I started seriously streaming on Twitch about a year and a half ago. During that same time, I created my YouTube channel. At first, streaming on Twitch was fun and exiting, but things soon changed. Three months ago, I decided to quit Twitch, and start streaming on YouTube instead. These are my personal views on how different the two platforms are.
Twitch is all about grinding. In order to create an established presence, you need to follow a schedule, be online as much as possible while heavily advertising yourself on various social medias. You need to interact with other streamers, raid their streams, host them, participate in chats and, well, basically just be there 24/7. I have a life with quite many obligations. Pursuing a full career as a Twitch streamer seemed to take a lot out of me; it turned gaming from fun to a task. My main purpose of streaming on Twitch was to strengthen my YouTube presence. That didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped. Streaming took time and effort, and following a tight schedule of up to three streams per week, I didn't have time to create content for YouTube. Pursuing goals on both platforms became overwhelming, and I felt I couldn't give my best on either one.
My decision to leave Twitch lingered on for a while. I took a break at the end of August, I think, and during that week, there was drama on Twitch regarding hate-raids followed by a huge security breach. These things combined finalized my choice to concentrate on YouTube. As an elder Goth, I felt kind of vulnerable working on a platform that enables users to attack minorities, to target them for hate and discrimination. Returning from my week-long holiday to stream on Twitch filled me, not with eager joy, but with fear.
Like Marie Kondo likes to say, if it doesn't fill you with happiness, toss it out the window.
Or as I like to say, Windows. Ha-ha.
It took a while to gather enough courage to stream on YouTube. I hesitated and procrastinated and met technical difficulties, but finally, I did it.
And it was fun. A bit scary, of course, but fun. Streaming on YouTube felt somehow safe, soothing, even. The environment feels, to me, more controlled, like there's a guardian watching over everyone ready to say "oye! be nice!"
Another big thing that made me grow cold toward Twitch is the way streams are deleted after 14 days. Streaming is hard work. Having a broadcast go to bit-heaven after a set amount of time is discouraging at best. On YouTube, streams will remain watchable until I choose to delete them. This sets a certain level of stage fright for me, though, and makes streaming a bit more challenging. I don't want to say anything idiotic during a stream that will remain on YouTube for everyone to see for all times! Still, I do like it that the fruits of my labour, the content I create, won't be erased.
Monetisation is also important for a streamer. Even if we didn't make a lot of money, it's nice to get paid. On Twitch, you need to achieve the status of Affiliate before you can ask viewers to purchase a subscription. For me, reaching Affiliate didn't take an overwhelming amount of time, but it did still feel like a huge grind. What disappointed me was that after being affiliated, I needed to constantly sell myself, basically to beg viewers to give me their money. And what they gave, Twitch kept.
On YouTube, things are a little bit more convenient. You'll need to meet certain requirements (1000 followers, and 4000 public viewing hours) in order to monetize your channel. If YouTube deems you Worthy, they'll give you coins to put ads in your videos. To me, this feels nicer. It's easier to say "hey watch an ad please so I can buy coffee" than "hey throw a fiver at me so you'll get, like, a cute sticker". I have yet to reach the requirements, but I feel comfortable pursuing them. Asking people to subscribe on YouTube doesn't cost anyone anything, and having a sub count rise higher makes it more rewarding to both create videos and to stream.
I thought I would miss Twitch, but the only thing I do miss are the friends I made there. I do hope they'll find me on YouTube.
I hope this outburst clarifies my reasons for choosing YouTube as my primary platform. I'll see you on my channel on Tuesdays for a standalone video, and on Thursdays for a live stream.
Love,
Heather
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