This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
A gamer's journey from Twitch to YouTube. Welcome, friends. Welcome back to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau. And welcome as well to Throwback Thursday.
Every Thursday we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. We have a wealth of archives in the Side Hustle School archives. That's funny how that works. And last week we heard from a project manager who specializes in coordinating operations for local food truck vendors. That was a cool story.
But today we're gonna hear from a gaming Twitch streamer, a gaming streamer who uses Twitch. He also discovers he could make more money by uploading popular streams to YouTube. So he basically takes the streams that he does live on Twitch. The ones that are popular are the ones that go well or otherwise have good engagement. And then he uploads those as videos to YouTube.
So he is diversifying his income. He's diversifying his audience. He's just doing something that's really smart. And it's also pretty efficient because he's already done the work. Basically he's already done the stream.
He's put in an hour or two on the stream. And then it's only like, you know, five to 10 minutes to basically take that video and do whatever else he needs to do. Maybe create a thumbnail, write a different description, or it could be the same. I'm not sure. The point is it's not a whole lot of work to go from one to the other in this case.
So let's hear how he made this evolution. His name is Steven. Let's hear the story from Steven. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
Hi, I'm Steven.
When I was last featured on the show, I was primarily streaming my gaming sessions on Twitch. Back then, my income came mainly from Twitch subscriptions and donations. However, over the past year, I discovered a new revenue stream by uploading some of my popular streams to YouTube. Here's how this strategy helped me increase my earnings. First, I started noticing that many successful Twitch streamers also had active YouTube channels.
These channels didn't just provide additional content for their followers, but also help reach a wider audience. I was worried it would split my attention, but I decided to give it a try and see if it could boost my own visibility and income. I set up my YouTube channel and started uploading highlights from my Twitch streams. I focused on making thumbnails and titles that would attract viewers, and the initial setup was straightforward, but I quickly realized that the key to success on YouTube was consistency and quality. I edited my streams to highlight the most exciting moments, added custom intros and outros, and sometimes included commentary or tips for viewers.
I also optimized each video with relevant tags and descriptions. It wasn't as hard as I expected since I reused a lot of the content from Twitch. I then carefully used my Twitch streams to direct viewers to the YouTube content, encouraging them to subscribe and check out my highlights. But I didn't wanna do that too much since they were watching on Twitch. I also engaged with the YouTube community by responding to comments and asking for feedback after each new video.
Monetizing the YouTube channel was a significant milestone. Once I reached 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours, I joined the YouTube Partner Program. This allowed me to earn ad revenue for my videos. Additionally, I included affiliate links and my video descriptions, which generated extra income whenever viewers purchased products through these links. While my Twitch income remained steady, the YouTube ad revenue provided a new, consistent stream of income.
Within a few months, my YouTube earnings started to rival my Twitch income, and on average, I was making an extra 500 to $1,500 per month from YouTube, depending on the number of uploads and how many people viewed them. I aimed for at least two videos a week, which kept the audience engaged and attracted new viewers. I also experimented with different types of content, such as game reviews, tutorials, and live Q&A sessions to diversify my offerings. Today, my gaming content reaches a broader audience thanks to my presence on both Twitch and YouTube. The additional income has allowed me to hire an editor to help with the video production.
I'm hoping that over the next year, I can create closer to a full-time income, even if I continue my day job in software. In short, the decision to expand my content to YouTube not only increased my earnings, but also enriched my connection with the gaming community. There's been no real downside, and I'm glad I took this important step. [Music]
All right, big thanks to Stephen for sharing those updates with us. I do think this is really smart to always think, how can you take your content and repurpose it in some other form to another platform, to another medium?
And sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes content needs to be native to a specific platform, but increasingly we're seeing that there are ways to adapt and get that content out to different people, 'cause that's what you wanna do, be able to reach people wherever they are. Stephen, again, thanks. Listeners, let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than 1,000 stories, more than 2,800 episodes so far. If you have a question or a comment, an update about your site, hustleschool.com/questions.
This was episode 2,805. Much more is coming up, new episode every day. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
