How to REALLY get your first viewers on Twitch in 2023

Have you just decided you want to be a streamer? Or maybe you have been streaming for a while and want to become an affiliate as quickly as possible. Well, you are not alone. Increasing your average viewer number can be tough in such a competitive environment. That’s why we decided to help you by putting together some tips successful streamers used to get their first 5 to 15 average viewers. Check it out to find out how to get viewers on Twitch as a new streamer!

Ask people you know to watch you

Invite your mother, brother, friends and other people you know in real life to watch you. If they can’t or don’t want to watch, you can ask them to leave a tab open with your stream on (remember that in this case the stream can’t be muted, or it won’t count as a viewer). If they are not much into gaming or Twitch, make their life easy and create an account for them!

This tip alone should get you to 2 or 3 viewers already. And things can start growing from there.

Well, I know those are not actual viewers that discovered you on Twitch and chose to spend some time with you, but they can really help for two key reasons:

1. It takes you immediately out of the 0 viewer zone, working as social proof that your stream is worth someone’s time. We both know it is, but when people see you in the directory and realize no one is watching you, they might not think so;

2. Those people can start fueling your chat. When a new person arrives to your stream and sees you interacting with your viewers, they are more likely to stay and even chat with you. This way is much easier to start building a community around your channel!

Choose your games well

This is a well-known tip, but it doesn't hurt to reinforce: avoid streaming saturated games. To get the picture, go to the League of Legends category on Twitch and sort by Viewers - High to Low (that’s what most people do). Notice how hard it is to get to the 3 viewer streams.

The key here is to find games that people want to watch, and you, as a small streamer, can still be found without much scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Of course, if you intend to be a League streamer, you’ll have to stream it. It is particularly hard to grow from 0 in this case. If there are other games that interests you, put aside a day or two each week to play them as well!

Get creative on your titles and tags

Whenever you go online, you should think about a title that will make people want to click on your stream. Everyone does the "Playing *insert game name*" title and it is kinda boring. Try to be different from them.

If you're doing something really specific in your stream, that should be in your title. But if you are not, a good way to differentiate yourself in the directory is by coming up with funny or witty titles for your streams. Titles that start a discussion are also a good idea since people that join your stream might want to type something to agree or disagree with you.

Stream tags seem to be less relevant than titles, but they still might bring some viewers to you. Setting up the correct language tag, the type of playthrough or how you want your community to be described is a nice way of starting with tags.

Be consistent

Attracting new viewers is important for your channel to grow, but getting the ones that already came in to come back is even more important in the beginning. There are a lot of factors that causes someone to come back to your stream, and consistency is certainly around the most critical ones.

Having a schedule is a great way of demonstrating consistency. People will know when to expect you to be online and therefore are more likely to return. Make sure to come up with a schedule you can actually stick to, and if you want to, have bonus streams at unexpected days.

Besides time and date consistency, it is important to have content consistency. Staying in the same game category or at least the same genre will help considerably in the beginning. Also keep in mind to have a similar vibe in each stream. Don’t worry, with time it will be okay to go flexible on those things.

Be active in other communities

If there are other streamers you like watching, especially those that share interests with you, be active in their community! Talking in their chat, participating in their Discord community and even hosting them can help you make friends that might eventually watch you. Hey, maybe you will even become mod of one channel if you're helpful. If their Discord server has a “promote yourself” channel, post there sometimes before going online too.

Twitch communities are not the only place where you can take part in. Reddit, Facebook groups, Twitter and other social media can be a great place to meet new people and eventually gather new viewers.

There is a big warning that comes with this tip: don’t be annoying. No one likes people that are there just for self-promotion. Use your best sense, and talk about your channel only when appropriate.

Have fun

The last tip is likely the most important of them all. Disregard any advice that will prevent you from having fun while broadcasting. Whether you’re doing this as a hobby or trying to build a career, streaming is about having fun.

Getting viewers on Twitch faster is awesome, but the worst thing you can do to your channel is getting burned out by doing things you don’t genuinely want to do. Also, if you’re making content without enjoying it, there is a high chance people will notice it with time.