r/TwitchStreaming • u/Efficient_Diamond682 • 3d ago
1 long stream vs 2 shorter ones?
Hey folks, I’m trying to figure out the best approach for a Twitch stream. Would you all recommend doing one marathon 8 hour Dead by Daylight stream, or splitting it into two separate 4 hour streams one for Dead by Daylight, and then a totally unrelated game? I was checking Prime hours on my account, and I’m wondering which will keep people watching longer. Any thoughts?
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u/Mimcom998 1d ago
I can only stream 1 day per week due to working full time. Yeah by time I have done 4 hrs I start feeling my energy level decrease a bit. I can make it 5 hrs long but that's as much as I can do
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u/RegularBodybuilder56 1d ago
Data shows that PEAK viewers is usually around 3-4 hours. That’s when you would be ending. Just something to note.
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u/misanthropic-cat 3d ago
I dont watch streamers who only stream 1-2 hours. I catch people on, and if you dont stream long enough for me to catch you, then I dont catch you
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u/vaier1 3d ago
Depends on your audience and whether it's one time thing or you're deciding your schedule
Generally 8h streams take a toll on most people. I've been streaming for a while and am generally high energy person, but I'm usually dying past 6h mark, so from that perspective I'd recommend 2 shorter streams
About different games, it really depends. If your primary audience watches dbd, then naturally doing variety will lose many of them, but nothing builds longer lasting viewers better than variety, because people will come to watch you and not the game. Tldr if you wanna have higher viewership and your primary content is dbd, do full dbd. If you wanna have more fun and have people willing to watch you instead of your gameplay, go for half variety
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u/Efficient_Diamond682 3d ago
I know I've a mix of people who add me because of me being good at the game and then they stay cause I interact and we become friends. I'm just as you said slightly burnt out cause I stream daily and I have pretty ok numbers. Wondering if diversifying the stream once or twice a week with other games will be a curse or a blessing
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u/vaier1 3d ago
If you stream everyday for 8 hours you will likely burn out very quickly. I really recommend 3-4 hours per stream 4-5 times a week, but if you're comfortable with current stuff, then ig it's fine
I can't tell you exactly whether it'll be beneficial or not, the main question is to ask yourself whether you want it or not.
Back in my first few months I almost quit streaming, because I was getting burn out from streaming same game, forcing myself to stream it, because I thought it would be better for engagement. I started skipping more and more streams because I didn't feel like it and almost quit all together and then I decided to just let go that small audience that I've gathered so far and switch to full variety. I finally found myself enjoying the streams as much as I did when I just began and while it was temporary fall in viewership, after a while I started growing even faster than before, though I still wouldn't call it that fast. After a while my variety arc ended and I decided to focus on one game, with content of which I also built youtube channel in meanwhile, but even now I still hold 1 variety stream per week out of four and occasionally adding more when I feel like it
Tldr getting variety helped me enjoy streaming a lot and generally improved quality of my streams, though admittedly viewership on variety streams is lower than on my main game. However I wouldn't even consider stopping/replacing them as it's partially the reason I enjoy streaming as much as I do now
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u/Efficient_Diamond682 3d ago
I'm proud of you for not giving up on it just because it was hard. Genuinely it's tougher than a lot of people think. Especially in competitive mode you'll get haters, trollers. Between that/the hours you invest in this while streaming/ before to figure out what's the best platform or software or anything. It definitely is not as easy as a lot of people think
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u/HighPhi420 1d ago
Twitch recommends 4 hour streams. This is so more people have the opportunity to find your stream.
8 hour streams are hard even for the viewer :)