How to Be a Successful Streamer: 14 Secrets to Success

The question “how to be a successful streamer” has popped into the heads of everyone who plays video games at least once in their life.

See, the most successful streamers in the world have more in common than you think. There are a lot of ideas, techniques, and strategies they use to grow their stream and increase their revenue. In this article, we compiled all the best lessons you can learn from the world’s best streamers, so you can be a successful streamer too. 

 

Successful streamers put in a lot of preparation 

Successful streams don’t happen randomly. The best streamers know that they need to keep their streams fun, entertaining, and engaging. That’s why they spend countless hours studying previous streams, ideating new concepts, and preparing for the stream before they go on-cam. They also spend a lot of time practicing in front of a mirror, recording themselves, and asking for feedback. 

If you want to be a successful streamer, you need to be willing to put in the work. Going through the non-glamorous parts of your stream, so you can perfect your craft. You need to be a consummate professional. 

 

If you wanna be a successful streamer, you gotta work your ass off

Making it big in streaming doesn’t fall into your lap. PewDiePie, Ninja, and all the other top streamers didn’t sit all day on their couches waiting for success to happen. They made it happen. They worked hard. 

If you’ve been reading our articles, you’ll know by now that succeeding in streaming doesn’t just come from the stream itself. There are a lot of back-end tasks you need to work on. A lot of research, planning, and preparation (see above) go with it. But also a lot of non-streaming and gaming-related stuff you need to do, like marketing, community management, social media, etc. 

Becoming a successful streamer takes a lot of grinding before you reach the top. So be sure to bring all your energy into it. 

 

Running a profitable stream is like running a business 

A lot of streamers want to turn their stream into a project that’ll replace their 9-to-5 job. Something they do full-time and rakes in a lot of money. Almost everyone who streams dreams to be a successful streamer and earn a 7-figure income every year. 

For you to accomplish this goal, you need to treat yourself as a business, not just a passion project or something. You need to not only have a good product (your stream), but you also need a good management strategy in place. That means you need to know how the money is flowing, where it’s being invested, and how you’re growing your income.  

 

You need to innovate a lot to be a successful streamer

Watch all your favorite streamers, and you’ll see how different their first stream is from their current ones. Observe how different everything is – from their setup to their playstyle to their personality. 

That’s because they know it’s important to grow and innovate. What worked before might not work anymore because people love novelty and they get bored easily. This would also explain why there are a lot of one-hit-wonder streamers – gamers who get millions of views and then suddenly vanish into thin air. 

If you want to be a successful streamer, you need to always level up. Come up with new ideas on how to be more engaging, more entertaining, and more likable. That’ll help you keep your current audience and attract new ones consistently. 

 

Keep your ear to the ground 

The fastest way to come up with new ideas and innovations for your stream is by keeping an ear to the ground. Always be in the know about what your audience likes to watch. What trends are catching their attention? Then, come up with ideas on how to integrate this. 

By listening to trends and what your audience wants, it’ll be a hundred times easier to come up with effective ideas to grow your stream and be a successful streamer. 

Your set-up should be the least of your worries

One thing successful streamers know is that your setup is not the most important thing about your project. A lot of them started with their regular gaming PC, a webcam, and earphones with a mic – things you most likely have already. 

The truth is: you can get a million views with a basic setup. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true – you can have the best streaming rig and still, no one would watch your stream. 

The best of the best know that your content is 100x more important than your equipment because people don’t care about your rig (unless that’s your channel’s main topic). 

 

It’s never about your skills 

Here’s the truth every beginner needs to know: you don’t need to be in the top 1% of gamers to start a stream. You don’t need to be the best player to be a successful streamer – you’re not trying to be a world champion.

Streaming is more about being likable, entertaining, and engaging. Those three are different skills from gaming altogether. Watch some of the most viewed streams and you’ll see a lot of average to above-average players who aren’t that far from your skill level – a real testament that you too can succeed in streaming without needing to be a great player. 

 

Relationship building is key to be a successful streamer

One of the skills every streamer needs to master is knowing how to build a relationship with their audience. If you look into the most successful streamers across all platforms, you’ll see that a lot of them engage with their audiences regularly. And they engage like they’ve known each other for years. 

This makes their viewers feel like they’re close friends – making it harder for them to leave and abandon the stream (‘coz who would leave their friends hanging, right?) 

 

You need to know who your audience is

The most common trap unsuccessful streamers fall into is trying to please everybody. They try to do a lot of things all at once, making them look like a poorly remixed mashup of your favorite songs. 

The most successful streamers know that they’re not for everyone. Not everyone would find their streams entertaining – they might even have haters for their personality, but it’s fine. Because they only need to appeal to their target audience to be a successful streamer. 

If you want to succeed, focus on your strengths and what your audience wants. If your audience loves watching your epic fail gaming moments, then keep on giving them those. Don’t turn into a pro-gamer one day, just to appeal to more people. Chances are, you won’t be able to get those viewers and your current audience will stop watching. 

 

Successful streamers have a unique style

PewDiePie has always been comedic and loud on his streams. And a lot of people find his humor funny – as evidenced by his millions in views and earnings. Not a lot of streamers dare to be as flashy as him, that’s why he stands out from the millions of streamers out there. 

If you want to succeed, you need to develop a distinct style that would set you apart from everyone else. This is going to be your secret weapon for success. 

 

Consistency matters if you want to be a successful streamer

Nothing happens overnight. Especially success. Your first stream won’t have a million views in an instant. Hell, you might not even break 50 views on your first hundred streams. And a hundred views might come at stream number 200. 

Successful streamers know this. And yet, they stayed consistent. They kept on streaming even if no one was watching. They kept going online even if it took months (even years) before they got their first check. 

They kept on going because they understood they had to be consistent first before they could be successful streamers. 

 

You can’t accomplish everything alone 

Your success will never be all yours. It will be because of different people – your mentors, your competitors, your partners, and everyone else around you. You need all these people to help you on your journey, so we suggest you start making a list! 

Look for successful streamers you want to learn from. Break down their streams and take notes. Reach out, ask questions, and build a relationship. Make them your mentors. 

Look for streamers who are on the same journey as you. Use them as a benchmark and chase them. Have healthy competition with them and let them push you to be a successful streamer. You can also turn these competitors into allies by collaborating with them and working together to grow your streams. 

Look for brands whom you’d want to endorse and partner with. Add value to their campaigns, and you’ll be rewarded handsomely. 

Start reaching out to the different people who can help in your journey to be a successful streamer. 

 

There is more than one way to be a successful streamer 

The richest streamers don’t just have one income stream – they have plenty. That’s because they know they can compound their money better if they’re rewarded not with the time and effort they put in, but with the value they create.

This is why you’ll see a lot of streamers dabble in content creation, merchandising, and even coaching. 

You can check out this article if you want to learn about the different ways to earn as a streamer. 

 

The algorithm can be your best friend or your worst enemy

Successful streamers (and content creators) know how powerful the algorithm is. They understand how much influence it holds over their success. And how important it is to stay updated with how it’s changing. 

If you want to be a successful streamer, you need to learn how to craft your streams around what your audience and the algorithm want. 

 

These ideas have helped thousands of streamers go from zero to a hundred. It helped them turn their passion for gaming into a lucrative career. For most of them, it took them years to learn all these lessons. But now, you have them all in one article. Use these to level up your stream, so you can be a successful streamer too. Good luck!