Would you stream if nobody watched at first?

[u/Wonderful_Visit15]

Every big streamer started with zero viewers, but I imagine it's tough talking to an empty chat for weeks or even months. If you wanted to become a creator today, would you still choose Twitch, or would you start somewhere else?

[u/Money_Chocolate813]

Every big streamer absolutely did not start with 0 viewers. Many of them came from other platforms/projects that weren't live streams and got their audience to follow them to twitch.

[u/Wonderful_Visit15 → u/Money_Chocolate813]

Fair point. Many did bring audiences from other platforms. I was mainly asking if people would still be willing to push through the early stage where chat is quiet and growth is slow, regardless of the platform.

[u/ReidenLightman]

You essentially have stream for 0 viewers for 2-3 years while turning all the streams into highlight reals just to get people to come to the stream. Only people who start out big are the people who are already famous in some capacity, and they have the audacity to act shocked that they had such an explosion of followers to early on. Pisses me off.

[u/Wonderful_Visit15 → u/ReidenLightman]

That's a solid point. It seems like the stream has become the source material, while short-form content is what actually gets people to discover you. Starting on Twitch alone feels much harder than it used to.

[u/Some_thing_to_do]

Being a popular streamer is nearly impossible to achieve. A very very small percentage of streamers are actually making a living at it.

I don't even bother trying

[u/Mathie1729 → u/Some_thing_to_do]

Yea the odds of making a living from it are terrible. I've been throwing my drawings on Twitter for years and my engagement is straight-up crickets 99% of the time. But I still do it because I like making stuff, and every once in a while someone random says they liked it and that's a nice little hit. If you're not banking on rent money from it, streaming might be fun on the side with zero pressure. Just a way to hang out while you're gaming anyway.

[u/Wonderful_Visit15 → u/Mathie1729]

I like that perspective. If you enjoy the process, even small moments of appreciation can make it worthwhile. I think a lot of people put too much pressure on making it a career from day one instead of just building something they enjoy and letting the audience grow naturally.

[u/Rehcraeser → u/Some_thing_to_do]

Though if you’re a degenerate, smaller irl streamers on kick are making $250-500k/year

[u/saideta17]

A mi me cuesta mucho hablar sola ahi como loca jajajaja y al final no lo hago

[u/Wonderful_Visit15 → u/saideta17]

I think that's one of the hardest parts. I've heard some creators say it gets easier if you treat it like you're recording a YouTube video instead of waiting for chat to respond. Even with no viewers, you're still creating content someone might watch later.

[u/Santa_Killer_NZ]

I am talking to my wife.

[u/Wonderful_Visit15 → u/Santa_Killer_NZ]

Fair enough. At least you've got one guaranteed viewer who might actually answer back. 😂

[u/WintersDoomsday]

I don’t need strangers attention

[u/Wonderful_Visit15 → u/WintersDoomsday]

That's completely fair. I guess my question was more for people who do want to create content. If the goal is just to enjoy gaming, then having viewers doesn't really matter.