What Platform Should You Stream On?

The most popular video game streaming platforms are Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Mixer. They all have their strengths and personalities and it can be confusing on choosing which platform you believe you will gain the most success from. So I’m going to share my opinion on each platform and why or why not I choose to stream on each of them.

Twitch:

Twitch is the oldest and most popular site for video game streaming. Twitch hosts the most popular streamers in America including Dr. Disrespect, NICKMERCS, Pokimane, and more. Twitch is where Ninja, the most popular Fortnite player in the world, started his streaming career. Unfortunately, Ninja left the platform due to contract complications.

If I were you I would forget about streaming on Twitch because it is the hardest platform to gain recognition. Twitch is the platform for people who already have fame which is why many professional athletes choose to stream on Twitch. I’m not saying it’s impossible to grow your channel on Twitch, but to do so you will have to provide a lot more than just streaming sessions.

For example: Alpha Gaming started streaming on Twitch within the last couple of years but his channel grew not only for his game streaming but because he made informational YouTube videos that helped other people with their streaming. Every day people are Googling information on how to do this and that with their stream, so you become successful when you are the one providing that information.

YouTube:

YouTube is better known for recorded videos than streaming. Many gamers stream on other platforms and post their recorded video on YouTube. Many gamers don’t stream on YouTube simply because it’s complicated to navigate to the streaming portion of YouTube. I also stream on other platforms and post my recorded videos on YouTube. But, if you want a one stop show for streaming and recording videos then YouTube may be your best bet.

Facebook:

When you think about Facebook you think about connecting with friends and family and posting your political beliefs—not so much about gaming. But, Facebook has the money and power to build a great gaming community, and it’s succeeding at that.

The best parts about Facebook gaming is that it’s similar to YouTube on how you can post recorded videos and stream. What I like most about Facebook is that it does most of the marketing grind for you. You can boost your content by paying Facebook to advertise it. I spent about $18 on one video boost and it reached 1.2k views.

If you have money to spare then you can grow your channel significantly faster than the time it takes grinding on Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer. Right now I stream between Mixer and Facebook but I’m considering Facebook to be my go to streaming platform.

Mixer:

Last and least, Mixer. There was an article put out recently that showed how much streaming platforms grew during COVID-19 pandemic and Mixer views only grew by 0.2%. I believe its because Mixer is primarily focused on Xbox and PC users. Mixer has a good integration on Xbox consoles where gamers can stream directly from their Xbox.

On the plus side of streaming on Mixer is that if you’re a PlayStation gamer then you can grow viewers faster by streaming PlayStation exclusive games since there are few PlayStation gamers on Mixer. I highly suggest streaming The Last of Us 2 on Mixer when the game releases *hint hint*

Since I mostly play on Xbox, I started streaming on Mixer by using the integrated Mixer app on Xbox. An online site called GoLightStream is a third party platform that allows you to add overlays, music, alerts, and more to your stream without using a capture card. Mixer is very intuitive for Xbox gamers but PlayStation has sold a lot more consoles than Xbox. So Mixer doesn’t have as many viewers as the other more established and diverse platforms.

Many popular streamers on Twitch get thousands of viewers. The only streamers on Mixer that get thousands of viewers are Ninja and Shroud. Then there are a handful of streamers that get up to 1,000 viewers.

Mixer is still a small enough platform to grow on, but the question is does the platform have enough viewers to spread around?