Last Updated on 06/01/2022 by Dean
Every streamer has a specific persona that they put on when they go live on Twitch (or any other streaming platform). This Streamer Personality is what makes them unique.
It identifies them. It’s what keeps the viewers interested.
A well-rounded streamer persona is necessary if you want to achieve success as a streamer.
In this article, I’ll go over everything you need to know about the Streamer Persona as well as teach you how to develop your own.
What is a Streamer Persona?
A streamer persona is the alter ego of a live streamer. This is the person they become once they go live on Twitch or Youtube. In many cases, a streamer’s on-screen persona is an exaggerated version of themselves.
But some streamers (e.g. Vtubers) take this even further and craft an entirely different personality for their live stream.
Why do I need a Streamer Personality?
Newer streamers are often confused with the idea of a Streamer Persona.
If this is an idea you find yourself struggling with, I want you to think about your favorite streamer.
Who are they? What are they like? What makes you like them?
Most likely, they have a very specific personality type. And that’s exactly what’s drawing you and many other viewers to their stream.
Let me give you an example using the following three streamers: Ludwig, LilyPichu, and Sykkuno.
Ludwig has a very loud personality. He clearly was the class clown. His streams are widely entertaining and his clownlike persona has been the driving force behind his amazing growth.
LilyPichu is soft-spoken, adorable, and very creative. Her streams are very chill and fun to pop into. She’s always having a blast with friends, playing on her keyboard and singing, or hosting a drawing class.
Sykkuno is the shy anime protagonist of Twitch. His streamer persona is appealing to a large female viewer base.
Each of these streamers has a well-developed Streamer Persona.
These personality types are largely based on themselves, but in a way, they are definitely exaggerated as well.
For example, Sykkuno’s voice used to be a lot deeper when he was still a League of Legends YouTuber. (Video here)
Once he became a Twitch streamer, his voice became a lot more soft and shy sounding.
Now don’t get me wrong, Sykkuno seems like a very shy person if you pay attention to any IRL content he has been a part of, but he is definitely changing his voice to fit his shy-boy persona.
The same thing could be said about LilyPichu. Being a voice actress, she definitely knows how to manipulate her voice and create that cute onscreen voice we all love so much. Sure, her onscreen voice may resemble her real voice but it is likely exaggerated a little.
And finally we have Ludwig. Obviously, Ludwig does not talk to his family and friends the same way he does on screen. On screen, he often sounds closer to a TV presenter than he does a streamer. His streamer persona exudes confidence.
Many of these streamers find what their viewers like about them, and they add to that part of their persona.
How to develop your Streamer Personality
Here are a few tips that will help you develop your Streamer Persona.
1. Pay attention to other streamers
Remember how earlier I pointed out Ludwig and Sykkuno’s personality traits?
I want you to watch other streamers and specifically focus on their personality traits.
Hop on Twitch and study some of the more popular streamers.
Pay attention to their personality traits and write down what stands out to you.
With this exercise, you’ll familiarize yourself with what works.
These are streamers that have a dedicated audience. They are clearly doing something right.
Try to do this every now and then. You can learn a lot by paying attention to the other streamers.
Try to get out of your comfort zone and don’t just watch streamers you already like. If you dislike xQc, go check out his stream anyway. Study his personality and you’ll notice why he is so appealing to such a large fanbase.
2. Figure out your personality traits
As mentioned earlier, many streamers have a persona that is based on an exaggerated version of themselves.
So when developing your persona, you should start with yourself.
What are you like?
Are you a shy boy/girl like Sykkuno? Are you the class clown like Ludwig?
What makes you, you?
Go ahead and ask your friends and relatives how they would describe you.
Once you have an idea of what you’re like, you can use this as the base to further develop your Streamer Persona.
3. Showcase your passions
Viewers want to watch streamers they feel a connection towards. This is why it’s important to share and showcase your passions as a streamer.
You’ll notice many streamers cosplay on stream, have figurines in the background that showcase what type of movies/video games they are into, and generally often talk about their interests and passions.
Showcasing your passions is SO important.
If viewers feel that they connect with you, they will be MUCH more likely to vibe with you and continue coming to your streams.
Make it obvious what you are into. This is part of building your streaming persona.
4. Figure out what type of streamer you want to be
Part of adapting your streaming persona is to understand what type of stream you would like to host.
I mentioned how interactive LilyPichu’s stream is earlier. At any time, you can pop into her stream and she’s always doing something fun. Streams oftentimes include her viewers such as hosting a drawing class or by singing songs and playing on her keyboard.
If such an interactive stream is something you want to achieve for yourself, you should pay attention to what streamers like Lily are doing.
You don’t need to have musical or artistic talents to host an interactive stream either.
You can be creative and make your own interactive stream. One example is Austinshow who would invite other streamers and viewers to his talk show ‘Love or Host’.
Plan out your stream
This may not sound like it has much to do with developing your personality but it is still very important.
I notice most newer streamers make a huge mistake when they go live: they default.
What I mean by default is that they simply do what they would do if they weren’t streaming at all. They’ll do the same thing they do when they turn on their their PC at night for a gaming session.
Sorry guys but THIS IS NOT STREAMING.
At best, this is hosting a private stream for your friends. Watching you play a video game in silence with no commentary is something only a close friend could have on (in the background).
Default streamers will hop into a game of Valorant or League of Legends as if it is was any other Monday night.
Minimal interaction, no anecdotes, no actual plan of where to take the stream.
They will play their game for a couple hours only to end the stream abruptly.
This is because their stream isn’t planned out.
If this feels familiar, here’s your wake-up call: no one wants to watch this stream.
This stream is boring, and lacks personality and planning.
Popular streamer Ludwig has once said on stream that sometimes he spends more time planning his stream than actually streaming.
Example of a stream outline
- Figure out an interesting objective for the stream
- Think of a personal story you can tell your viewers
- Bring up recent news/stories
- Prepare some good questions for your viewers
By simply using the outline above, you can make your stream infinitely more interesting and entertaining!
First, make sure you have an objective before you go live. This will prevent you from defaulting and creating a boring stream.
Next, have an interesting story that you want to bring up in your stream. This can be something that happened to you in your personal life (e.g. your worst date, the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you, etc)
After your personal story, you can bring up an event that happened recently. This could be related to the game you play, one of your passions, or simply something that is on the news everywhere.
Make sure to interact with your viewers while you are bringing up stories. Ask about their input, and if someone replies, turn it into a conversation.
But don’t just copy this outline, use it as a blueprint and add your own ideas to it, it’s your stream!
👉 Continue Reading: How to plan your live stream
Don’t just play a video game
Streaming and playing video games really are not the same thing.
You aren’t Shroud, you aren’t a proven FPS god with a large following that can just stream Valorant in silence and get away with it.
As a small streamer, you have to entertain.
Every single viewer that pops into your stream has one objective: to be entertained.
Your viewers could be watching shows that Netflix threw millions of dollars at but instead they are watching your stream. You better not sit there in silence 😡.
These are other human beings who would prefer live entertainment over any other type of entertainment. SO ENTERTAIN THEM.
Don’t let the game be the entertainment. Even if they came looking for gameplay, it will have to be your persona and entertainment that makes them stay.
If you struggle to understand this, here’s a little exercise you give yourself:
Put yourself in the shoes of your viewers. Dive into any game category on Twitch and scroll until you find streamers with small view counts that resemble your own.
Pay attention to what they are doing.
Odds are, they are simply playing the game. No chat interaction, no story-telling, maybe they aren’t even talking at all. This happens all the time.
What’s your reaction to this? Most likely you will move on to the next stream.
Don’t be that streamer. Don’t just play a video game. It doesn’t work.
If you need tips on how to entertain your viewers, we have another guide that teaches you how to talk on stream, even when you have zero viewers.
Learning how to entertain an empty chat is difficult but it is part of being a streamer. Give yourself time to get comfortable with this. Don’t just give up because this article told you to entertain and you couldn’t do it. Use this article as a reminder that being entertaining is your end goal.
Nobody expects you to become Ludwig overnight. But we do expect you to continue to grow as a streamer. Continue pushing yourself. Get out of your comfort zone.
Set goals for yourself
In order to grow on Twitch, you should push yourself on every stream. One way to keep track of your improvement is to set goals for yourself and try to reach them.
Ideally, you should reach one goal every time you stream.
Goals can be simple like:
- Have a heartfelt conversation with a viewer
- Talk for five minutes straight
- I will invite a viewer to play a game with me
Notice how I’m not setting goals like ‘I will gain 10 followers today’? Those are goals that are much harder to accomplish because you have little grasp over them. But you do have a grasp over goals such as having a heartfelt conversation with a viewer.
These goals are all an attempt to get you comfortable as a streamer and further develop your streamer persona.
Conclusion
I hope this article has taught you everything you need to know about the coveted Streamer Persona and also helps you develop your own in the future.
Crafting your streamer persona is a long process. It’s going to take time so take it slow. Remember to plan your stream and break your goals every time you go live.
The first step is to get comfortable with being a Twitch streamer. Once you have that down, you can really focus on rounding up that personality.
Continue learning how to be a streamer
Now that you’ve learned how to develop your streamer persona. Why not check out our other streaming guides?
Our guides cater to all levels of streamers. You can start off from 0 or pick up on your way to make Partner! 🏆