Is it Worth Streaming if You’re Not Competing? Earning on Twitch as a Casual Gamer

William Davis Published 07/11/2024

Twitch is easily the largest gaming streaming service. Millions of fans and gamers tune into Twitch on a daily basis to watch their favorite eSports competitors and streamers. Initially, Twitch was primarily focused on gaming, but you can find streams for a huge variety of things today like online poker, arts and crafts, ASMR, and just people chatting about their lives!

As expert iGamingNuts.com recently pointed out, the eSports industry is booming, and Twitch offers plenty of competitive content. However, there’s still room for casual gamers to earn on the platform, even if they’re not esports pros.

This is what we explore in the article below. We take a look at the more casual side of Twitch, and what you could do to become a streamer, earn some extra cash, and grow your audience without being part of a competitive eSports team!

Twitch Streaming is Not Just for eSports Competitors

There is a huge audience for competitive eSports on Twitch, and you can always find high-quality gameplay for eSports games like Counter Strike, League of Legends, Valorant, and DOTA 2.

Twitch also partners with many eSports competitions around the world and live stream events and these often draw in millions of viewers.

However, that’s just one aspect of Twitch. The simple fact is, for every 1 eSports competitor on the platform, there are probably 5 casual gamers who stream and have huge audiences.

Indeed, today, Twitch caters more to the casual gamer than it does eSports. Sure, plenty of people want to watch eSports matches and competitions, but a huge percentage of people just want to watch light-hearted, friendly gaming streams while they play games or relax.

Just think of games like Minecraft. There are some incredibly popular Minecraft streamers such as the content creators on the Hermitcraft server – they aren’t going all out and competing – they are just building cool things and having fun.

This is why it is perfectly possible to earn from Twitch even if you aren’t a pro gamer.

Tips for Growing Your Audience as a Casual Gamer on Twitch

So, how do you get started as a casual gamer on Twitch and what can you do to grow your audience? We’ve listed some simple tips that should help below.

Let Your Personality Shine

If you don’t expect people to tune into your Twitch streams to see you gaming at a pro-level, then you need to let your personality shine. There are heaps of streamers who have grown their audience purely because of their humor, the way they speak, or how they interact with their audience – people watch them because they like the person, not just their gaming skills.

This means you should build your confidence speaking during your streams – narrate your gameplay, chat about anything and everything, explain what you are doing and give your viewers a snippet of what you are like as a person. Don’t try to put on a false persona – just be natural, authentic, and you will find that people will want to keep watching simply because they like you.

Create a Consistent Streaming Schedule

You can’t expect to earn from Twitch if you only stream once per month! As with most internet-based things today, engagement and consistency are important. The more you stream, the more likely Twitch is to promote your content and the more likely you are to do better in the algorithm.

Consider creating a streaming schedule that you stick too – perhaps you will do a dedicated live stream every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 19:00. If you stick to that, your viewers will also know what to expect and when to login to Twitch to watch you.

If you look at the most popular Twitch streamers, they all have active social media profiles on X, Instagram, and TikTok. We get that this can be time-consuming, but it’s part of growing your streaming brand, building engagement, and giving yourself more outlets where you can promote your streams and get new viewers in.

Consider creating dedicated profiles on at least X and Instagram that use the same branding as your Twitch channel. The aim should be to then post regularly, build your followers, and use social media channels as a way to promote your upcoming streams.

Interact with Your Viewers

We’ve seen many streams where the gamer simply plays their game, never speaks, and doesn’t interact with their viewers. While this can work, it generally works for people who are amazing at their chosen game. For more casual gameplay, interaction is vital – speak to your viewers, take the time to reply to their questions, and try to build a rapport with them.

Many streamers simply jump on the bandwagon of the latest trending games and try to capitalize on the surge in popularity.

This can work, but we recommend sticking to the games you genuinely love. Your passion, competence, and knowledge of these games will be more valuable and help you establish yourself as someone to watch for that niche. You are more likely to attract like-minded gamers who also love these games.

Give Twitch a Try and Realize Your Streaming Dreams

We hope you have drawn inspiration from this article – there is literally no reason not to give Twitch streaming a try, even if you are more of a casual gamer. Even if you have a slow start, merely taking the plunge, setting your webcam up, and doing your first live stream will give you a huge confidence boost and spur you on to grow your audience.

Remember to let your personality shine, make use of social media channels for promotion, and give your audience an enjoyable viewing experience with plenty of interactions. Who knows, in a few months you could have thousands of Twitch followers and be earning a chunk of extra cash!

William Davis

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