games or Hobbies they have then it   becomes incredibly easy to make content that would  appeal to them most of your Gamers so let's look  

[02:37] at a content creator who is a gamer let's look at  Point crew for example if we ignore everything he   has going for him such as the YouTube channel and  whatnot and just focused on his content well then   we can say that he mainly plays breath of the  wild if we put breath of the wild right now  

[02:50] in the middle as a core game we can map out the  other games that overlap and where the audience   connects so someone who likes breath of the wild  likely enjoys other Nintendo games they probably   own a switch which means they probably like Mario  Odyssey and probably like Pokemon on people who  

[03:05] play these games also probably play popular indie  games on that switch as well such as Hollow Knight   but then we have to think about how he packages  that content Point Crow mostly does challenges   and speedruns so viewers who enjoy those  categories will most likely enjoy any content  

[03:18] that he packages as challenge or a speedrun  while you might disagree with me I actually   consider Point Crow a variety streamer because he  has a wide variety of content but he is targeting   a specific key demographic that enjoys Nintendo  Indie challenges and speedrunning content I want  

[03:34] you watching this to comment down below what your  map of content or games are going to be what set   of games all has an overlapping audience do they  all play strategy Sims and watch smarter every   day on YouTube or do they love anime and only play  those anime games on Steam don't be coy you know  

[03:48] exactly which ones I mean that is the actionable  tip consider what your mind map is going to be and   write it down even if you don't want to comment  that's okay I just need you guys to think about   this and take an action here so the video  actually helps you in some way so put it down  

[04:01] on paper so you understand properly roughly what  the games are and how they overlap it's not just   lots of ways I've personally lost viewers or seen  streamers lose viewers while trying to be variety  

[04:15] one of the big ones is just not finishing games  I know that sounds weird and this isn't always   a big deal but if you pick up a playthrough and  your viewers get invested into that playthrough   and then you don't finish it sometimes viewers can  feel let down or disappointed or blue balled it's  

[04:33] like watching a movie but the ending never happens  you really would get blue ball obviously this   isn't always the case sometimes it's better to  abandon a playthrough if nobody likes it or if you   just aren't enjoying it anymore like if you got  stuck on the same Dark Souls 3 boss for a week of  

[04:46] streams and eventually have to give up that would  be pretty embarrassing but it's not like that's   ever happened to me or anything like that but  think about your content and just make the right   choice when you feel that it's time to move on  and remember people need a big payoff so if you've  

[05:01] been playing Minecraft for a few weeks maybe blow  your entire world up with TNT and let your viewers   climax another massive mistake is switching games  or content every single night or every time you   go live this is the main mistake new creators  make they stream something different every time  

[05:16] they hit that go live button I know I've certainly  made this mistake as well and it can be rough even   if you're streaming multiple games in the same  demographic for example Legend of Zelda one night   Mario another night and then Pokemon another night  that's still switching too much if you don't agree  

[05:30] with this that's fine but imagine this you like  watching Survivor every single night I don't know   if that show is still on air but let's just roll  with it for now every night you sit down to watch   the new episode of Survivor but it's a completely  different season different cast but the same host  

[05:43] it's still what you wanted but not the thing  you really wanted now imagine you love watching   Survivor every night and you come back but instead  randomly on Friday night rather than Survivor it's   Master Chef ooh yuck you don't want to watch that  delicious food is gross I want sweaty tired angry  

[06:00] white people stabbing each other in the back on  a beach that is how viewers feel when they come   to your stream expecting the same consistent  content but are met with things outside of that   if your goal is growth specifically then you need  to make sure you appeal to their expectations the  

[06:14] actionable tip is to be as consistent as possible  don't switch every single night try to plan out a   week or two worth of content in your mind map and  then focus on getting that done let viewers get   invested before you bail and move on to something  else and make sure they climax but at the end of  

[06:28] the day that is still technically niching down  and you guys want to be full variety you want to   be able to go live and do whatever you want which  means that your actual goal at the end of the day   is to have your viewers become invested in you  that is the true definition of a variety streamer  

[06:42] is when you can go live and they're coming back  for you not for the game or the content you're   producing one day you want to be able to go live  with a title and a go live notification entirely   focused on you and your personality and that  gets more clicks than any game or content would  

[06:56] but that takes a lot of time and consistency to  have viewers become consistent like that but one   of the best ways I found to slowly transition your  audience from being there to see you play whatever   game or make a specific type of content is with  the magical world of just chatting once you have a  

[07:12] small audience watching you for a specific type of  content let's say you play Animal Crossing you'll   go live as totally normal tell them you're playing  Animal Crossing and set your category to Animal   Crossing as well this means your go live will say  hey I'm doing the Animal Crossing content like you  

[07:26] want but during that stream make chat a focus  for you start lots of conversations and treat   the stream more like 50 Animal Crossing 50 just  chatting set a standard of chat interaction being   the main or the big focus of the stream and then  once you've done this for a little while you'll  

[07:41] go live as totally normal and again tell them that  you're playing Animal Crossing set your category   to it as well have the loading screen open or  be sat on your Island but don't start playing   the game straight away talk to those Chatters  or regulars who come in at the start talk about  

[07:56] your day talk about games or whatever you and your  audience enjoy when that chat starts to slow down   a little bit start the gaming content and jump in  like you normally would you'll repeat this process   and build a standard or routine that at the start  of your streams you do a lot of chatting at first  

[08:11] this might not go perfectly you might see a lot of  low chat interaction and that's totally fine the   goal is to build up a standard or set a routine  that at the start of your streams you do a lot   of chatting and they still get to see the game  and be involved in it eventually you'll take the  

[08:24] plunge and go live in the just chatting category  and actually just chat to your community if you've   done the transition right carefully and to be  honest very very slowly then you'll eventually   be able to have your audience Rock up for you in  just chatting the actionable tip try to make the  

[08:40] content more than just commentating on what's  happening in the game add your own personality   into it anyone can sit there and commentate what's  happening on screen very very few people can be   personable engaging strike up conversations and  make jokes with a live audience that's all well  

[08:54] and good but the dirty little secret is that  most of the hard work has already been done   for you that's right you don't have to put any  effort into this whole situation you don't even   need to build your own mind map you don't need  to come up with your own variety of content that  

[09:09] targets a key demographic or who that audience is  Big creators have already built out entire mind   maps of content that worked they've experimented  and failed they've experimented and succeeded and   all of that is easy for you to use to inform  yourself about what type of content you should  

[09:25] make remember how we looked at pointcro if you are  hoping to make content just like him well the Mind   map is done or if you want to make content similar  to someone like ambiguous and Vivian you can go   to his channel and see Survival Games The Sims  rimworld Zoo Tycoon management games and of course  

[09:40] packaging it as a challenge I am not telling you  to copy big creators I repeat I am not telling you   to copy big creators but you can see that they've  found a niche or a key demographic a target  

[09:52] audience they've created content that appeals to  that demographic and if you want to make that type   type of content or similar to it well you can use  their channels as a way of understanding who your   audience would be the actionable tip is to pick  two or three big creators that are established  

[10:07] and create a mind map of their content the games  they chose the style they make and their top 10   best performing videos you'll start to understand  that they aren't just one game they are variety   of course as always this isn't the only way to  grow as a streamer these are just the ways that  

[10:21] worked for me and others I know this isn't meant  to tell you what you have to do but instead give   you some more tools and ideas to help you grow  if you have any tips or ideas comment them down   below I love reading them all I'm also going  to go through all of your mind maps that you  

[10:33] video here about how to encourage more active  Chatters in your stream see you guys next week