Stream Wars: The 3 Best Platforms to Stream Games as a Beginner

The way of the Stream: Best Platforms to Stream Games

Streaming is one of the most exciting ways to create content around the things you love –video games, music, sports, or whatnot. It’s incredible because, unlike videos-on-demand (VOD), you can talk to your viewers in real-time. Which makes it 1000x more fun than talking and recording in front of a camera. 

Aside from having the opportunity to share your ideas, connect with like-minded people, and build a following, another great thing about streaming is the monetization potential. Like VODs uploaded on YouTube and other platforms, your stream can be a source of secondary (maybe even primary) income. 

Finally, becoming a streamer is an excellent way to develop yourself since it teaches you many skills. Streaming would teach you to be confident, charismatic, and a good presenter/communicator. Skills relevant in the real world, especially if you’re trying to make it big. 

 

Where to Start

If you’re interested in becoming a streamer, we’ve written several articles to make the journey easier for you. We also have classes you can enroll in, so you can accelerate your progress in becoming a master streamer. 

Check out these other articles on our blog to learn more about streaming: 

• 8 Skills You Need to Be A Successful Streamer
• 8 exciting ways to make money from streaming video games
• How to get more viewers on your stream: 11 actionable strategies to make your stream awesome
• How to earn from playing games: 10 awesome ways to monetize your passion for gaming
• How to Be a Successful Streamer: 14 Secrets to Success

This article will cover in-depth the best platforms to stream games you can use to jumpstart your streaming career. We’ll give you some pros and cons, plus tips on how to win on these platforms. So, buckle up, and let’s start our journey to find the best platforms to stream games. 

 

Twitch 

If you’re a heavy gamer, you should already be familiar with Twitch. It’s one of the pioneers in the live-streaming space, which is why it’s also the most popular and one of the best platforms to stream games. 

Pros: 

• Twitch has a large user base and engagement rate for gaming content. This makes it one the best platforms to stream games (if not the best!)
• The platform has a lot of tools and features that’ll help you build a relationship with your audience. It has tons of features where you can engage with your audience, and they can engage back. Aside from the typical chat function, you can also have chat overlays, custom commands for bots, and custom emotes. 
• You get multiple monetization options for your stream. Twitch’s platform is known to have different revenue channels for streamers. This includes ad shares, sponsorships, affiliate links, and donations. 
• Since it’s a gamer-first platform, they also offer excellent support for its creators. Plus, a large community of like-minded people.  

Cons: 

• Since it’s one of the best platforms to stream games, most streamers use Twitch as their primary channel. This means you’ll have much competition for viewers’ attention. 
• If you’re a non-gamer, Twitch is a “NO” for you since you won’t have many opportunities to earn since you’ll have a smaller audience base. 

 

Facebook Live

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. They have close to 3 billion registered users on the platform. Aside from that, they also have a wide array of audience groups, which makes it the perfect platform for non-gaming streams. And also one of the best platforms to stream games. The platform also hosts streams of different events, performances, and gatherings for its users to access.

Pros: 

• Since Facebook is used by almost everyone who has access to the internet, you’ll have a vast potential audience base. Giving you an enormous opportunity to make it big as a streamer. This is one of its best claims why it’s one of the best platforms to stream games.
• Almost all walks of life use the platform. This means that even your quirkiest interest might find an audience on Facebook live. The audience diversity is great for non-gamers. 
• If you want to be a full-time content creator, using Facebook live is your best bet since you already have the pages & groups function readily available. 
• Similar to Twitch, your stream has several built-in engagement tools to build engagement with your audience. 
• You can quickly grow your Facebook page & live traffic by using Facebook’s advertising platform. This helps you show your stream in front of more potential viewers. 

Cons: 

• Since it’s not a video-first platform, you’ll have minimal analytics and metrics on your content. 

 

YouTube Live

YouTube is the world’s largest video company. In terms of users, they’re behind Facebook, with more than 2.5 billion users globally. They’re known to serve all kinds of video content to their audience – from long-form videos to shorts and live streams. Typically, YouTube content creators use the Live function to cater to their existing audience. 

Pros: 

• Since YouTube has the second largest user base behind Facebook, it also offers you access to billions of potential viewers.
• Since YouTube is a massive platform, you’ll also have many opportunities to monetize your stream. Another plus is that you can turn your stream into a VOD, which opens up another revenue stream. This is one of the reasons why YouTube is one of the best platforms to stream games
• If you’re building a website or an online brand, YouTube helps you become discoverable on search. That’s because, unlike on Facebook, your content on YouTube is archived and indexed. Its search engine discoverability is also a reason why it’s one best platforms to stream games.
• One advantage of YouTube streaming is the feature to sell your own merch by pinning it under your stream. 

Cons:

• You’ll need more than 1,000 channel subscribers to do YouTube live on your mobile device. 

• Limited community-building functionalities since people can’t interact with you after the stream. 

 

The Best for You

Choosing from best platforms to stream games is still something you need to decide on your own. Each platform has its pros & cons – which you’ll need to evaluate based on your goals. 

To summarize, all three platforms have massive audiences and can help you reach your target viewers. The primary difference maker is the type of audience watching on these platforms. Plus, the amount of engagement and monetization potential you’ll have. 

For us, the best strategy streamers can do when choosing platforms is picking a combination of channels and utilizing each to its full potential. For instance, if you’re streaming Valorant, you’d want to do your live streams on Twitch & Facebook Live. Then, you can upload your highlights on YouTube and Facebook/Instagram as a VOD. This strategy allows you to tap various audiences across different channels. Making it easier to scale your following. 

Remember when Yoda said, “Once you start down the streaming path, forever, it will dominate your destiny, consume you it will.” to Luke? Yeah, neither do we. But we’re pretty sure that, much like joining the dark side, becoming a streamer will change your life too – fingers crossed that it’s for the better! 

So good luck in your quest, young Padawan. Think of us as your Yoda – but instead of being old and green, we’re young and yellow.