This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
It's a good thing platforms like Twitch weren't around 20 years ago when I was in my younger 20s. The idea of playing online video games all day and getting paid for it, in some cases, lots of money, was a complete fantasy scenario at the time. If that was a thing at all in my teenage years, or even as I said, into my 20s, I would have been all over it. So maybe I missed my calling, but in a lot of ways, I'm actually glad that this didn't become a thing until relatively recently. Now, it's not just gaming that's big on Twitch and other streaming channels like YouTube and Mixer.
Other genres, such as cooking shows, are also popular. That's what we'll look at today. A listener has an existing show on YouTube and they wanna branch out to another platform. Might there be a way to do this without working twice as hard? And either way, what do they need to know?
What should I know before I start a Twitch channel? That is today's topic. We're gonna dive into it after this message from our sponsor. Stay tuned. [Music]
Hey, Chris, this is Kristen from Santa Cruz and I recently found the show through a friend.
I have a cooking show where I demonstrate baking techniques from around the world. I'm trying to reach younger viewers who have been learning about baking during quarantine. So I started on YouTube and have been there for a while, but I'm thinking of moving over to Twitch. Is there some way I can be on both YouTube and Twitch without working twice as much? Is there anything else I should know?
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you. [Music]
Hey, Kristen, what's up? Congratulations. This is exciting. By the way, congrats on the initial success with YouTube.
And I'm excited to know that you're gonna move over to Twitch, or at least you're thinking about it. I was looking at Twitch myself, but I think I'm probably aged out by like 20 years, at least. Nevertheless, Twitch, for anybody who doesn't know, mega popular live streaming program, predominantly, or at least let me say, largely associated with gaming. So there's lots of live streaming gamers, video gamers, but there are other categories as well. And there's so many people watching these Twitch channels that there is room for other categories.
And in fact, some of the other categories might be easier to kind of compete in or stand out in just because so many people are in that world of gaming. Now, let's talk about the logistics of it here. So Kristen's question is, is there some way to be on both YouTube and Twitch without just working twice as hard? So a couple of points here. As for not doing twice the work, well, a lot of what she has learned at YouTube, 'cause you have to learn a fair amount, like there is a learning curve to understanding how to do live streaming, both in terms of the technical part of it and the content, the preparation involved, the interaction with a live audience.
It just takes some time. So a lot of what she's learned at YouTube will apply to Twitch. So that's good. Like she won't have as much of a learning curve there. And then you can also use a service like restream.io to broadcast simultaneously to multiple platforms.
That's the service that I have been using for my weekly streams on Tuesday morning. Been doing this every Tuesday morning, 9 a.m. Pacific time. I go live on YouTube and I teach a short little lesson and we have like a question of the day and I'm often sharing some resources. We do a giveaway.
I'm just kind of chatting with the audience there. So I'm going live on YouTube, but I use this service called restream.io. It's a paid service and I don't get it for free or anything. I'm actually paying them as a customer each month. What they do is, you know, restream.
I mean, that's the name of the company. They will restream or rebroadcast that stream to other platforms. And for me, I restream to Facebook and Periscope, but you can choose to restream to lots of other platforms, including Twitch. So it actually works great. I'm a big fan of it.
And for me, it has been really good. Like I'm glad to have been able to do it that way. The only downside to it, if you really want to get serious about building a platform or building a profile on a platform like Twitch, the only downside is most platforms tend to reward people, content creators who are dedicated to that platform and not just kind of rebroadcasting everywhere. Like it wouldn't be good to, I've seen some people who are rebroadcasting to like nine channels simultaneously. And that doesn't usually work so well 'cause it's just spread out so much.
So to go all in with Twitch, or at least to give it a fair shot, you might want to plan some Twitch exclusive streams as well. Like maybe you can rebroadcast some of the content, but you also plan to show up each week, or every couple of days, whatever the schedule is for those people who are just on Twitch. Now, lastly, for anybody interested, you might also want to take a look at Mixer, which is Microsoft's competitor to Twitch. There's all these companies doing this stuff now. There's probably some more.
Like if you're listening to this later, who knows? Maybe there is another big company that has overtaken the others. Each of these services, including YouTube, of course, they all have different audiences and vibes. And by vibes, I just mean kind of like, well, I guess vibe, you know, how does it feel? What do people, you know, how do people interact when they go there?
What do they expect? How do they kind of connect and communicate? So you may find you have more success in one place than another. Definitely worth experimenting with if you are doing well on YouTube, certainly looking at Twitch is a good idea, or at least it could be. Good luck, Kristin.
And listeners, if you have a question, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We are gathering them and featuring them throughout the rest of the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects. I'm really excited about all that is to come. It's been a wonderful year, at least in terms of sharing content. I mean, let's not talk about 2020 otherwise, but in terms of all the questions and interaction with you, our listeners, it's been wonderful.
So I look forward to the next few months. All right, make sure you're subscribed. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
