Month: October 2019

It starts differently for everyone, for some it may be seeing a big gaming event being streamed. For others, it’s simply a desire to see their own small local event get streamed online. Meanwhile, there are those who are simply looking to expand their personal brand into something bigger. Whatever the reason, some streamers may want to go beyond just streaming from their homes, to actually casting a small event.

Now for a few people, however, this is also where they hit their first stumbling block. Going from streaming at home to actually streaming an event, no matter how small, is quite a big leap. The extra hardware required, and the accompanying costs can scare off more than a few aspiring event streamers.

Ironically, the fact that streaming is so much easier these days can make this step feel even more daunting. Streaming on a personal level is so much easier these days than it was a few years ago. As such, it’s easy to look at all the equipment used by other people, especially those who’ve already established themselves and get discouraged because of how expensive it all looks. People end up falling into the trap of thinking that you need a similar, expensive set up to stream an event.

The key to avoiding this trap is to break an event stream down into what you need to capture, and then figuring out how to best do so within a small budget. In other words, focus on what actually needs to be streamed, instead of acquiring equipment that may not even be necessary.

Breaking down your sources

At its very core, streaming simply involves capturing feeds from a number of sources, and then mixing them together to broadcast over the Internet. Moreover, there are actually only two kinds of sources: video and audio.

For streaming on a personal level, this breakdown is pretty simple. The game being played provides both a video and audio feed. Meanwhile, your microphone and camera provide a second audio and video feed respectively.

Now, most personal computers can easily handle this. At most, all you’ll really need to spend extra on is a capture card if you’re capturing from a console or a second computer.

When streaming an event, however, both the number and video sources increases. And most computers aren’t really built to handle multiple sources well, at least in a way that’s easy to manage for putting out a quality stream. This is especially true for something that you should consider to be one of the most important parts of a stream — audio.

Audio capture, mixers, and just keeping it cheap

Calling audio one of the most important parts of a stream may sound surprising to some. However, if you think about it, it’s the audio, specifically the commentary provided by you and your co-casters that really transforms a stream from just some people playing games, into an actual show worth watching.

Now, most streams for events and video game tournaments will most likely have at least two casters on the mic. Now, this is where things can start getting expensive because you’re going to need a mixer for this. Yes, you can try simply trying to plug in two USB microphones to a PC, but from experience, this is usually more trouble than it’s worth. A PC doesn’t really work well as a mixer, as such, trying to use it as one often results in badly balanced audio that can ruin a stream.

Of course, the issue with mixers, and audio equipment, in general, is that they can get expensive. The key is to remember what exactly you need for now and work around that, using a bit of creativity in the process.

Creativity is something that’ll go a long way when trying to keep down costs. When I was starting out with streaming events, I used a simple Behringer XENYX 302USB. Some of you may already be familiar with this as it’s an inexpensive, but decent USB mixer that is often recommended for streamers. Now while the 302USB does the only cost as much as a new video game, it has the disadvantage — it only has one microphone preamp.

For those not familiar with how microphones work, the signal coming from them is actually quite weak. Mixers use preamplifiers to boost these signals to something useable. The problem is that mixers can only have one microphone per preamp, which is a problem when streaming something like an event where you might have at least two casters talking over gameplay.

In my case, I worked around this issue by using a pair of cheap, 3.5 mm splitters to allow me to connect two headsets for casters to the mixer. Now, this comes with a caveat — this setup requires the use of two identical headsets (a pair of HyperX Cloud Stingers in my case) to work. You lose having fine control over the individual casters since the mixer wasn’t designed to manage two microphone sources. Using two of the same headset ensures that the same quality signal is coming from both.

In addition to this, the other advantage of a mixer is that I can run the game audio through the mixer itself, mixing everything there. The balance between the game audio and the audio from the casters is arguably more important than the balance between the casters anyway. You want to make sure that neither the game nor the casters overpower the other.

Now while there are other ways to play do this set up that may be just as cost-effective, one of the reasons I chose the Xenyx 302USB is the fact that it’s something that can, and is used for personal streaming. Should you decide that event streaming is not for you, you can still continue to use it. That said, should you continue to stream events, it is also easy to expand this setup with a few extra bits of hardware.

Video feeds, and why you shouldn’t overload your USB ports

Now adding additional video feeds, usually, caster and player cams sound like it’ll be much easier than audio. Just slap a few extra webcams (my personal favorite is the Logitech C922 webcam, which you can actually get with a 3-month XSplit license) on your computer and call it a day. However, anyone who’s actually tried to do this may have figured out that it isn’t that easy.

The problem with just sticking extra webcams into a PC is that doing so can easily overload the PC’s USB controller. 1080p and even just 720p video from multiple sources (including the game) do require a lot of data after all. Now, not all PCs will suffer from this, however, it’s something you need to look out for.

This is an issue I actually ran across in one place I help run the stream for — a small gaming shop called GamePad Gaming Lounge. This shop runs weekly streams and occasional tournaments (including a number of Tekken World Tour Dojo events), and I’ve helped them with setting up and running their stream. Since the shop was on a budget, we ran two Logitech C615 webcams for their stream set up. However, only one camera would work at any given time, due to the overloading issue.

To fix this, we elected to run the player camera at a lower resolution. We decided to do this because the feed from this camera was never shown at full screen — it was always part of the layout on another scene. The caster camera, on the other hand, had its own dedicated scene that was at full screen.

Planning and creativity go a long way

Streaming events can be a satisfying direction for any up and coming streamer. A number of known streamers, including some who are now at Xsplit, got their starts this way.

Now while it can be an expensive endeavor, as I’ve explained above, proper planning and a bit of creativity can go a long way to keeping your costs down.

Plan what you’re streaming, know what it is you need to stream, and build around that, not around some dream build that you cannot afford. Be open to both the idea that you may want to upgrade in the future, as well as the fact that you may find out that event streaming is not for you.

More importantly, be creative in how you set up your stream. A little bit of extra thought and effort can go a long way towards finding ways to avoid having to spend a lot.

Live streaming, by virtue of its popularity and the sheer volume of users, has become synonymous with gaming and influencers. However, with live streaming being the new generation of video content, many industries have been making the most of the technology. We’ve already written about how live streaming is used in retail and video e-commerce. Now it’s time to tell you about some uncommon companies that also live stream. Maybe this will tell you if your company should live stream.

Yes, NASA literally live streams things – a lot of things, in fact. And their streams are viewed all over the world. With their content being about incredibly interesting topics, they are able to command a large number of viewers. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Part of their many initiatives is to educate and get people interested in space. So, as you might have guessed, their content consists mostly of educational documentaries. They also show views of Earth from space, spacewalks, discussions about their equipment and other things of spacey nature.

NASA has a page specifically for their live streams that lists down all their scheduled events such as showcasing next-generation spacesuits and media teleconferences. 

And pretty much at any time, you’ll find something on live on NASA’s YouTube. As of the date of writing, I’m actually feeling an overwhelming sense of calm as I watch a satellite’s live view of Earth.

It makes me feel so small, so insignificant, in the face of the vastness that is our planet. This is the kind of thing that should replace those virtual fireplace videos some people put on to chill.

Your company might not have access to outer space, but maybe you have something just as interesting you can live stream.

Train Stations From All Over

One of the very basic elements of a live stream is a video source. You know what streams video practically 24 hours a day? That’s right – a CCTV camera. And you know what public place has a ton of CCTV cameras? Well, there’s a bunch, but if you guessed train stations, then you’d be right.

There are entire networks of feeds that just show either a railway lines, intersections, or train stations. You, as the viewer, are there waiting for the next train to pass by. There’s a real sense of anticipation as you wait for the next train to roll by. After all that build-up, the pay-off is surprisingly quite satisfying.

There are a number of reasons for the existence of these streams. There’s the obvious one – monitoring and security. They are CCTV streams after all. That’s their primary function.

Another reason would probably be because there are a lot of people who just like trains. It’s not that weird, really! There’s a lot to like about trains – the sound they make when they speed across the tracks, their sleek designs, the function they serve in our ever-evolving complex societies… you know, cool things.

Railcam, a website based in the UK, which installs and operates railway webcams, has over 17,000 subscribers. They are non-profit and operate largely funded by donations.

If you want to see the Bullet Train operate in Tokyo, Japan, check out this channel. 

To find more, just search “Train Live Stream” and you’ll find so many streaming feeds of entire stations and railways. It’s good fun, and it really does feel like you’re exploring the world and traveling. It’s quite satisfying for someone who likes to travel but never really has time to.

This just shows that even the most niche things can have an audience. Maybe your company has something to live stream, too.

Parks and Zoos

Are you an animal person? Do you enjoy seeing creatures of all shapes and sizes walk around and generally exist? Well, you’d be glad to know that at any time you wish, you can surround yourself with all sorts of zoo animals via the power of live streaming?

Some zoos and parks have a feed of their zoo animals doing zoo animal things, like eating, grooming, sleeping, and probably just being all-around cute.

The Animal Adventure Park holds live streams of their animals. Last time I checked in, I was watching some giraffes chew on what I can only describe as a nutritious pillow. The streams aren’t 24 hours, but they do go for quite some time.

One of the most famous zoos in the world, the San Diego Zoo, has one of the most amazing live stream setups for zoo animals. Once you drop by their live cams page, you can choose your cuddly creature of choice. They have cameras in enclosures for the baboons, penguins, pandas, koalas, and tigers, just to name a few.

Most of the time, you’ll end up watching just the habitat for extended periods of time, but much like the train live streams, it’s the anticipation and build-up that gets me hooked.

Another channel that features animals is called Explore Live Nature Cams, and they seem to shoot in parks and riverbanks. You’ll get to experience nature in its more raw form, from the comfort of your own home. In the stream I tuned into, I was watching a grizzly bear (or what I assume is a grizzly bear) catch and consume some fish. For 30 or so minutes, I was cheering him on, as he endeavors to catch more fish. I even felt bad for the guy after a couple failed attempts and then BOOM, he snags one right out the air.

As our bear protagonist moves away from the river to indulge in his fishy treat, another bear comes out of nowhere and fights him for it. It’s some heavy drama if you ask me.

Your company may not have cute animals, but there’s bound to be something interesting to live stream. It doesn’t have to be a 24/7 always-on kind of thing.

Funerals Services

It doesn’t get any more unconventional than this.

When a loved one passes away and some of their family members are unable to attend the wake or the funeral, they can choose to simply just watch the live stream of the wake or funeral. An ever-increasing number of funeral homes have been offering live streaming at a tiny cost and it’s being met positively. Around 20% of all funeral homes in the United States offer such a service.

Funeral live streaming lets friends and family pay their respects in some fashion even if they’re from a different country or are unable to travel, but another side benefit to live streaming is documentation.

When holding a service, it’s great to be able to go back and hear all the wonderful things people have to say about the deceased. Memories are going to be shared, stories are going to be told and a recorded live stream will be the best way to relive all of those.

Know any other weird, unconventional live streams?

I’ve covered a few here, but I’m sure there are a lot more streams out there that are just as unconventional as the ones I’ve mentioned here. 

Mukbang was supposed to make it into the list but that’s been around for years, and it’s considered a bit mainstream now. What are your favorite off-kilter streams? Let us know in the comments! And oh, keep it clean!

Many content creators, especially streamers would play video games with the expressed purpose of live streaming it to their favorite streaming platforms, because let’s admit it, playing games while people are watching can be fun. Viewers can follow you on your journey as you fight against zombies or completing a visual novel story, or they can laugh with you at your crazy antics in multiplayer games. But we all know video games aren’t the only thing anyone should just focus on, there are a ton of other geeky things that can be live-streamed, so if you are still in the fence on trying out different things outside of video games, then we have a couple of things that you can really live stream if you want to do something creative.

Doing a Talk Show or Podcast

It may sound cheesy to do your own talk show on a live stream, but if you are the type that loves to talk about a lot of topics, then this will work for you. Just sit down in front of your camera, place some good decorations as your background to make it more presentable or just use XSplit VCam to simulate a green screen chroma effect. You can also use XSplit Broadcaster to help you in creating professional overlays as well as the stream annotations that you can even use to write down lists or illustrations to aid in your topic discussion. You then think of a topic that you can to talk about, it can be about a new game that got you hooked for weeks or maybe that last movie that you watched that left you with a bad taste. Your audience can even engage with your discussion in which they can ask questions that you can respond to. You can even tag someone as your guest to share their inputs as well, or even have a healthy debate which can give more insights on the topic that you tackling on. The only thing to keep in mind here is to always keep your discussions civil. No need to go all rage for any disagreements.

Tabletop Gaming session

Tabletop is a game but this time it’s more on the non-electronic side. You can do live streaming with tabletop games such as board games, card games, and even classic pen and paper roleplaying games. So if you are a fan of Dungeons & Dragons or Magic: The Gathering and you want to show off your best campaigns or matches with your other buddies, you can do videos out of these. Though keep in mind that this may require a more complicated setup depending on what game you will be streaming. It may require you multiple cameras and microphones placed on the area or some unique overlays that will show multiple screens on your plays. But if you managed to pull this off, it will be one heck of an experience and you could encourage other tabletop geeks to do it as well.

Toy/Figure Unboxing

Any geek has at least one or two figures on display at their room, but if you are someone who is into figure collecting,  you could do a series of content out of it. Unboxing videos are trending content nowadays, but doing it in the form of a live stream makes it even more fun as you can engage with your audience. You can do a video from the new action figure that you received from your preorder or that hard to find a toy that has eluded you for years. You can even showcase its nifty features and accessories, or compare it with the other figures that you have in your collection. The sky is the limit here.

Model Kit Building

You could say that this has similarities with toy unboxing, but what makes this different is that you have to assemble the whole thing, and it’s a fun reason to stream it. The setup can be the same with a typical unboxing content except for it being longer as you have to assemble your kit. Just ready your tool kits, grab a can of soda, and start with the building. It can be of any model kits as long as those are your field of interests, mechas, sports cars, World War II vehicles and even plastic brick toys. There’s no limitation on what you want to build here. If it’s a large scale starship that has hundreds of pieces to put together, you can use an episodic format that encourages your viewers to watch your progression up until you finally finish it. And if you’re not satisfied with just straight building your kit, you can go the extra mile by doing panel lining or even painting it, you can even use the live stream as a tutorial on building and painting model kits.

Event Coverage

There will be events and conventions that are catered towards geeks, and it is a good opportunity to do some coverage from it. While some content creators make video content that is pre-recorded, doing a live stream video is still possible. All you have to do is have a really good smartphone that shoots great quality videos, and a lavalier microphone that you can use for commentaries. You can roam around the convention area like you are having a tour to give an idea on what’s inside the event, or do interviews of guests or exhibitors if the organizers permit it. And in some cases, you don’t need to limit yourself in just conventions, you can do it in community events and share the fun of the community with your audience. And don’t forget, be sure to abide by the rules of the events that you are attending, and if some certain areas or segments prohibit any form of video recording, please do follow those rules.

And there you have it, these are some of the geeky things that you can do in your live stream outside of video games. But these are just a tip of the iceberg as there are still many ways to do other forms of live streaming that many haven’t tried tapping in too, so time to make use of your creative juices and start doing some more awesome contents. 

Happy streaming!

There are a ton of great talents in the independent scene, in which most of these games are passion projects by these developers, meaning you know they made these games with love. Though they lack the budget and manpower that from triple-A companies, that still doesn’t stop them from making their projects a reality, and in some cases, they produce games that are outside of the usual tropes that we found in mainstream games, giving it more of bizarre and unorthodox gaming experience.

Now with 2019 almost draws to its closure, we listed out six of the indie games that are worthy to play for your live stream sessions, whether being one of the most anticipated titles or it just being a wacky game. Streaming these games will give you a ton of fun.

Wargroove

If you are a fan of turn-based strategy games and pixel art, then you should give Wargroove a try. A homage to the classic Advance Wars series from Nintendo, Wargroove puts you in the role of a commander and can choose from the four different factions, each having unique units that are tied to the faction’s theme. You can get to choose twelve different commanders that showcase their distinct personalities and traits that will give an advantage to your army. This is a great game to stream if you want to show off your neat strategic plays or you just want something that can encourage your viewers to interact with you in making the best approach in a specific map.

Untitled Goose Game

Part puzzle game, part stealth game, pure hilarity. As the title suggests, you play as a goose and your goal is to just, make a lot of mess to the inhabitants of the town. Grab objects, startle people or just scare children as you complete objectives at each level. Completing certain tasks may require being undetected to avoid being detected by your victims, and in some cases, you may require to trigger a series of events just to complete a specific objective. This is a fun game if you are just looking for something that just lets you do crazy things if you just want to stick to one certain level, a great choice to do a live stream and let them laugh with you on the hilarious antics that you would do in the game.

My Friend Pedro

A side-scrolling shooter that lets you kill enemies in style. If you’ve played the old Flash games when you were a kid a few years back, My Friend Pedro’s gameplay will surely remind you of those old games. Shoot down the enemies while dodging their bullets and slowing downtime which could remind you more of the classic Max Payne games, it also includes parkour elements where you can do flips, wall jumps and other acrobatic moves that can help stack up more points. The game lets you be more creative in clearing each level, which adds up the replayability value. If you are the certain fellow who loves to show off with their best kill shot in clearing a level or perhaps doing a hardcore approach by beating the game in the hardest difficulty in one sitting without getting killed, this would be your go-to game especially in streaming, and watch your audience go wow on your playthrough.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

If you are into exploring castles in old-school side-scrolling style, then this game is for you. From the same man who popularized the Metroidvania gameplay in the modern Castlevania games, Koji Igarashi launched Bloodstained as its spiritual successor to the classic Symphony of the Night. As Miriam, you hack and slash your way against the undead and demons as you explore the labyrinth for hidden secrets and unravel the mysteries in the story. With a blend of RPG elements, you can also equip different sets of armors and shards that can unleash different types of attacks. Fans of speedrunning challenges can stream this game as watching these kinds of videos can be quite entertaining, from completing the game within the fastest time or discovering new secrets, making your audience surprised with your tricks in speedrunning.

Forager

If you are into open-world exploration, crafting, and farming, but more of a simplified presentation, you should try out Forager. A 2D open-world game that takes inspiration from other indie games such as Terraria and Stardew Valley and some mechanics from idle management games. You get to explore regions and forage for minerals, food and other resources so that you can expand your land, there are different playing styles that you can focus on, from being an adventurer to a builder or even a merchant. Doing live streams on open-world or even sandbox games can be an engaging experience for your viewers, as they can watch your journey in building up your progression.

Risk of Rain 2

Jumping from 2D games, we’ll be heading to 3D games with Risk of Rain, which coincidentally also jumped from 2D to 3D for its second game. This roguelike multiplayer game lets you play it solo, group up for a four-man team as you fight your way through monsters to find ways in escaping the planet. You will be able to loot for powerful gear to increase your survival. Every new playthrough will be randomized, making it more challenging and increases its replayability. When doing live streams for the game, it’s a great opportunity to tag along with other streamers on your multiplayer session that can help build their respective audiences and have a continuous collaboration.

I hope you will enjoy these games, as these will definitely give you a lot of a great time for your streaming sessions. And to have a better gaming live stream quality, you can try out XSplit’s Gamecaster that has all the essentials you need to start your live stream career. It allows for capturing in-game footage, chroma key support, in-game Twitch integration and express video editor that will give you a professional-looking live stream in one application. You can start downloading Gamecaster by heading to this link

Instagram Influencer Marketing

Who’s on Instagram? Everyone.

Aaah Instagram & Influencer marketing. Name a better duo, I’ll wait. From superstar models & celebrities to your Fortnite Twitch streamer, it’s safe to say, if you’ve got a celebrity crush you stalk on your phone, that person is an Instagram Influencer. Sure, sure, Instagram is the home of artistic photographers and indie creatives (#sunset#streetart) but as a marketer and business, you should really think of Instagram as a marketplace for brand advocates and potential candidates for your ads.

The name of the game? Get as many followers as you possibly can so brands reach out to you for a sponsored post for up to a million $, only if you’re Kylie Jenner or Cristiano Ronaldo of course. You won’t be getting paid as much because you’re obviously not one of the Kardashian sisters, but you can still expect a large sum of cash. Numbers vary largely depending on the demographic and industry but you could expect $1,000 per 100,000 followers. Now the road to building such an audience might be long and gruesome, but the payout might just be worth it.

Everyone wants a slice of the pie, and there are thousands, if not millions, of influencers for industries such as food, fitness and the likes. Personally? I like burgers and fried chicken. That doesn’t mean I’ve never smashed the like button on scenic pictures from the Bahamas with an acai bowl as the main portrait. You know the picture I mean? Of course you do, there are literally millions out there with every shade of color from a rainbow. That’s part of the problem: as we reach saturation, influencers that aren’t celebrities might have to start thinking out of the box and offer more than just daily lifestyle pictures.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp__gEWHrfK/

Instagram TV: the best tool no one uses

Video > Photo

If a picture paints a thousand words, then live video is a museum tour. While metaphors and literary imagery may not be my forte, trust me, I know about live video content. Instagram stories were already a leap forward for providing audiences with more insight into the lifestyles of influencers. The more genuine aspect of it, as well as the snippets of personality shown, was an immediate hit on the platform. Stories were but a stepping stone for Kevin Systrom, Instagram founder, who declared the era of “Vertical Video” officially launched.

Rough Start…

When launched on June 2018, it was expected to be a YouTube-killer, but unfortunately ran into some hurdles. The switch for short-form video snippets to long-form videos with production needs like music, transitions, etc. was not an easy switch for an individual influencer. The vision for Instagram TV was “creating” content. It wasn’t a big hit with most influencers because it required more time and effort to build content. Understandable, since the biggest barrier of all was that, unlike YouTube, views on IGTV were not monetizable through ads. Tough sell.

But still some hope ahead?

Then, in February this year, Instagram started previewing IGTV feeds on the home feed. View numbers exploded. Not a big surprise really, discoverability and ease of search was also a factor in the poor launch. Video on Instagram receives about 38% more engagement than image posts. Live video numbers will surely surpass that soon. For now, it seems IGTV is not quite the hit with lifestyle influencers they thought it would be.

Why should Brands care about IGTV then?

You are not an influencer, you are a Brand.

Yes, IGTV was not a home run with individuals. But you do know 70% of users look up a brand on Instagram? Unlike YouTube, influencers don’t have a way to “game the system” with SEO tricks and clickbait tactics, it essentially comes down to brand popularity (and money for ads, sure). Organic reach is a huge factor for IGTV, despite what you’ve heard about Instagram ads. Users want to see brands evolving their content mix, and IGTV is the perfect gateway for that. Think fashion brands, one of Instagram’s core audiences. Sure, runaway pics are nice, but imagine watching it live? All the attendees are doing it anyway to flex on their followers, why wouldn’t you, as a Brand, capitalize on that? Some have already started doing it. Low risk, potentially high reward.

Case and point: Food

There are very few brands that have been utilizing IGTV. BBC News is one of them, but of course, this is more about capturing demographics they do not have access to on other media channels. But the Food Network? Best decision they made. Food content is old but gold: it was never going to die. What had died, however, was the medium generally used: Television. Sure, some demographics of mothers may still tune in, but how do you get the younger folks on their phone? IGTV.

Everyone likes food, you just have to reach them in the right places. They even write content for their Instagram audience. I’m going to be honest, I’m not familiar with how brand advertising and product placement works for these businesses, but I bet there’s money to be made. And we’re talking about a brand generally not associated with Millenials. Think Tasty, Spoon University and all those food porn pages that exist. They have a real opportunity to build engaging live video content and earn themselves another avenue for brand sponsorships. BuzzFeed even partnered with Instagram on building an incubator specifically for IGTV creators. I’m not completely sure what the progress has been, but there is definitely room for growth.

Conclusions

If you don’t see the big picture of Instagram Live Video content, I have failed in my mission… The point is, the cool kids are on Instagram, brands should be on IGTV because people like video, especially live. Oh and if money is what it takes to convince you: a third of Instagram users purchased a product via their phone. So create some video content, build an audience, have a purchase flow, and you’re set. Do you really think Facebook would buy a platform with no ad monetization on views if there wasn’t a bigger picture?

This will be a different topic to discuss on the blog, we usually talk about the community and software updates on this space but for this article – we shall tackle something else that is e-commerce but still in the realm of live streaming.

Late September 2019, Samantha Cheh wrote an article on Tech Asia on how live streaming is enhancing the eCommerce experience. This live stream shopping trend has been slowly growing in popularity in these recent years. It started in China and has been slowly creeping into the US market via Amazon Live. Before we go further with this discussion, let’s start from the beginning.

Back in the day, consumers have always bought merchandise from either a physical store or a merchant. This is the normal retail shopping that we know of, where you go to a physical store to inquire about an item and its selling price, maybe haggle a little, maybe purchase the item and then leave. It might be a simple process back then, right? When you like an item you saw on display, then you will most likely purchase it. But these days, we most likely do not have the time to go to a physical store and look for the item you’ve been meaning to purchase for whatever purpose it might serve.

Through the years, the shopping experience has evolved to be able to cater to our fast-paced lifestyles and has a huge emphasis on convenience. Thus, the creation of the home TV shopping channels in the late ’70s. This trend has steadily grown in popularity in households over the years – with the popularity of television use for distribution of news and some sports updates until the launch of cable TV in the 1940s. 

In this article from 2008, Isabel Isidro mentioned that if you want great exposure to your product then home shopping networks can be for you! One advantage is that once a product is featured during a timeslot, there is also a demonstration involved showing what the product is, what it does, the benefits of purchasing and owning one, and the value for money – response and purchase may be instantaneous but you’ll need to have a huge inventory to keep up with the demand. Another thing is, showcasing your product on the show might not necessarily mean that it’ll be a hit so there’s also a huge risk involved.
But who has time to watch TV these days? We’re all almost always on our mobile and browsing social media – with 5.11B unique mobile users, 4.39B of which are internet users, and 3.48B are on social media. With the growing internet and mobile consumption, it is not far that commerce will progress online to offer more convenience and accessibility to the people who need it. We also need to note that for the past year, Amazon and Taobao have been named the top websites visited – that says a lot for our online content consumption.

E-commerce has boomed through the years, with earnings surpassing most of the current retail stores causing the recent ‘retail apocalypse’ as shoppers are now shifting to online shopping for their needs.

But we need to step it up further, what makes online shopping more interesting is the thrill of doing the sale on live stream! Taobao does it best, as one of the most competitive live commerce platforms in China.

Who says live streaming is just for broadcasting video gameplay? For other parts of the world, like China, IRL streaming takes 80% of the total streaming population. Similarly, the landscape of live stream commerce has become a massive trend in China and slowly transcending into other countries – another advantage of live streaming in e-commerce is that you can interact with the merchant and receive a realtime response. The immediate response or engagement from the seller tends to have a positive impact on the curious audience – making them want to buy the product more during a live sale broadcast, that’s a sale right there!

It goes to show that live streaming can be used not just for entertainment purposes but can also uplift and advertise a business or product in real-time. To most in the western countries, we see live streaming as a means of entertainment, whereas in our Asian brothers – they have been utilizing the power of live broadcasts not just for entertainment but also for business. It might be odd so some people, but this is an emerging trend that will truly be widespread in the near future making e-commerce platforms more competitive and entertaining.

XSplit has recently been active in participating in local events and workshops in the Philippines. Usually, the team sponsors bigger community meet-ups abroad and it’s seldom that you hear about the local events scene here in Manila. In its drive to have more social and community visibility – the team strives to be as active in being physically present in the events that we support whenever we’re able to.

Streaming being mainstream these days has presented a new wave of curious onlookers who would want to know more about what streaming is and how brands like XSplit can help with the knowledge transfer. More often than not, to non-streamers, streaming can be a technical and arduous task; some might not be interested in streaming games but is interested in what streaming live content can do for their businesses.

In the new age of online media, we have the constant bombardment of content on whichever social platform that we are on – whether we’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, etc. – we are constantly faced with a problem that is too much information. Not everything is entertaining and fun anymore, thus more and more people are opting for a new detox trend of going offline for days, weeks and months at a time.

The stress of our fast-paced internet lifestyle has taken its toll and now people have delved into creating content that they want to consume themselves as a counter-measure, thus the birth of content creators and influencers.

But one does not become a good content creator by just wanting to be one. Thus, supporting this kind of workshop is valuable to the growing demand for learnings for the aspiring content creator. Although locally in Manila, these workshops are supported by companies and brands who believe that new-age content can come from these talented individuals who have good vision but lack the how-to in making their ideas into reality.

In full support for the newly anointed gaming content creators of Collab Asia in the Philippines in partnership with BrenPro TV and XSplit brought the first of many content creation workshops in the country.

We hope that these small steps create a ripple of encouragement for those wanting to enter the streaming realm – whether for video games, business or education. We hope that XSplit can be part of your content creation journey from here on and beyond – the current offer in our suite of software is geared towards those who want to create content and share it with the world. If you have any questions, simply join our Discord server, chat with us on socials or connect with our support team via xsplit.com/support.

Playing cooperative or even competitive with friends is always fun when playing in one place, whether at your home or someone else’s. May it be for hours of competitive mayhem in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or finishing that tough level in Overcooked! 2. The fun aspect of playing in a single room with friends is far better than playing online from separate locations, just like in the good old days. But that shouldn’t hold off gamers who would prefer having couch multiplayer sessions even if online multiplayer is now a thing. So with that in mind, we listed out some tips on setting up your couch gaming party for a whole night of non-stop gaming sessions.

Set up a schedule

Before preparing for the couch gaming party, you got to make sure that a date has been set. That means you need to schedule which day is available for everyone, and more importantly, where will the venue be. Make sure that all of the invited friends have agreed on a specific day, time and they will commit to it. Once that is done, you can also set up a reminder on your email calendar and add your friends as recipients, so in that way, they will be reminded for the game day. And if it goes well, maybe you can do a weekly or monthly schedule, just be sure to keep your friends updated and encourage them to bring other friends as well, as long as your place or whoever’s going to host the session can accommodate a lot of people.

Set up your gaming area

Now that a date has been set, it’s time to clean up your living room in preparation for game day. Be sure that there is ample space for your guests to relax, you can add a couple of bean bags and even pillows to keep them comfortable during game hours, also put up a place to keep their bags and other belongings in a secure place that they brought in. Have an area for your food and drinks to avoid getting your equipment get messed up with food stains and liquid spills.

You would also need to set up your network connection in case your gaming session would need multiple laptops to be connected either wired or wireless, and make sure to set up a guest Wi-Fi hotspot in case your friends need to use the internet. Don’t forget to bring out extra game controllers and fight sticks just in case some didn’t bring theirs.

Ready your snacks

Then, of course, having a gaming party would not be complete without the snacks. Be sure to head to the grocery store and stock up on your supplies or have your friends bring in their share. Make sure the snacks are in different varieties like chips, cookies or any other finger foods, as for drinks, ask your friends if they prefer alcoholic, soda or even both. Alternatively, you can have pizza deliveries as your midnight snack or dinner and have your friends share the payment, you can even do a potluck-style of food gathering where your friends can bring specific food and make your gaming session a feast.

Which games to play

Everything is almost complete, so it’s time for the games. You can ask your friends in advance on what certain games they would like to play, you can even ask them to bring their games as well. Having a variety of competitive and cooperative games can give a good balance so everyone won’t get tired of the same type of game. 

You can even set up a themed activity, like for example, a gaming session during the Halloween season. Maybe put up games that are themed on horror or zombies, or maybe more into fantasy-themed games and even encourage your friends to wear outfits or costumes of their favorite job classics. It’s a wacky idea but it’s definitely something worth considering.

Or as an icebreaker, bringing out a board game or card game that everyone can play to take a break from all those video gaming. Who knows, they might even discover a new game that they would actually get hooked into.

Setting up for streaming

This is entirely optional but it wouldn’t be fun if you can’t share your epic moments with your friends in your game nights. So maybe you might want to stream it and share it with your other friends, hook up a webcam and a microphone and make sure the camera is angled in the middle so everyone is visible with the microphone placed on a table with everyone surrounding it so their voices are audible. For best results, you can try XSplit Broadcaster for easier setup and have a professional-looking overlay for your live stream, or go with the XSplit Gamecaster that is more straightforward for live streaming games and can add an overlay for chats that lets you interact with the viewers and other widgets to enhance the presentation. And if it all goes well, you could do this as a regular thing and who knows, maybe you can become a popular content creator someday.

Just have fun

Make sure everyone gets a chance to play, whether they haven’t tried the game or feel that they aren’t good enough to compete with other people. The session doesn’t need to be all about showing off their best moves or combos, it’s more about having fun and strengthening your bonds, just like in those anime series, well with less of the cheesy parts.

You can add some twists to your gaming sessions to make things fun or to encourage everyone to try out new games. Things like adding a new set of rules or conditions to make the games more challenging or even hilariously fun, but of course you have to make sure everyone agrees with the idea of setting new conditions to the games, as you can still enjoy. 

And there you have it, we hope that this little guide can help make your gaming session with your friends more enjoyable, and make more of this multiplayer gaming party your monthly or even weekly gathering. Plus, you can invite more friends to join the party, as we all usually say; the more, the merrier.

So you’ve finally built your dream streaming setup. You’ve got your scenes set and you’re ready to kick off your streaming career. You hit the stream button and jump into your game. All of a sudden your game feels laggy. You look in chat and everyone is saying they can’t hear you and the video is stuttering. You feel a rush of disappointment as hours of preparation have seemingly been wasted.

No need to despair, we’re here to help you solve some of the most common live-streaming issues for upcoming Twitch, Mixer, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube Live superstars!

Audio Issues

The most common issue with audio is noisy audio or a buzz in your audio.

If the audio seems noisy, first be sure to check the levels you’ve set on your microphone device. The higher the gain level on your microphone, the higher its sensitivity to surrounding sounds like air conditioning noise or background noise. One great way to check your microphone levels is to use the audio mixer extension.

Go to extensions, add extensions, and click on find more extensions. Install the audio mixer extension and check your audio levels without speaking into the mic. If the levels seem too high, reduce the gain on your microphone. You can also try to move your microphone away from noisy items like a mechanical keyboard or your PC’s fans. 

If you have a buzz in your audio this is likely due to the power source. This usually happens if you are using a mixer or capturing audio with your streaming PC via the line in port. The cheap and simple way to try to fix this is adding a group loop isolator between your audio source and your line input.

You can also use a power conditioner to remove electrical hum if the ground loop isolator does not work. These tend to be pricey and could add more bulk to your setup. I only recommend using these if you absolutely need to get rid of every bit of buzz in your audio. 

For recent windows updates, especially one of the major fall updates, be sure to check your default audio devices. Windows has a nasty habit of changing your default audio devices after an update. Make sure to check that you aren’t using the wrong microphone device.

Finally, for complete peace and mind, keep an extra pair of headphones around to use with XSplit’s audio preview. The audio preview is the final mix that your viewers will hear and is great for fine-tuning audio levels.

Video Issues

Modern-day game streaming is all about keeping a minimum of 60fps for both the streamer and the viewer.

If you, the streamer, feel like your FPS is dropping too much or the game feels off; it is likely your CPU and GPU running out of resources. Many games will try to use the maximum amount of GPU resources possible, and it can leave your streaming software without anything to work with.

The best way to manage this is to limit the frame rate of your games. So if you are on a 60hz display, set the frame rate limit in-game to 60fps. If your game does not have this option, XSplit’s game source can limit the frame rate.

If you are on a high refresh rate monitor, try to limit the frame rate to a multiple of 60 like 120 or 180 or even 240hz. 

Now if you see that your CPU is constantly at 100% while streaming, then you’ve likely set your encoding settings too high. If you are using an encoding preset like slow, try increasing it to medium or fast. To maintain 60fps, decrease your resolution, go for 1280×720 instead of 1920×1080. And, if your PC isn’t a multi-core monster, see if you have a GPU with a hardware encoder like NVENC, Quicksync, or VCE. 

Check the stream if it’s choppy due to dropped frames, you need to adjust and drop your bitrate. If you know that your internet connection is unstable, then enable adaptive bitrate. Adaptive bitrate will increase or decrease the bitrate depending on the available bandwidth. If you notice the bitrate tends to stay consistently lower than your target, consider lower your resolution so that visual quality can be maintained. 

Having issues with your webcam looking too grainy or having a low frame rate? Check your area if you have proper lighting, fixing the lighting can easily solve this issue.

Even a simple desk lamp or switching on a room light can be a huge improvement.

Once your lighting is settled, there are a couple of key settings for your webcam.

First, if your camera has a poor frame rate, reduce the exposure level. Go into your camera source settings and configure your video output. 

If your camera looks too grainy, reduce the gain. If your camera looks too dark, then get some more lighting!

Once your camera settings are good, don’t enable automatic or you’ll lose all your settings!

When using a capture card and see a message that the device is not available, you can try these fixes:

First, make sure another video app isn’t using the device like skype or discord. If that doesn’t work try refreshing the device in the source menu. Finally, using the IT classic, unplug it and plug it back in.

If you are having issues with switching to scenes with videos, make sure you’ve tried saving the video in memory.

Finally, one last tip people overlook. Make sure to enable archives for your Twitch streams. This way, you can make clips or highlights to share on social media. You can find this option in your channel settings.

For Facebook and YouTube streamers, make sure your broadcasts are 4 hours or less to have a VOD automatically created. Hopefully, these tips are helpful to both novice and experienced streamers.

What are the common audio & video issues you’ve encountered in your streaming career and how have you solved them?

From an outside perspective, streaming might seem like an easy gig. After all, most viewers see streamers playing video games all day, and they think to themselves, “Oh, he’s living the dream.” Little do they know, streaming as a day job involves a lot of pressure, and it isn’t as easy as it may seem.

Mental stress is a very real thing that can affect anyone, of course, not just specifically streamers and content creators, but because some parts of society expects them to be living the easy life, their mental health issues might be dismissed.

Effects of Mental Stress

Caring for your mental wellbeing is vital. Psychological stress can affect you in many ways, some more obvious than others.

When you’re starting to feel the strain of the grind and the pressures it brings, you may begin to experience anxiousness and inexplicable nervousness. You become easily distracted, tend to worry too much, and your sleeping pattern may start to change.

When stress levels get too high, you may go through a whole range of mental and physical symptoms. You may start feeling excessively fatigued for no good reason. Stress makes our bodies produce hormones that act as sedatives, which helps calm us down during times of extreme duress. When these hormones occur in large amounts for extended periods of time, they make us feel exhausted and in some cases, even depressed.

Depression is serious and should never be treated lightly. Everyone experiences periods of sadness, but when it becomes chronic and recurring, it may be time to do something about it.

People experiencing depression are always irritable and generally, lose interest in things that they used to do. This headspace can be troublesome for a streamer – what started as a project done out of love and passion will begin to feel like a chore.

Besides being excessively tired and having trouble sleeping or staying awake, depression can also manifest itself in physical pain such as headaches, muscle cramps, or digestive issues. It can even affect your appetite in either extreme direction.

Depression can make people see life through a different lens, making them want to stop doing things they used to enjoy and affecting the way you make decisions. In extreme cases, patients may wish to inflict self-harm. If you’re starting to feel like you want to harm yourself or others, reach out and ask for help. There are a number of hotlines in many countries that offer such services. Here’s a list of international suicide help hotlines.

Stress can also manifest itself physically. One can experience abnormally fast heart rate, dizziness, restlessness, shortness of breath, and hyperventilation.

When you start experiencing these symptoms and they seem inexplicable, then you should consult a doctor.

Prolonged stress also leads to burnout. Burnout happens when stress becomes overwhelming and you’re finding it hard to do anything because you’ll feel exhausted and frustrated and helpless. Burnout leads to a lack of energy, which means way less productivity, which then leads to less streamed hours, and potentially decreased income.

You’ll know you’re experiencing burnout when you feel a general lack of energy, and you don’t feel like doing anything, even getting out of bed seems like a herculean task. It may not even happen suddenly. It could just be something that gets worse and worse over time.

Burnout can lead to fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, reduced immunity, frequent illness and a change in sleeping and eating habits. Anybody experiencing burnout also feels emotional duress such as feelings of self-doubt, defeat, detachment, among others. Victims of burnout also feel a general lack of drive and motivation.¹

Sources of Mental Stress for Streamers and Content Creators

Like with most healthcare, prevention is always better than cure. The first step is to identify the source of stress. For most people, familiar sources of stress include work and specific life experiences.

When it comes to working, it could be long hours or dangerous work conditions or just being generally unhappy with the job. Then there are some life events like the death of a loved one or the looming shadow of financial obligations, or to a more severe extent, traumatic events like natural disasters or violence.

All those sources can affect everyone and we all have to be careful to take care of our mental health, but there are certain sources of stress specific to aspiring and career streamers and content creators.

Beginners struggling to take off might find it challenging to find a footing. Sometimes just speaking to an empty chat room in and of itself can be stressful. If it’s something you’ve decided to try and do your full-time job, when it isn’t going as planned, it can be a source of undue pressure and anxiety.

Just getting people to interact with you can be difficult. Lurkers and channel jumpers won’t usually interact with a budding streamer.²

The pressure to stick to your streaming cadence can also lead to additional stress, although doing that is vital to a streamer’s success. In 2018, popular then-Twitch streamer, Ninja, lost about 40,000 subscribers after going on a two-day break³. With him being Ninja, it probably was easy for him to bounce back, but smaller streamers might have a much harder time doing so. But maybe it was the right call to go on break. It all depends on how much care you want to put into your wellbeing.

Another source of stress can be less-than-ideal physical health.⁴ Gaming streamers who are seated all day may experience some health issues related to general sedentariness. Mental wellbeing is easier to achieve when the approach is holistic, so one has to look after one’s physical health, as well.

How Can Streamers Improve Help their Mental Health

After identifying potential stressors, what can you do to make sure you’re taking care of yourself, both mentally and physically?

Here are a few tips:

Once you’ve identified your main source of stress, remove it if you can.

Of course, this may not always be possible, especially when the main stressor is very much part and parcel of your life, like bills or health issues, or even just the unrelenting monotony of following a 16-hour streaming schedule. If that’s the case, then you’ll need to do other things to deal with the realities of life.

Keep physically active.

When you’re not physically active, it can negatively affect your mental health and mood states. You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete; you just have to make sure you’re paying attention to your body. Keep a regular exercise schedule, as light as it may be. It can be something as simple as taking a brisk 15 minute walk every morning or a quick 5 minute HIIT session every day. It’d be much better if you follow an exercise program with professional help so someone can monitor your progress. Think of it like grinding out levels for a legendary piece of armor.

Just standing up and doing some stretches every half hour will help you with your energy levels. You can even just do some yoga poses. The good thing about that is, you don’t necessarily have to stop your stream. You can let your viewers watch you exercise. You can keep your mic on so they can hear your pained grunts. Not only will it be good for you, it’ll also be quality entertainment.

Eat properly.

You don’t have to follow a crazy diet, like limiting yourself to a piece of dry chicken breast and a half a piece of steamed asparagus every meal. You just have to make sure you eat at a regular schedule and you eat enough to satiate you.

The timing and volume of your food are important, but so is the quality of your food. Maintain a well-balanced diet to give you enough energy to maintain that streaming schedule, to keep your energy levels up to be entertaining for your viewers.

Eat less of the stereotypical food for gamers like energy drinks, cheesy junk food, and fizzy lime-flavored soda pop, and have more fiber, more vegetables, more fruit, more protein. Avoid trans fats and saturated fats.⁵

Plan your breaks.

You are a human being. You are not a machine. Heck, even machines need to be turned off and maintained every now and again. You have to make sure to take time to rest and give yourself to recuperate.

First, you have to decide how long you want to stream and play. Maybe try to use your analytics to see when your viewership is highest and plan your streaming hours during that time. Give yourself a set amount of streaming hours, and a set amount of recuperation time. It can be as simple as taking a 15 to 30-minute break after a few hours of streaming, and make sure to stand up every 30 minutes of sitting down to prevent blood pooling in your legs.⁶ That goes for everyone, not just streamers! Anyone sitting down on an office job or just gaming or just lounging around should stand up every 30 minutes and let their blood flow normalize.

TL;DR

Mental stress can turn the wonderful activity of streaming into a chore and drain your passion. Too much stress can lead to burnout and depression, which can affect your mood, your health, your relationships, and your career.

Make sure to take breaks, exercise, eat properly, and only stream if you enjoy it enough to keep doing it for extended periods of time. If you feel like your stress is too much to bear, then don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Always make sure to take care of yourself, mentally and physically. It’s the best way you can keep grinding away and streaming. It’s the best thing to do for yourself and for your viewers and fans.