September 2019 - XSplit Blog

Top 5 Industries using Live Streaming: Retail & Sales

Live Streaming is BIG…

You heard it here first folks, Live Streaming is the next behemoth of Marketing. What? You’ve heard it before? Well, what if I told you people spend more time watching live videos than… Huh? You’ve heard of Twitch and Facebook Live before? Well, I guess my job here is done…

I kid of course.

We here at XSplit have always believed in the power of Live Streaming and we think the industry has yet to reach its full potential. Sure, you’ve heard of Gaming and Esports taking the planet by storm, all those Gen-Zers with their yeets and yikes are micro-influencers in their own right. But today folks, I want to discuss the success we’ve seen in other industries and use cases where live streaming has brought about a new era of brand marketing and awareness expansion.

You might make fun of kids sitting at home and playing video games for a chance to earn money, but what if I told you, you could be selling whatever product or service you want from the comfort of your couch, also limiting conventional advertising costs and you know, staying in for the day! Those kids don’t seem so crazy now, right? Salesmen have been cold-calling random folks since the telephone was invented. Sure, prospecting clients has gotten slightly better, but no one wants to pick up the phone to be given an elevator sales pitch right?

Kids these days would rather hear their favorite content creator on YouTube tell them what PC to buy while playing the trendiest game at the time (Skyrim is still cool right..?). Women prefer seeing their favorite Instagram model eat [insert brand] granola bars every day for breakfast than a cheesy TV ad spot of a happy family, sat down at the breakfast table, smiling up to their ears (come on guys, we all know what everyone is like in the morning before work/school…).

Retail: a dead end for marketing innovations?

First is an area that I truly feel is one of the biggest potential winners if they were to leverage live streaming to its full capability: Retail & Sales. We all know e-commerce has taken over and physical stores are no longer the sure bet they used to be; with an emphasis on location and flashy street signs, why would it be more effective than an online store?

Online advertising might be expensive, but it sure as hell isn’t more expensive than a rental space on High Streets. Why wouldn’t you at least try to switch to a digital-only model? Whilst one might think it involves more complex logistics, the reality is, the supply chain is much more streamlined, delivering the output straight to the consumer and only worrying about overall stock & inventory rather than checking performance of individual stores, and looking into an ungodly amount of factors that may or may not be the reason for a decline in sales.

Yes, physical retail stores will remain for years to come, but what of the profit margins on each one of them? Heavily cannibalized by both competitors and their own online stores. An argument can be made that it is not a zero-sum game, and both can grow alongside one another. But my email transaction receipts vs the number of receipts in my wallet says otherwise, I bet yours do too. My point is, Physical Retail peaked long ago. Online Retail? It’s booming, sure, but it can still grow way beyond the current scope.

Facebook: The online store and marketplace open to all

Mark my words, live streaming on Facebook might just be the next QVC, and I’m staking my reputation on the line by declaring it will be exponentially bigger than anything ever achievable on cable TV. The meer nature of the content living on a digital platform makes the whole buying experience seamless and is already second nature to most digitally-connected consumers nowadays: browse Facebook, watch a live stream, follow the page, within the week that user will be clicking that attached link and with fast checkout on mobile and next day delivery, why would anyone ever watch TV at 5am and pick up a landline phone? It is the most natural evolution for the QVC world and retail purchasing. I don’t need to keep hammering the notion that an overwhelming majority of purchases are done online, with mobile phones, etc. The way customers consume content and advertising have shifted drastically, with some businesses striving off of their digital presence only, abandoning print as a Marketing avenue completely.

So far, I can say I am really surprised no big player has truly taken advantage of it. To compare to the Gaming Industry, we’ve seen companies like EA Games bring in the biggest names in the NBA to promote their video game, I don’t understand why they haven’t been doing the same for live Nike shoe releases, perhaps some interactive events with fans? That’s easy quality content with high social value. Apple and Tesla do keynote announcements, why can’t other brands do the same? Even at a lesser scale, fans would show up and buy. Afraid of a mistake once live? There are other avenues, try a behind the scenes design sneak peek, that is a viable option to determine the demand of a certain product before it even comes out of concept phase and hits production.

There are countless ways to build hype, share an announcement, FAQs/support sessions, do some market research, with live video content. Perhaps once Facebook’s own Libra currency comes into play, we will see a huge boom in the adoption of the model with a payment platform fully integrated into Facebook. Amazon should be very worried about Facebook as its main competitor in the E-commerce space I believe.

Network Marketing & Micro-Influencers

Remember those countless Facebook posts about those magical weight-loss wraps and how within a week, the effects are immediately noticeable! Their livelihood depended on going online, posting on social media and selling the product they represent. With live streaming available, doesn’t that method seem like the equivalent of cold-calling? A somewhat tactless, shotgun approach to generating leads? That’s right, the core model of those referral marketing businesses are based on a reliable and reputable individual selling one-to-one.

Do you know what would make it more impactful than a before and after picture? That’s right, a daily live stream so users can follow you on your journey. While a daily text post every day might be enough to captivate some, wouldn’t you feel much more compelled if you saw daily live streaming showing both process and results? I know I would. Live demonstration, Q&A sessions, a visual journey that potential customers can follow through before deciding to purchase. That is what Brand Engagement should look like, in its most genuine form and with an interactive component.

Facebook in itself is a platform built for Network Marketing based on real user recommendations and feedback, and not just any customers, customers you might be friends with! The constant sharing and tagging may be somewhat misused for memes and political nonsense, but there is, without a doubt, a huge market for the Sales teams to penetrate.

Sephora saw the potential in leveraging live streaming a couple of years ago by hosting live sessions on Facebook to answer all questions and providing a more in-depth insight that a poster ad simply cannot express. (source: https://www.facebook.com/sephora/videos/10154206592984405/). Couple that with an influencer guest, and you’ve probably got the best recipe to empty your inventory within an hour. Don’t forget a time-limited discount only valid for the duration of the show. Maybe throw in a giveaway/raffle by letting users tag others in the show, and you’re set for success.

Clothing, Jewelry, Makeup, Sports gear are all industries that would greatly benefit from adopting Live Streaming into their Marketing Mix as it has a relatively low-risk factor and potential huge ROI. Additionally, as with any form of video content on social media, plan your content adequately and you may have a viral marketing campaign on your hands.

Live video in its simplest form can tick all the checks of a marketing campaign: informative Q&A and support, influencer testimonials and advertisements, social media marketing, incentive marketing with prizes and time-limited discounts and last but definitely not least, a rapport with your customer, one that lasts. Does that not sound more efficient than a banner ad limited to a 300×100 pixel image with a word count of 20? The best part is, you can start with a very basic setup: a laptop, a camera, a social media account, and a streaming and recording software (how convenient, we have one of those available for free to try out!).

Let us know in the comments what you think might be the next big thing in live streaming, and we might just cover it in our next post!

XSplit Announce Partnership with NVIDIA RTX Broadcast Engine

The NVIDIA RTX Broadcast Engine represents a huge leap forward for content creators using GeForce RTX GPUs, providing them with new avenues to enhance their productions. By utilizing the Tensor Cores on these RTX cards, AI-powered operations are able to run in real-time, streamlining the production output of creatives and enabling them to increase the quality of their content to a level that’s unheard of on consumer-grade hardware.

On our end, we are looking to augment XSplit VCam’s background removal for users with RTX GPUs. We believe that we can improve our app’s performance and efficiency, either by using NVIDIA’s RTX Greenscreen AI model or optimizing our existing model to fully take advantage of Tensor Cores. We are also considering RTX AR and RTX Style Transfer as potential feature updates for XSplit VCam.

In addition, while the RTX Broadcast Engine highlights its strengths through its real-time capabilities, we think that there’s also a big opportunity to use these same features on the XSplit Express Video Editor. Being able to use these on existing videos can serve multiple purposes, from breathing new life into old content to diversifying the creative flow of users by letting them try out different effects during post-production without needing to commit to applying them during the initial recording.

We are excited to start tinkering around with the RTX Broadcast Engine and look forward to more innovation from the NVIDIA team. You can check out NVIDIA’s full press release here.

Exploring NVIDIA RTX Broadcast Engine with XSplit

We are excited to start tinkering around with the RTX Broadcast Engine and look forward to more innovation from the NVIDIA team. You can check out NVIDIA’s full press release here.

XSplit Powers this Year’s Rev Major

Did you know that XSplit’s development takes place in Manila, Philippines? Since establishing SplitmediaLabs back in 2009 (ten years ago!), we have proudly been a part of the growing gaming and esports scene of the Philippines. It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch the scene evolve and grow over the years, with prize pools and international viewership going from strength to strength.

REV Major, taking place this weekend, is no exception. With over 800 participants already registered to compete this weekend, REV Major is set to be a landmark event for the Philippines belonging in the same conversation as ESL One Manila and Manila Majors / Masters.

Prepare to experience the HYPE once again as the Philippines’ premiere fighting game event returns.

See you this Sept 28-29, 2019 in The Tent Solaire Resorts & Casino for REV Major 2019.#REVMajor2019 #DoItAgain pic.twitter.com/OrbtCPFED4
— REV MAJOR PH (@revmajorph) September 24, 2019

We’re excited to see REV Major this year, with some of the world’s biggest Tekken 7 players flying into Metro Manila to duke it out with our country’s best. Naturally, the XSplit team had to be involved, so we are helping the folks over at Playbook (who organize the event) with production duties, so the live stream is powered by XSplit.

Our production stream monsters will be making sure everything runs smoothly from Solaire casino, with a few other team members there watching the proceedings! Even our Korean Community Manager, Kevin “Burnout Fighter” Kim will be competing. Adding to the festivities is SplitmediaLabs’ staff member Steef Reverente who will be holding a Retro Game Arena station at the event, featuring a bunch of classic fighting games from the 90’s and early 2000’s.

So make sure to tune into the stream this weekend for some FGC hype and to see who takes the pot. You can also follow XSplit on Twitter, and Instagram for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to pull off this kind of production.

Speaking of which, interested in broadcasting your own fighting game event? Our Brand Ambassador Chris Slight, took some time back at EVO earlier this year to chat with some of the FGC’s best broadcasters for the best tips, and how to strategize when the inevitable blow-up happens. Check it here:

Keep up-to-date with REV Major this weekend

Rev Major September 28-29, 2019
Location: Solaire Resort & Casino
Live Streams: Twitch (1, 2), Facebook

엑스플릿 브로드캐스터 3.9 지금 다운로드 하세요

엑스플릿 브로드캐스터의 메이저 업데이트 소식을 오랜만에 전달해드립니다. 지금 엑스플릿 브로드캐스터 3.9 버전을 바로 다운로드 받으셔서 사용하실 수 있습니다. 여러가지 새로운 기능들이 추가되었고 다양한 최적화 작업을 거치면서 성능이 상향되었습니다. 이번 업데이트의 중점은 소스 묶음 (그룹핑), 오디오 믹서, 장면 프리셋 등이 있습니다. 이 외에도 다양한 버그픽스를 통해 조금더 안정화된 방송 프로그램이 되도록 노력하고 있습니다.

오디오 믹서 확장 프로그램은 오래전부터 고려해왔던 기능이지만 개발진의 작업 우선순위에서는 약간 멀리 지정되어 있었습니다. 이전에도 언급한 바 있지만 오디오 관련 부분들을 조금더 섬세하고 사용하기 쉽게 발전되는 엑스플릿 브로드캐스터가 되고자 합니다. 3.9 버전에서는 오디오 믹서 확장 프로그램을 설치하시면 조금더 간편한 오디오 조절을 하실 수 있을것입니다. 활성화 되어있는 모든 오디오 장치들의 데시벨 비교를 통해서 조금더 섬세한 오디오 조절로 시청자들에게 가장 알맞은 음질의 방송이 가능하게 되었습니다. 추후에는 조금 더 세분화되고 누구나 사용하기 편한 인터페이스를 구축하도록 준비중입니다.

소스 묶음 (그룹핑) 역시 많은 엑스플릿 사용자분들이 제안하신 의견중 하나입니다. 따로 소스를 추가하지만 거의 항상 사용하는 소스들과 같은 분류의 소스들을 묶어서 소스의 위치 이동 및 크기 조절을 한번에 하실 수 있거나 다른 장면에 복사 후 붙여넣기 하기 편리하게 업데이트 되었습니다. 한가지 예를 들면 웹캠 소스와 웹캠 주변의 이미지 파일들의 화면 구성이 다른 장면에서도 동일하게 적용하시려면 새로 소스들을 추가하지않고 한번에 묶어둔 소스를 복사하여 붙여넣기 하시면 편리합니다.

이전 3.8 버전에서는 인게임 오버레이 (HUD) 기능을 추가하였습니다. 이번 버전에서는 필요시에 활성화 할 수 있고 사용하지 않으시면 아예 비활성화 하실수 도 있습니다. 그리고 새로운 오버레이 위젯을 추가하여서 팔로워 및 후원자 기록을 게임내 화면에서도 실시간으로 확인하실 수 있어서 알트탭 또는 다른 화면으로 전환하지 않아도 편리하게 시청자들과 소통할 수 있게 되었습니다. 현재 트위치, 페이스북, 유튜브 송출을 지원하고 있습니다. 원컴, 원모니터 방송 환경의 사용자분들에게 편리한 기능이 되리라 믿습니다. 오버레이에 대한 의견은 항시 피드백을 받고 있으니 언제든지 엑스플릿 디스코드로 오셔서 알려주시기 바랍니다.

장면 프리셋이란 한 장면에서 동일한 소스들을 가지고 또다른 구성의 장면을 표현하시려면, 새로운 장면을 추가하기 부담스러우실때 한 장면에서 최대 3가지의 다른 구성을 설정하실 수 있는 기능입니다. 예를 들어 현재 장면의 기본 구성은 전체화면의 게임, 구석에 작은 웹캠 화면, 그리고 반대편 구석에 채팅창 을 설정 해 주셨다면. 같은 장면의 2번 프리셋에는 조금 더 크기가 커진 캠 화면과 채팅창, 그리고 작은 화면의 게임 캡쳐 화면을 설정하므로써 휴식 시간이나 시청자들과의 소통시 조금더 방송인에게 몰입감을 줄 수 있도록 하는 구성입니다. 이전에 경우엔 다른 장면을 새로 만들어 새롭게 화면 구성을 하였지만 장면 프리셋을 사용하여 같은 장면에서 여러 연출이 가능하며 프리셋이 바뀔때마다 트랜지션 효과 역시 부여할 수 있어서 다이나믹하고 끊김없는 연출이 가능합니다. 개인 방송이 아닌 행사 및 이스포츠 방송에서도 이와 같은 연출로 더욱 멋있는 콘텐츠 제작이 가능합니다.

매번 업데이트가 되면서 엑스플릿 자체의 매크로 확장 프로그램도 이에 따른 영향을 받게 됩니다. 이전 기능들과 새로운 기능들의 궁합을 끈김 없이 활용할 수 있도록 더욱 섬세한 매크로 콘트롤이 가능합니다. 예를들어 장면 전환 후 특정 소스 보이기 및 숨기기, 그 후 몇초의 대기시간을 걸쳐 미리 설정해둔 동영상을 재생한다거나 리플레이를 잠깐 보고 원래 화면으로 돌아오는 연출과 비슷하도록, 기존의 장면으로 다시 돌아오는 순서를 하나의 단축키 버튼으로 설정할 수 있습니다. 매크로는 약간 고급 사용자정도의 습득력이 있으신 분들이 사용하시면 더욱 편리한 방송 환경에서 재미난 연출을 무수히 연구하고 구성하실 수 있습니다. 매크로에 관련된 자료를 참고하시려면 여기에서 확인하시기 바랍니다.

엑스플릿 브로드캐스터 3.9 버전에서 모든 분들을 만족해드리기는 어려웠지만 최근들어 사용자 피드백에 조금 더 신경쓰게 된 덕분에 여러분들의 많은 의견을 반영하도록 최대한 노력하고 있습니다. 추후에는 타 방송 프로그램의 설정과 구성을 모두 엑스플릿으로 Import 할 수 있는 기능도 만들 예정입니다. 여러 방송 프로그램을 상황에 맞추어 사용하시는 콘텐츠 제작자들과 PD 분들이 늘어나는 추세여서 이러한 분들에게 도움이 되리라 예상합니다. 궁극적으로는 다양한 통계와 방송 기록 관리를 위한 대시보드를 제작하여 처음 방송을 하시는분들과 베테랑 방송인들이 모두 편리한 환경에서 방송하고 통계를 비롯하여 많은 자가 홍보 활동에 도움이 되도록 할 예정입니다.

엑스플릿 개발진과 커뮤니티 운영자분들과 실시간으로 소통하시려면, 저희 공식 디스코드는 언제나 열려있습니다. 그리고 SNS 로 소통하실분들은 페이스북이나 트위터로 연락해주시면 빠른시일내에 답변드릴수 있도록 하겠습니다. 감사합니다!

The Awesome XSplit Broadcaster 3.9 is Here

It’s been a while since our last major update but I’m excited to announce that XSplit Broadcaster 3.9 is now available. It includes a bunch of new features and some quality of life improvements that will hopefully make your life as a content creator easier. The more notable features include source grouping, audio mixer, gamepad visualizer, and the dark horse, scene presets. Excitingly, these aren’t the only tasty updates 3.9 has.

Audio Mixer improvements are something that is long overdue and as I’ve mentioned in the previous blog post, audio is something we want to continually focus on to make sure it has all the features you need. With 3.9 there will be a new audio mixer extension that you can download from the plugin store. This will show your audio levels in a more convenient way using the decibel(dB) scale and will help identify when audio is too loud or quiet. Whilst the audio mixer is still fairly basic in its current form, we already have a handful of improvements in the pipeline that we hope to roll out over the next while.

Source grouping is a quality of life improvement that is long overdue. A simple feature on the surface but this will help you organize and categorize your sources better. You then get the added benefit of being able to move and resize those sources together. A great example would be selecting a webcam frame image and a webcam source and then grouping them. This allows you to move them together in the mixer area but also you can collapse them in the sources area and rename it so it becomes a single item at a glance.

The phrase or term “scene preset” might not mean a lot on its own but it’s a way of configuring the same scene with the same sources in multiple ways. An example might be having the webcam in the top left in one preset and the top right in another. It seems crazy that you would have to duplicate or rebuild the same scene just to have a webcam in a different position when all the other sources are the same. The coolest part is that you can add a transition time to presets that causes the presets to animate between each other. You can almost think of it like keyframes. The position, the rotation, the color correction and more will all animate if you change them from one preset to another. This allows for some pretty powerful combinations and can really up the production quality.

In our previous 3.8 release, we added the brand new in-game HUD that allows you to control your stream from inside your game whilst playing, but also keep on top of your stream chat and stats. In 3.9 we’ve added a brand new in-game HUD widget; Stream Events. This widget will show you events as and when they happen such as a follower on Twitch, a subscriber on YouTube or a share on Facebook. This makes it easier if you’re using a single monitor or even if you just don’t want to turn your neck every two seconds to see if any new action is going on.

And finally, we have the Gamepad Visualizer plugin. A lot of you are already familiar with Input Visualizer but one of the requests that we keep on getting every time the feature is mentioned is the ability to also do the same for gamepads! Now it’s here!

As with big updates, Macros extension has been updated to include new events and actions for scene presets meaning you can add them into your automation. On top of that, we’ve also added better support for media and video playlists as well as playing out via projector. Macros is an extension we continue to update and is something we’ll be looking to overhaul when it comes to UI/UX to make it easier to manage. If you’ve never used Macros and would like to find out more, you can check out our support page on the feature here.

So those are the more big-hitting items that have arrived in 3.9, however, there’s more to come in the near future. We’ll be adding a way to easily import your Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) scenes to make it even quicker to get started and we’ll be releasing the stream dashboard extension in the coming weeks too which will allow you to see stream chat, events, and stats while streaming using XSplit Broadcaster.

As per usual, we truly appreciate your feedback and continued usage. If you have an idea for a feature or feedback on existing features, be sure to head on over to our feature upvote page where your voice can be heard. Additionally, you can join the discussion on our Discord community or if you want to personally get ahold of me, hit me up on social media @Gazreyn.

Happy streaming!

Team XSplit will be at Logitech’s Booth at TwitchCon 2019

It’s the 5th season of the best Twitch convention ever and just like in previous years, some of the XSplit staff members are going to be in attendance thanks to Logitech/Blue who will be having an exhibitor presence at the event. Our team will be staying on their booth for the entire duration of the event to demo some cool integrations we have with their products as well as share some of the cool things we’re working on recently.

We’ve been working closely with Logitech for quite some time now and it’s no secret that our products complement each other well (not to mention that we also like each other). They will have demo stations with the C922 and the Capture software on Logitech’s side and have their awesome and much-hyped Yeti X microphone on Blue’s end. They will also be bringing in some influencers on their area for all the days of the event which is definitely something to look forward to.

Friday: Dr. Lupo, DJTechLive, The Expedition Team

Saturday: VioTCZ and Jaybrotatoe

Sunday: Broken blade, Smoothie, Spica, Grig, Tactical, Lothar and Orb

From our end, we have our Director of Developer Relations Miguel Molina, US Community Manager AJ Arends & Chief Commerical Officer Sean Fee present at the event doing demonstrations and conducting business meetings. If you happen to bump into them, don’t hesitate to say hi and ask for an XSplit license!

We will be giving people an exclusive look at the next-gen XSplit Gamecaster version that we’re working on. The product is currently in closed beta with few people getting their hands on it, and helping us finetune it further. All I can say for now is it’s gonna be leaps and bounds better than the current version of Gamecaster when it gets out. If you want early access and don’t mind getting down and dirty, you can join our Discord server and join the #gamecaster-v4-feedback channel.

If you’re going to be at the convention anyway, there’s no reason not to see the app in action. 🙂

Giveaway and Fun stuff

Logitech will be running a giveaway but the mechanics and other details are still being determined so make sure you follow their social channels for any further updates!

Not attending the event? Not a problem!

As awesome as it sounds that you guys are there and enjoying all the TwitchCon awesomeness, we perfectly understand not everyone can attend due to various reasons. Worry not! Our team will be doing social media coverage for the event just like the old times so make sure to follow and tune in (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) so you don’t miss any of them.

But if you’re going…

We look forward to seeing you! Drop by Blue and Logitech’s area, witness all the awesome new tech in action and ask for a swag. 😀 But seriously, you would want to see the new XSplit Gamecaster next-gen in action. Only then you’ll understand how exciting this new product of ours is.

All in all, I’m sure there’s enough hype for TwitchCon and you already know how you’re spending your three days so there’s no need for me to yap at the nitty-gritty stuff of the event.

How to Repost your Stream Clips on Instagram

As a content creator or live streamer, you no doubt already have an Instagram account, along with Twitter and Facebook. While it is likely true that you are already posting in a bid to get noticed among the never-ending feeds of content, are you posting the right type of content?

While it is a good practice to tell your audience when you are going live, did you know that according to a recent study by Mention, Video posts receive 38% more engagement than image posts? There is a reason more, and more creators are leveraging video on Instagram as part of their strategy to drive viewers back to their channel.

To get ahead of the competition, here are a few clever hacks you can use to help you make the most of your Instagram, even when you are not streaming. It’s all about cleverly recycling your content, and posting it meaningfully to grow your channel. Here are a few simple hacks to help you make the most of your content, and easily repost clips on to Instagram.

Finding the right type of content

If you are going to go to the trouble of reposting your stream clips to Instagram, it’s vital to ensure that what you are posting is engaging. First and foremost, targeting is everything. One good example could be putting together a short thirty-second moment, of something funny that happened on stream. For gamers, maybe you are playing a survival horror, and something jumped out at you, causing you to react. A moment like this can be instantly enjoyable to new viewers, giving them a taste of both the type of games you play and your personality. For non-gaming content such as a webinar or vlogging, clipping together a segment that is both short and succinct, can prove to be alluring to viewers, wanting to go back and watch your archive, video or subscribe to be notified the next time you go live.

Outside of simply posting to Instagram, stories can also be a great way to drive viewers to your channels, as they provide a more immediate and engaging way for you to showcase your content to viewers. Selecting a few choice clips, and posting them as a story can be a great way to inform audiences of the type of content you are making.

Picking the right tools for the job

Selecting the right tools for the job is everything, and when it comes to creating highlights of key moments from our stream there are a few ways you can do it. If you are streaming with OBS one of the best practices you can do is to start writing down time stamps, using a pen and paper while you are streaming. This way, you can easily make a note when something cool happens on stream, and then go back to it. If you have viewers, and stream on Twitch, you can also ask viewers to clip the moment, for you, so you have a healthy amount of content to review.

Alternatively, if you use XSplit Broadcaster or XSplit Gamecaster, you can assign a hotkey to insert cue points into your broadcast. Cue points can be a handy way to identify critical moments during post-production.

Speaking of post-production, and selecting the right tools, it’s worth downloading a video editor so you can easily import your recordings and clip them. There are a few different choices out there, most notably Adobe Premiere, which is an industry-standard for professional non-linear editing software. Alternatively, you can also check out XSplit Express Video Editor, a free and quick solution for editing clips in seconds.

Once you have selected your software and captured your recordings, its time to start editing, a good rule of thumb when reviewing your footage to post to socials is to try and find two or three key moments, and then experiment with regards to the duration and of course, the caption.

Picking the right tools for the job is everything, so make sure you choose an editor that allows for easy clipping and exporting.

A quick guide to aspect ratios

When dealing with multiple platforms, and mixed media, complications can arise along the way, especially when it comes to aspect ratios of your content. If you are uploading gameplay footage, there is a good chance that it is captured in 16:9, meaning that when you upload it to Instagram, you will have to either sacrifice screen real estate (by uploading the clip with borders) or zooming in on a portion of the clip. Keep this in mind when uploading your content. A good rule of thumb would be to always show the clip in its original aspect ratio unless there is something specific you want to zoom in and focus the viewers’ attention to.

Creating a PC to Mobile Workflow

When saving your clips, and trying to upload to Instagram from a desktop, you may find the experience limiting. This is because Instagram does not offer a proper way to upload content from your PC easily. While there are workarounds in the form of a few third-party apps, its generally recommended to instead upload your clip to Instagram via a phone or tablet.

The reason for this is simple; native mobile Instagram apps are far superior, offering the full suite of filters, badges, and captions. So how can you quickly transfer your finished clip from PC to your mobile device? While using a 3rd party messenger service can be convenient such as What’s App, or Facebook Messenger. Quite often, the clip will be highly compressed, sacrificing quality in favor of file size.

A more convenient alternative would be to upload your clips to a cloud storage solution such as Google Drive, or Dropbox. Both offer space for free, with their mobile apps downloaded, it can be a convenient way to organize and upload clips from your phone easily.

When posting, timing is everything

So you have your finished clip, and you are ready to repost it to Instagram! Before doing so, consider that timing is everything. According to Sprout’s recent 2019 study of the best times to post on Instagram, daily on weekdays (Tuesday to Friday) between 10 am – 3 pm generally nets the best positive results.

This pocket of high engagement can prove to be a great testbed for trying out different clips to measure what has the best results. So consider initially testing 2-3 clips across the week, and utilizing hashtags. Choosing hashtags is important for ensuring your content is targeted towards the right audience, for a list of some popular hashtags take a look at this handy study from earlier this year by Oberlo. Incidentally, the most popular hashtag on Instagram is #love!

Building an audience is a long-term goal

The purpose of reposting your stream clips to Instagram is really about maximizing your channels, your brand, while also having an opportunity to recycle footage already shot. Despite these tips, though, it would be unrealistic to assume that you can build an audience overnight. Like live streaming and content creation in general, consistency is key, and by regularly uploading your content to other channels off of Twitch or YouTube, you stand the best possible chance of attracting new viewers and raising your profile. So if you are already streaming or uploading YouTube videos, why not give it a try?

TL;DR List of Tips and Tricks

Add cue points to your live streams to find the best moments to highlight
download an editor to easily cut together your clips, start with some initial 30-second segments.
When you have exported your clip, use Google Drive or Dropbox to easily access and post to Instagram from your mobile or tablet device.
Timing is everything, weekdays between 10 am – 3 pm generally gives the best results.
Building an audience takes time, post consistently, and don’t give up! Experiment and find out what works for you.

8 Ways to Make Money on Twitch

Twitch.tv is one of the best ways to make money if you’re looking to create live content revolving around gaming, art, traveling and much more! This article will cover a variety of ways on how to make money on Twitch.

Direct Donations

The easiest way to start making money on Twitch is to set up a donation button. All you need to do is set up a PayPal account. Once you have set up a PayPal account, you just need to create a PayPal link and add it to your Twitch profile. Your Twitch profile allows you to add panels that have links to external sites. One way to attract attention to your donation button to put an attention-grabbing graphic.

Donation Alerts

Most streamers display an alert on their broadcast to incentivize Twitch donations. You will need to sign up for a service like Streamlabs or Stream Elements to be able to display these alerts. Once you have created an account, look for an alert box widget. Alert boxes allow for unlimited creativity as you can add various graphics, sounds, gifs, and memes to display your viewer’s donations. One recommendation is to not make the alerts too obnoxious as this will dissuade your viewers from donating. Please note that some of the services may charge a fee for processing the Twitch donation.

There are a variety of ways to incentivize Twitch donations. You can set up donation goals to get a new piece of streaming equipment or allow song requests to be made via donations. These can all be displayed on your stream as a call to action for your viewers.

Twitch Partnership and Affiliates

The next best way to make money on Twitch is to become a partner or affiliate. Becoming a Twitch affiliate has lower requirements and allows you to receive Twitch bits and subscribers. Twitch bits are currency your viewers can buy from Twitch and donate to you through your chat or Twitch extensions. You can further incentivize Twitch bits by displaying them on your stream alerts. Subscriptions are monthly recurring payments your viewers can opt into. These can allow access to ad-free viewing, custom emotes and special icons in your chat. You can offer additional perks like access to a private discord chat. Subscriptions are the most consistent way to make money on Twitch and the product you promote the most through alerts on your stream and your channel page. Twitch also allows people who have an Amazon Prime account to subscribe to your channel at Twitch’s expense, but these subscriptions do not automatically renew so be sure to remind your audience to renew their free subscriptions. Other viewers can also gift subscriptions to your audience as well. Finally, there are multiple tiers of Twitch subscriptions, so viewers can give you more money per month.

If you can reach the level where you can become a partner on Twitch, then you receive access to additional revenue streams. The best way a partner can make money through Twitch is via ads. When you are a partner, you can make money off the Twitch Ads your viewers see. In your Twitch dashboard, you will see a button where you can trigger ads for your viewers to see. Make sure not to spam your viewers with too many ads, it’s better to chunk them into a few minutes per hour.

Twitch also offers bounty boards to their partners. These bounties are partnerships Twitch has entered with various companies that allow streamers to earn cash from promoting specific products. This can vary from running a trailer for a movie during your stream or playing a specific game.

Affiliate Sales

Another way to earn income from your Twitch stream is through affiliate sales. Affiliate sales are when someone buys an item from a link you post and you earn a percentage from that sale. Since Twitch is owned by Amazon, it has directly integrated its own Amazon Associates affiliate program into Twitch. Once you sign up for Amazon associates you can enable the Amazon Blacksmith extension, where you can list all the different items you use for your stream.

Patreon

An additional method to make money on Twitch is through Patreon. Patreon works like a Twitch subscription, but you don’t need to meet any specific requirements to create a Patreon account. Patreon allows you to offer various tiers for a sponsorship that can offer different incentives such as access to a private Discord and special shoutouts on stream. You can also display new Patreon subscribers on your stream via web-based alerts as well.

Merch

After you’ve built up a community and viewer base, a great way to make money from your Twitch content is by selling merch. One of the most common merch items is T-shirts with your logo. There are a variety of sites that will allow you to sell merch such as Teespring or Design by Humans. Merch sales can also be displayed on your stream via web alerts and your channel page.

Sponsorship

Finally, one of the most lucrative ways you can make money on Twitch is by doing sponsored streams. After you have spent some time building a dedicated viewer base, you should start marketing yourself to sponsor. A sponsor can be anything, from a soft drink to a keyboard manufacturer. Some of the most lucrative sponsorships are companies that pay you to play their games on stream. You can earn large amounts of money per the number of viewers watching and how long you stream the game.

Archives/Highlights

Finally, it is good to archive or create highlights of your streams for YouTube. Once you gain enough viewers on YouTube, you can apply for their partner program to make money from ads. This will also allow you to claim ad revenue from other channels that may be uploading your content. It is a great form of passive income that can build up over time.

That wraps up the various ways you can make money from Twitch. While it may take a while to earn enough to quit your day job, never stop finding ways to promote and monetize your content. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them in the comment section below or through our social media channels.

How to be a Successful Twitch Streamer?

Now that you’ve set the perfect Twitch overlays, figured out your Twitch settings and have been streaming for a while, you’re probably wondering how to become a top Twitch streamer. It is no secret that for the highest-paid Twitch streamers, most of their income comes from having a large and dedicated community, which creates additional income opportunities. If you’ve been wondering how to become a successful Twitch streamer, then this article will cover the variety of ways you can make a living from it.

Growing an audience

The first and most important goal of your Twitch career is growing an audience or community. You need to find ways to get people to watch your streams. First, post your upcoming and live streams across all your social media channels. Your first viewers will likely be friends and family. In order to gain new viewers, you will need to figure out what audience would be best suited to your content. For example, if your favorite game to stream is Apex Legends, create clips of your best moments on stream and share them on the Apex Legends Reddit and community forums. Make sure your clip includes the link to your stream and your stream schedule.

Speaking of stream schedules, it is very important to set and maintain a streaming schedule. It will be easier for people to find and return to your stream if they know exactly when it is live. Try to be conservative with your stream schedule in the beginning and be sure to update your community in case you have to cancel a stream.

If you have the budget, you can also pay to boost your posts on a variety of social media sites. When you first start out, you may not have a large following outside your circle of friends, so you can use the advertising platforms of various social media sites to boost the visibility of your live stream to specific demographics. Just be sure to put your advertising dollars towards audiences that will have an interest in the content you produce.

Another way of gaining an audience is by tapping into the audience of another content creator. To do this you will need to network with other content creators. You can network in a variety of ways, such as being an active member of their community or by meeting fellow content creators at gaming events. Once the connection is made, you can ask them to host your channel or play with them on stream. Twitch has introduced a new feature known as squad streaming to help with co-promotion. Many of the top twitch streamers got the first boost in their career by being hosted by another popular Twitch streamer.

Finally, another way to gain viewers is by doing giveaways. You can set follower or viewer goals to giveaway prizes. The only issue with this method is that viewers usually will only stay around for the giveaway. If you plan to do a giveaway or other paid methods to gain traffic, make sure you are showcasing your most engaging content in order to get viewers to stick around.

Monetizing your Audience

Once you have built up a stable and hopefully growing viewership, you can start to monetize your viewership. If you’ve been wondering how much Twitch streamers make, then this section will cover the variety of ways they can make money from their content.

Twitch offers both Partner and Affiliate programs for those who wish to monetize their content. Becoming a Twitch partner allows you to run ads during your stream, which you earn revenue from based on the number of people who viewed the ad. Both Partner and Affiliates also gain access to subscriptions. Subscriptions are purchased by viewers to gain access to custom emotes and badges in your chat. There are three different subscription tiers and the revenue is split between you and Twitch. Additionally, partners may be given access to bounty boards where Twitch allows you to stream specific games and earn revenue from the number of viewers watching. Tier 1 subscriptions can also be purchased for free if the viewer has an Amazon Prime account and you will still receive at least \$2.50 per subscription.

Subscriptions and ad revenues generate most of the income for the top Twitch streamers. You want to se tup your stream in a way that incentivizes subscriptions. This can include setting up subscriber alerts, subscription goals and using Twitch extensions that remind viewers when to renew their free subscription. For viewers that aren’t subscribing, use a chatbot or ask on stream to disable adblockers while watching. The highest-paid Twitch streamers also get to ask for better revenue sharing agreements for subscriptions and ads.

The next method that you can earn an income is through donations or tips from viewers. The most common method is putting a link to your PayPal account on your profile and ask viewers to tip you to support the stream. You can then use a variety of services to display these tips on your stream and further incentivize this by allowing viewers to add messages to the tips, trigger special alerts or allow viewer-submitted videos to be played. It is a good practice to read any messages your viewers send no matter the donation amount so that they will continue to support your stream. You never know who is viewing your stream, so you may end up on a viral video of someone donating a huge amount of money to your channel.

If you don’t qualify or don’t wish to join Twitch’s partner program, you can create a Patreon account. Patreon is similar to Twitch subscriptions in that your viewers can subscribe to you for a monthly amount to gain access to a variety of perks like access to a private Discord or shoutouts on your streams.

If you have a large enough community, you can begin to sell merch. The most common merch is T-shirts and these can be of your logo or anything that you feel your community will enjoy. Popular sites like Teespring and Spreadshirt are great places to start creating your own merchandise.

Eventually you’ll be able to procure sponsorships for your stream. Sponsorships can vary. A sponsor may pay to have their logo or advertisement on their stream. Some of the most lucrative sponsorships are those that pay you to play or promote a specific game. When you are looking for sponsorships, it is important to create a deck highlighting your stream viewership and content. Also, be careful on social media and on stream to not engage in any behavior that would drive away sponsors.

Building a Streaming Career is a Long Term Goal!

Being a top Twitch streamer won’t happen overnight. It can take months or years before you build a sizable enough audience to make streaming your full-time job. As long as you continue to network, promote your streams and maintain a consistent streaming schedule, you’ll eventually find success!