Last Updated on 08/26/2021 by Dean
This is a comprehensive guide on how to find a niche as a Twitch streamer.
Not sure which games to play? Should you just be a variety streamer? This guide will clear things up for you.
🚀 This article is part of our Grow on Twitch series.
I won’t just explain HOW you can find a niche on Twitch but also WHY you should niche down on Twitch.
So sit back, relax, sip some coffee and let’s build our way to the top!
First things first: Pick a niche you will enjoy
Growing on Twitch doesn’t happen overnight.
You’re going to have to grind. Spend multiple hours broadcasting to less than 10 viewers for multiple days, weeks and month.
Some even do it for years.
Even if a certain niche might be better for you, if you’re not having fun, you will give up eventually.
Pick a niche that you will enjoy, period.
You don’t need to be good at the game
Pokimane didn’t start streaming League of Legends until she hit diamond because she felt she needed to be good at the game in order to stream it.
This was in 2013 when Twitch was an entirely different place. There were no IRL categories, few variety streamers, streamers had little on-stream personality and everyone was a real ‘gamer’.
In 2021, and for the last couple of years, things have been very different.
Some of the biggest streamers on the platform are big simply because of their personality, many don’t even play games at all.
Don’t let your ‘rank’ or skill level stop you from playing games, nobody cares!
Viewers will come to your Twitch stream because of your personality, not your skill level.
Sykkuno streams Valorant to tens of thousands of viewers on his Twitch stream.
All while being ranked in Bronze.
His friends, LilyPichu, Yvonnie and others do the same.
Nobody is expecting you to be the next Shroud, most viewers on Twitch these days are looking for entertainment, not god-tier gameplay.
Avoid streaming saturated games
Games like Fortnite, Valorant, and League of Legends are consistently being streamed by tens of thousands of Twitch streamers.
These are the type of games you want to avoid when looking for a good niche.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it will be a lot harder to grow while playing these games.
Think about it: you are competing with tens of thousands of other streamers whenever you play a popular game such as Fortnite.
Twitch will rank you at the absolute bottom where no one will discover you organically.
But that’s not the worst part, Twitch’s discoverability is terrible to begin with.
You will also have a harder time getting great traffic from sources such as YouTube.
Even if you create the best-edited video in the world with the nicest Fortnite clips ever, YouTube won’t recommend this video to anyone because no one knows who you are.
Instead, they will feature popular YouTubers ahead of you.
Now imagine you’re streaming a smaller, less recognized game.
Not only will you become more discoverable through Twitch.
You will be more discoverable on YouTube, Reddit, and other sources.
You could even become an authority for your niche!
After all, people will always go looking for guides, tips and tricks for their favorite game.
You can be that person they go to.
Devote your Twitch channel to teaching others how to be good at the game and upload guides, tips, and tricks to your YouTube channel.
You can become active in the subreddit of your niche.
There are so many ways you can build yourself into becoming an authority of a small, niche game.
Case Study: How Ludwig found his early success
Many will see Ludwig as the man who holds the world record for most subscribers. For his subathon or for the many challenges he does with his roommates.
But what you may not know, is that Ludwig is a relatively new streamer.
Ludwig had 168 average viewers throughout the year 2018.
Before he blew up in 2020, Ludwig was a small streamer who had an audience because of his presence in the Smash Brothers Melee community.
People knew him as a commentator within the close-knit Smash Bros Melee community, and that’s why he was able to build an audience early on.
How to boost yourself on Twitch with a good niche
👉 Step 1: find a small, lesser-known game
Remember that you need to like the game.
You can use a site like Twitch Strike to help you find small, niche games that do well on Twitch.
Alternatively, you can scroll down the categories page on Twitch to locate a niche.
👉 Step 2: Become an authority within your niche
Viewers need to recognize your branding.
“Do you have any tips on how I can beat that level?” No, but you should check out streamerfacts, they create helpful content for the game.
There are a number of ways you can become an authority within a niche:
- Create video guides and upload them to YouTube
- Create text guides (e.g. on a blog)
- Be active within the Reddit community
- Create a support Facebook Group for your niche
- Launch a discord server for your niche
- Stream the game daily
👉 Step 3: Build your community
Once you’ve established yourself as an authority, viewers will come to your stream.
It is then your turn, to turn those viewers into your own community.
How to build your community:
- Create a discord server for YOUR Twitch stream
- Engage with your viewers
- Incentivize viewers to follow you on Twitch
- Incentivize viewers to follow your on Twitter
- Upload fun stream highlights to YouTube
- Remain active within Twitch communities
- Network/collaborate with other streamers
Some helpful links:
👉 Step 4: Expand your community
Once you have established yourself as an authority within your niche, and you’ve built a community of your own, you can venture into other games as well.
This is what many streamers (e.g. Ludwig) have done.
Once they had a loyal following, they ventured into other games.
You might see a decrease in viewership at first, but your loyal community will stick around.
Thanks to these loyal viewers, you can continue to expand yourself on Twitch through other games.
Let’s bust some myths…
❌ It is easy to break-through in a popular game
This is not true.
Popular games are super saturated.
Even if you’re really good at the game, you will find it extremely difficult to break through as thousands of other streamers have already established themselves within that niche.
❌ Only big streamers can become an authority
Big streamers can become an authority in a big niche (e.g. Valorant).
But anyone can become an authority in a smaller niche.
❌ Streaming in a small niche won’t help you grow on Twitch
This is just not true!
On the contrary, streaming in a small niche will make you grow A LOT FASTER.
As this guide has taught you, by streaming in a small niche, you can:
- Become an authority
- Build a community
This is something that is 100x harder in any big niche.
❌ I don’t want to be stuck within a small niche
Just because you’re known for a certain smaller niche, doesn’t mean you are stuck with it….
This is what community-building is for!
Sure, those that only came to you for that specific game you were playing will likely leave once you move past your niche.
But your community, loyal followers, are there for you. These people will follow you to any game.
Now it’s your turn!
Hopefully, this guide has showed you just how much of an impact a good niche can have on your Twitch growth!
Through a small niche you can:
- Become an authority
- Build a community
- Expand into more niches
This is how huge streamers such as Ludwig have found success on Twitch.
Stop attempting to break through while playing huge saturated games, instead, focuss on the smaller games and build your way to the top!