Twitch
- Best for
- Gaming and Just Chatting. The biggest live audience for both.
- Getting found
- Hard at zero viewers. Categories put the biggest channels first.
- Pays from
- 50 followers and 3 average viewers (Affiliate).
Streamer guide
How to become a streamer and actually get found.
Seven steps from nothing to your first stream, your first followers and your first payout. You don't have to be a gamer. Written for anyone starting with a console, a PC or just a phone, and zero audience.
- 01Pick a platformOne place to go live
- 02Pick what you streamGames or not, a lane you can be seen in
- 03Use the gear you ownUpgrade audio first, later
- 04Set up OBSThree scenes, one settings sheet
- 05Run your first streamA checklist you can tick off
- 06Get found with clipsThe step most guides skip
- 07Get paidAffiliate numbers, per platform
Step 01 / 07
Pick one platform to go live on.
You can post clips everywhere, but live is one chat, one community. Choose by where your kind of stream already has viewers.
YouTube
- Best for
- People who will also post videos and Shorts on the same channel.
- Getting found
- Search and recommendations keep working after you go offline.
- Pays from
- 500 subscribers for memberships and Super Chat.
Kick
- Best for
- A smaller pond. Fewer viewers, but far fewer streamers to compete with.
- Getting found
- Easier to reach the first row of a category with a handful of viewers.
- Pays from
- Subs, with 95% going to you. The entry bar is lower than Twitch's.
TikTok Live
- Best for
- Phone-first and real-life streams, and mobile games.
- Getting found
- Lives are pushed into the For You feed, so strangers do wander in.
- Pays from
- Gifts, once you can go live (1,000 followers in most regions) and are 18 or older.
If you can't decide: go live on Twitch for games or chatting, YouTube if you'll also post videos, TikTok if it's you and a phone. Post your clips on all of them. Step 6 covers how.
Step 02 / 07
Stream something you can be seen in.
It doesn't have to be a game. Whatever you choose, the biggest categories are the worst place to start: thousands of channels are live at once, and a new one lands at the very bottom of the list.
- Run the scroll test. Open the category at the hour you'd stream. If it takes more than a few screens to reach channels under 10 viewers, pick a smaller one.
- Pick something you can do for 100 hours. You'll need to. Boredom shows on stream.
- Have one angle. A ranked climb, learning guitar from zero, cooking through one cookbook. "Playing games" or "just chatting" is not an angle.
A top-5 category
thousands live- Big channel48K
- Big channel31K
- Big channel22K
- ···
- ···
- You0
Nobody scrolls that far.
A mid-size category
a few dozen live- Channel310
- Channel84
- Channel12
- You2
- Channel1
- Channel0
Two viewers puts you on the first screen.
Talk
Just Chatting
Stories, hot takes, reacting to videos with chat. One of Twitch's biggest categories.
Out of the house
IRL
Walking a city, travel, events, the gym. A phone and mobile data is the whole rig.
Make something
Creative
Drawing, music, cooking, building, coding. Viewers stay to see it finished.
Keep company
Co-working
Study-with-me and work sessions. Low talking, steady regulars, easy to run daily.
Or
Games
Still the largest audience. Pick one where a small channel can be seen.
Step 03 / 07
Start with the gear you already own.
Nobody has ever left a stream because the webcam was 720p. Spend nothing until you've streamed ten times, then upgrade in this order.
What you have
A PS5 or Xbox can broadcast to Twitch and YouTube from its own menu. On PC, OBS and your headset mic are enough. On a phone, the Twitch or TikTok app. Not gaming? A phone or a laptop webcam is the whole setup.
- Plug in an Ethernet cable if you can
- 10 Mbps upload is plenty for 1080p
Your voice
Viewers forgive soft video. They don't forgive a mic that crackles, echoes or sits under the game or the music. A USB mic close to your mouth fixes most of it.
- Voice louder than everything else, always
- Add OBS's free noise suppression filter
Light, then camera
A lamp pointed at your face improves any webcam more than a new webcam does. A facecam is optional, but reactions are what get clipped, so it helps.
- Light in front of you, not behind
- A second monitor for chat comes last
Step 04 / 07
Set up OBS in an hour.
OBS Studio is free and it's what most streamers use. You need three scenes and one page of settings. Streaming from a phone or a console? Skip to step 5.
- 01
Install OBS and connect your account
Run the auto-configuration wizard, then sign in under Settings → Stream.
- 02
Build three scenes
Starting soon. Live (your game or your camera, plus mic). Be right back.
- 03
Record ten minutes and watch it back
Check that your voice is clear over everything else and nothing private is on screen.
Settings → Outputsafe defaults
- Resolution
- 1920 × 1080
- Frame rate
- 60 fps
- Video bitrate
- 6,000 kbps
- Encoder
- NVENC / AMF, else x264
- Keyframe interval
- 2 s
- Audio bitrate
- 160 kbps
Upload under 10 Mbps? Use 1280 × 720 at 60 fps and 4,500 kbps.
Turn on VOD saving before you go live. On Twitch it's off by default: Creator Dashboard → Settings → Stream → Store past broadcasts. Even then Twitch deletes them after 7 days (14 for Affiliates), and you can't clip a stream that was never saved.
Step 05 / 07
Run your first stream.
It will be quiet. That's normal. The job of stream one is to finish it, save the VOD and find out what broke.
- Talk the whole time. Say what you're doing and why. Someone who joins a silent stream leaves in seconds.
- Go two to three hours. Long enough to be found, short enough to do again in two days.
- Say hi to every name in chat. Your first ten regulars come from being noticed.
Step 06 / 07 · the one most guides skip
Nobody finds a stream. They find a clip.
Going live is the easy part. A channel with no viewers is invisible while it's live and gone when it ends. A 30-second clip keeps getting shown to strangers for weeks.
Live only
Three hours, seen by whoever scrolled to the bottom
Live directories rank by viewer count. Until you have viewers, the platform has no reason to show you to anyone.
Live + clips
Three hours, plus ten chances to reach new people
TikTok, Shorts and Reels recommend by the video, not the follower count. A good moment from a 2-viewer stream can outrun the stream itself.
Real ChatClipThat clips, cut from real streams →
- 01
Stream
Two to three hours, three days a week, same days every week.
- 02
Paste the VOD link
ChatClipThat reads the speech, audio, video and chat, and pulls out the moments. Gameplay or just you talking. No rewatching three hours.
- 03
Keep the ones that sound like you
Swipe through the clips. Each comes captioned, with a hook title, cut for vertical, square or wide. See every feature.
- 04
Post one a day
Put your channel and schedule in every bio. Viewers who like the clip know when to show up live.
7-day free trial120 processing minutes
Step 07 / 07
Get paid: the numbers to hit.
Each platform unlocks subs, tips or ads at a threshold. Followers come from clips. Average viewers come from a schedule people can rely on.
Twitch Affiliate
All within the same 30 days- Followers50
- Minutes streamed500
- Different days streamed7
- Average viewers3
Unlocks subs, Bits and ads.
Kick Affiliate
The most generous split- Your share of subs95%
- Entry requirementssee dashboard
Kick has changed its entry bar more than once. Your Creator Dashboard shows the current one.
YouTube Partner
First tier: fan funding- Subscribers500
- Public uploads, last 90 days3
- Watch hours, last 12 months3,000
- or Shorts views, last 90 days3M
Ad revenue is a higher tier, starting at 1,000 subscribers.
Requirements checked November 2026. Platforms change them, so confirm in your own dashboard.
Put together
Your first 30 days.
- Week 1
Three streams, same days, same time
Fix what broke after each one. Three a week gets you past Twitch's seven-day requirement with room to spare.
- Week 2
Clip every VOD, post one a day
Same handle on TikTok, Shorts and Reels. Channel link and schedule in each bio.
- Week 3
Make friends your own size
Hang out in the chats of channels with 5 to 50 viewers in your category. Raid one at the end of every stream.
- Week 4
Look at which clips travelled
The moments strangers watched to the end are your content. Plan next month's streams around making more of them.
Not ready to go live?
Start by clipping someone else's stream.
You don't have to be on camera to get started. Some streamers began as clippers, and plenty of clippers never go live at all.
Before you stream
Clip first, stream later.
Cutting other people's streams shows you which moments travel, builds a page that already has followers, and can pay through clipping competitions, where streamers pay clippers per view.
Once you have viewers
Let clippers work for you.
Put up a small budget and let other people post your moments on their pages. Seed it with your own clips so they can see the standard.
Questions
Before you start.
How much does it cost to become a streamer?
Nothing, if you already own a console, a gaming PC or a phone. OBS is free and so are Twitch, YouTube and Kick accounts. The first purchase worth making is a microphone, and only after you've streamed enough to know you'll keep going.
Do I have to stream games to be a streamer?
No. Just Chatting is one of Twitch's biggest categories, and IRL, creative and co-working streams all have audiences. Talking streams also clip well, because the moment is in what you say. A phone or a laptop webcam is enough to start.
Do I need a facecam?
Not for gaming. Plenty of game streamers grow without one. A camera does help clips, because reactions are what people share, so add one when you're comfortable.
How long does it take to reach Twitch Affiliate?
The minimum is seven different stream days inside 30 days. Most of the requirements take care of themselves on a three-a-week schedule. The hard one is averaging three viewers, which is why getting found with clips matters.
How many hours a week should I stream?
Six to nine, split across three set days. A schedule people can remember beats one twelve-hour marathon.
Can I stream from a PS5 or Xbox without a PC?
Yes. Both consoles can broadcast straight to Twitch and YouTube. You lose custom scenes and overlays, and gain a setup that takes five minutes.
Can I start by clipping other streamers?
Yes. Clipping other people's streams teaches you what makes a moment travel, builds a page with an audience before you go live, and can pay through clipping competitions.
How do I turn a stream into TikToks without editing?
Paste the VOD link into ChatClipThat. It finds the moments, adds captions and a hook title, and cuts each one for vertical. You choose which to keep and post.
More on the product: clipping competitions, gaming video clipper, features, pricing.
Already streamed once?
Your first ten clips are sitting in that VOD.
Paste the link and see what ChatClipThat finds. Keep the clips you'd post and leave the rest.
7-day free trial120 processing minutesYou approve every clip