How often should you stream on Twitch (to grow as a small streamer)?

Last Updated on 05/28/2022 by Dean

Are you wondering how often you should stream on Twitch to grow as a small streamer?

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about how often you should go live on Twitch as a smaller streamer. We’ll also cover how many hours you should dedicate to your stream, how you can plan your stream as well as other methods that will help you grow on Twitch!

Let’s get started.

How many days should you stream on Twitch?

Ideally, you should stream between 2 and 4 days a week.

The reason we strongly recommend smaller streamers to stream 2 to 4 days per week is that this schedule leaves enough time to properly plan your stream as well as balance your work and social life.

How many hours should you stream on Twitch?

We recommend that small streamers stream for 2 – 4 hours per day depending on your availability.

We find that streaming for 2 to 4 hours is ideal for a smaller streamer but anything above that could negatively impact other aspects of their life.

Streaming for a single hour can work if your schedule is tight but this might result in more viewers showing up late and missing a large part of the stream.

A new viewer who shows up towards the end of your stream is not likely to follow you and join the next stream.

How long can you stream on Twitch?

Technically, you can only stream for 48 hours on Twitch before you have to restart your stream. However, subathon streamers (e.g. Ludwig) simply restart their stream as soon as the 48 hours have passed causing the stream to go on as long as they want.

Why you shouldn’t stream every day on Twitch

While streaming every day might sound like it results in the best possible growth for your livestream, this is rarely the case.

When you stream every day, you leave very little time for you to plan your stream in advance, creating a worse experience for the viewer.

Additionally, streaming every day can quickly lead to burnout. This is the last thing you want if you wish to grow on Twitch. A serious burnout could cause you to give up Twitch streaming altogether.

And finally, you shouldn’t stream every day because it might negatively impact your social and work life. Just because you want to be a successful Twitch streamer, doesn’t mean you should neglect your friends and family and stop making plans with them in favor of streaming.

Streaming every day can result in you being more tired and underperforming at your day job. Moreover, people who get too busy with one thing can skip out on their personal hygiene which could negatively impact the impression that you give to your viewers. (not everyone can pull of what Asmongold has pulled off)

The bottom line is unless you are a full-time streamer, you should not be streaming every single day.

How to plan your weekly stream schedule

As a smaller streamer, you will reap the benefits of having a weekly stream schedule. These will not only keep you accountable, they will also help you plan your stream beforehand.

You should start your stream schedule the week before. This gives you enough time to plan around your own calendar as well as gives you time to invite other streamers for possible collaborations.

What days do you want to stream that week? How many hours will you stream on those days? Aside from that, you can also roughly plan out WHAT you are going to do in these streams.

What games will you play? Are you inviting a friend/fellow streamer?

Here’s how you should plan your weekly stream schedule:

• Figure out which days you will stream
• Figure out how many hours you will stream each day
• Figure out roughly what you will stream
• Figure out an objective for that stream
• Figure out who you will invite on the stream

Below is an example of a 3-day stream schedule.

How to plan your stream

Aside from your weekly stream schedule, as a newer streamer you will really benefit from planning out each individual stream.

A dedicated stream plan includes talking points (to prevent dead time), a stream objective, planned activities, a possible guest streamer, the list goes on.

This prevents smaller streamers from turning on their live stream and playing Dead by Daylight with barely any commentary, interaction with viewers, or goal for the stream.

👉 📆 Lucky for you, we have a dedicated article teaching you exactly how to plan out your Twitch stream.

Other ways to grow your Twitch stream

Creating your stream schedule and figuring out how often to stream is one way to grow on Twitch but there are many other ways to grow as well.

We’ll finish of this article with some tips for smaller streamers on how to grow on Twitch.

1. Find a small niche and stick by it

Many beginner streamers start by either streaming variety content or by playing a saturated game (e.g. Valorant).

This can work, but you are making it harder for yourself to be discovered. When you play a saturated game, you will have to focus on AMAZING viral content to lure viewers to your live stream.

Meaning you will either need an infinite supply of hilarious content, or you will need to be a god at the video game.

Variety streamers on the other hand, give their audience little time to get used to their stream.

Imagine you discover a smaller streamer roleplaying GTA5 but when they go live 2 days later they stream League of Legends. You are unlikely to get ‘hooked’ to them as a streamer. They simply didn’t give you enough time.

As a beginner streamer, you want to give your audience time to get hooked to you. But you also want to have a game that allows you to be discovered.

This is where niches come into play. A smaller niche allows you to get discovered more quickly through easier content. You will still need to rely on TikTok and YouTube, but you won’t need to be the next Tfue or Ninja to get attention.

It’s also A LOT easier to build a community around a small niche.

In due time, you can always move into variety streaming once you’ve built a little community.

👉 More info on how to find a streaming niche.

2. Use YouTube and TikTok to your fullest advantage

Growing on Twitch is next to impossible without outside help. This is because Twitch has no proper algorithm to help small streamers get viewers.

You have to take measures into your own hand and create highlights of your Twitch stream and upload them to TikTok and YouTube (shorts) in the hopes that they go viral.

👉 More info on how to use TikTok to grow on Twitch

3. collaborate with other streamers

Next to streaming often, collaborating is key for growth on Twitch. Not only does it give you a person to talk to (making your stream feel a lot more alive) it also allows both you and your fellow streamer to grow through the exposure to each others viewers.

You can join Twitch communities to find other Twitch streamers to stream with.

👉 More info on how to network with other streamers on Twitch

4. Stream often

If you want to grow on Twitch, you have to stream often and you have to have a dedicated streaming schedule. Streaming casually, whenever you want, isn’t going to help you grow on Twitch.

Followers you may get from one stream, will forget about you once you don’t go live for a couple of weeks.

Besides, if you don’t take Twitch seriously and create a stream schedule, you will never take your stream seriously enough either. Soon you will start making excuses as to why you aren’t streaming and when you do go live, you won’t put in nearly as much effort as someone who planned out their stream.

Stream often. Enjoy streaming. Plan your streams out. Grow on Twitch. In that order.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has made one thing abundantly clear: if you want to grow on Twitch, you have to stream often.

Ideally, you would stream 2 – 4 days per week. You should aim for each stream to last at least 2 hours to allow viewers to come in.

Streaming this often, paired with a good stream schedule, uploading highlights to Twitch and TikTok, and collaborating with other streamers, is the key to gaining viewers on Twitch.

And one more thing: avoid streaming every day as beginner to prevent burnout.