In order to become a Twitch affiliate, there are a couple of requirements you have to meet. You must reach 50 followers, stream for 8 hours total, stream on 7 different days, and have an average of 3 viewers per stream. This all has to happen within a period of 30 days. Doesn’t sound too hard? Well, it might be more difficult than you think.
Luckily, you have an awesome guide written by someone who’s already made it there to help you out. I’ll be sharing with you my best tips and advice for how to make it towards that goal. Let’s break it down by each requirement.
Reach 50 followers
Reaching 50 followers will happen pretty naturally as you are building your streaming career. If you find yourself struggling, it may be because you aren’t interacting with your chat enough. It can be difficult if you don’t have two monitors to consistently check your stream’s chat but viewers want interaction. Especially as a small streamer, you have to be putting in the effort to really engage with your audience.
I personally didn’t have two monitors, so I would either play my game in a smaller window and have the chat tab also up, use my phone to check chat, or install an overlay that would show over the game I was playing. What I’m saying is that even though it can be difficult, it’s something you should be putting your energy towards as a streamer.
If you feel like you’re interacting with your chat regularly but not getting any new followers or viewers, one thing you can do is just ask if they would like to follow you. It can feel a little embarrassing to ask, but the more confident you are, the easier it will be, and the less cringey you will feel and come across.
My ultimate streaming tip for new viewers and potential followers is raiding. Not only does it help you feel more involved with the Twitch community, but being able to boost another person’s stream, especially another small streamer, is just a blast. It feels really good to help out another person who’s putting in just as much effort as you are. It’s also a great way to meet friends and people you can potentially stream with. Combining audiences is not only good for you, it’s good for them, and your viewers! I cannot recommend raiding enough.
Stream for 8 hours
Okay, this one just requires willpower. Streaming can be exhausting, especially if you’re not used to it. It can be really tiring to talk for several hours straight, especially when you’re a new streamer who is not used to talking to yourself. Because there will be times you will just be talking to yourself, especially as a new streamer. Don’t let that discourage you! It’s perfectly natural and it helps you figure out a flow for when you do have viewers.
As you work on reaching the next affiliate requirement, you will find yourself meeting the mark. Try to stream for a little over an hour each stream. You can always make your streams longer or shorter as needed, and once you reach affiliate you can figure out what length works best for you. I personally tended to stream for around 2 hours each stream.
Stream on 7 different days
My advice? Don’t try to do it in a week. You will burn out. You may think ‘Oh I have so much determination, I really want to make this happen, I got willpower for dayssss.’ You don’t. I definitely didn’t. Breaks are healthy and important to remember to take. A lot of new streamers try to throw themselves headfirst into the fire, hoping to be forged anew as a shiny Twitch streamer with many a fan. A good deal end up burning alive in the flames of their own expectations. Just like the turtle and the hare, you have to remember to take it slow and steady. Your own speed is best.
Set up a schedule. Routine is king, and it will be a lot easier once you set up some habits for streaming. You should be trying to stream around every 4 days in order to meet this requirement, and you can always stream less once you become an official affiliate.
Achieve a 3-viewer average
This. This is the hardest requirement to achieve by far. It can be difficult to keep a steady viewership, especially when you don’t have a larger following. One of the big ways to keep a viewer engaged is to set up channel points. Channel points are one of the best built-in ways Twitch allows your viewers to interact with you. I really, really encourage you to take advantage of them. Give them rewards for following, staying in your channel, and chatting. Let them cash in these points for something silly on screen, or probably the most common channel point reward, let them hydrate you!
It will take a minute to get 3 viewers as an average for your streams. Don’t make your streams too long. The longer you stream for per stream, the harder it is to reach this average. Another thing you can do is make a discord for your followers to connect with each other and you. This will encourage people to come back to your streams and help you build a relationship with your viewers.
I also, again, encourage you to find buddies to stream with! Watch streamers who stream similar content as you and be a part of their viewership. Make friends! Interaction with the Twitch community, not just your own, is so important. Not only is it just more fun, being friendly to other streamers is mutually beneficial.
My Last Tips
To be completely open with you, it will probably take you more than a month to achieve these goals. It took me two or three months, but sometimes it takes people longer, which is perfectly natural depending on their time, their availability, and their overall content. I was able to reach affiliate during the height of the pandemic, so I had a lot more time at home to stream and focus on Twitch.
Twitch streaming takes a lot of effort but it really is fun. As long as you go in with the mindset of fun over growth, you will have an excellent time. Don’t get too caught up in how long it may take you to reach certain Twitch goals.
My most important tip? Be nice to yourself. Sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves when trying to achieve something we want. Keep in mind why you want to stream, dial down the need for speed, and have a wonderful time.
From one Twitch streamer to another, you got this!
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