A lot of people wonder what streamers actually do. What does streaming mean? What exactly is the job description of a streamer? From personal experience I can give you a look into the life of a streamer somewhat. My journey is still in progress and by no means is the norm, because to be honest there isn’t one. Streaming is different for each and every individual that attempts to do it. Today we will look at some of the different aspects of streaming and why it’s becoming insanely popular.
So to get an idea from the newer generation I decided to have a chat with my nine-year old daughter. In this conversation I asked her why did she like to watch streams. Her response was enlightening and I realized I related to her answer a lot. She told me that she likes to watch people play games that she doesn’t have. Thinking about her answer I realized that this was the reason that I started watching streams in the first place. What’s better than getting a game review from a normal person that you can relate to? Nobody likes to spend upwards of 60 dollars to get a game they may end up feeling they wasted money on. Another reason people love watching streamers is to see some incredible professional level gameplay.
People I used to look up to as some of the top players in the Halo tournament scene are now streamers. There is something about watching someone who is really good at a game doing stuff that should be on montages live. One of the major factors for me is entertainment value. Even if you are really good at the game you have to be somewhat interesting to keep the interest of the viewers. Some of the streamers that I like to watch CinnamontoastKen, Buffpro, CDNthe3rd, and Ninja are some of the most entertaining streamers in my opinion. Shameless promo for these guys go look them up on Twitch. A lot of game developers have their own Twitch channels as well to stream important tournaments and game updates on their channels. Riot is one of those companies that have made a league for their game League of Legends which streams every weekend. Channels like these are very popular in their own rights.
There are a number of different reasons streamers decide to stream. Some just want to share their experiences with others. Gaming is a way to share good times among friends and some streamers, myself included, consider their viewers as friends. My journey personally started after being diagnosed with ESRD(end stage renal disease). I always had a love for gaming and with a lot more time on my hands after the diagnosis I decided I wanted to share my gaming experiences with others. Some start streaming as a part-time hobby hoping to eventually upgrade it into full-time and a way to make a living. First and foremost to me is the idea of always having fun. If you are having fun streaming games then you are taking away from your own love of games.
You don’t necessarily have to play videos game to be a successful streamer. You can do art. Cooking, or just hang out in real life. The way you decide to stream is up to you as long as you meet the requirements set by the platform you decide to stream on. Honestly a lot of time and hard work goes into becoming a streamer. It seems like it would be just playing games but there is so much more involved. You have to be able to network and promote your stream. These are two of the things which I am working on myself at the moment. I feel like you need to network and promote to get people to your channel and then once they are there the entertainment and content come into play.
With streaming becoming so popular here lately, it has also gained a lot of monetary value as well. Many big name streamers are actually sponsored by different companies that aren’t just video game companies. Some are sponsored by tech giants such as Samsung. Many as you would expect have sponsorship ties to companies that deal with gaming computers. You have some that are sponsored by food delivery companies such as GrubHub. You can even get some money off by entering the special code provided by the streamer. You would be surprised how much money you can save on some discount offers by companies that you get from watching a streamer. Some streamers even get paid to play games as an ad for the games release or major updates. Apex Legends had many big name streamers doing sponsored streams the first day of the release.
There are many different ways that streaming provides a source of revenue it just takes the work to find it and work out the details. A lot of the specifics escape me because I have yet to come to that point in my career. The journey is not a simple straight path. If it was a lot more people would do it.
Thanks for reading!
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