Should you stream on schedule?

Just About Content Creators - "Should you stream on schedule?"

Lanah Tyra · 2024-05-06T10:31:13.309Z

I was trying to stick to a streaming schedule, but I'm not sure it's right for me. When I started streaming it was for weekly FFXIV 48 man raids, with our Discord bot announcing it. Whoever didn't make it onto the raid was usually watching the streams to prepare for their turn next time. I often had 5-10 viewers and people engaging in chat. I never had a schedule published, never announced the stream on Xitter or promoted in any other way, all my viewers were from the Discord. I'm not running these raids anymore so I tried to stream various things on a schedule, but this seems to be very difficult. Mostly because my casual raid group often has to cancel as someone is not feeling well or has other commitments. I can't really come up with something else to stream on the spot, and even if I did, those who wanted to watch an FFXIV raid might not be interested in other content even if it's FFXIV. Not sure if because of the cancelled streams or because people are not that interested in what I'm streaming, most often I only have a couple of viewers who might as well be bots because no interaction in chat. And my Tuesday raid group got cancelled as someone left and we were going to stop at Dawntrail release anyway......

FirestormGamingTeam 5/6/2024, 10:39:44 AM

I stream when I want to. IMO people will watch no matter when you stream if they like the content

Lanah Tyra 5/6/2024, 10:42:36 AM

FirestormGamingTeam

As a part-time creator it would definitely feel less stressful that way. I'm not sure how other people watch Twitch, but I don't have "go-live" notifications on for anyone, if I have time to watch Twitch, I just open it, see who is streaming what and pick from that. The people I know that stream on a schedule I can't catch anyway due to time zones so just watch the vod later.

MURRRAAAAY 5/6/2024, 10:46:46 AM

If you want to grow, do both, set a schedule and make evergreen content on other platforms, also id recommend making your streams content that does not rely on others like you say people canceling so your raids cant go ahead, get something you can do when suits you so you can stick to the schedule and also make it something you enjoy as thats key, streaming something you CBA with is brutal.

Lanah Tyra 5/6/2024, 11:09:01 AM

MURRRAAAAY

I'm thinking to keep my Monday streams, finish Lunar Lander Beyond and then stream more Nightingale as I want to progress and be able to do more bounties here, I'm really enjoying the game and I didn't think I would.

After Dawntrail release I'll go on holiday to get some sun, and when I'm back I'll see what content I can stream from FFXIV if people want to see the story or if we are getting a new 48 man content where I can have a raid schedule again which is not dependent on 8 people showing up as we'll have the Discord community raiding.

Demonsmustdie 5/6/2024, 11:36:43 AM

Problem with streaming to a schedule is real life doesn't work to a schedule as can bring up Problems.

My issue is pc is still being fixed, so streaming is an issue.

Lanah Tyra 5/6/2024, 11:47:50 AM

Demonsmustdie

That's one of my problems, having a partner and often just being exhausted after work or wanting to see friends ad-hoc doesn't really work well with a streaming schedule.

Sturmer 5/6/2024, 11:38:08 AM

Have a Plan B, if raid is canceled, play Nightingale as a background while you vlog about something :)

Lanah Tyra 5/6/2024, 1:06:47 PM

Sturmer

It's not that easy, first of all having to change Youtube scheduled stream is a pain in the backside. Could get around that with copy+paste templates tough.

Other problem is, I'm playing FFXIV with my partner and we raid together. So if we can't raid I would have to find another FFXIV activity we can do together and I can stream otherwise he can't even move for 2 hrs while I'm streaming because even the slightest noise will be picked up. Plus our raids are at a very stupid UK time, we just get home from work, so often if raid is cancelled we are happy we can have dinner at a decent time.

So keeping a fix slot for Nightingale and stream just once a week regularly sounds less chaotic, than having to make adjustments around my raid group showing up or not, as that can be 5 mins before raid time someone announcing they can't come. And I could use the cancelled raid time to progress with my videos for Youtube or writing bounties here.

And that's the other thing which made me think about cutting back on regular stream which I have tried to do to reach Affiliate... Currently my only creator income is from here, and I feel motivated to participate in more bounties, do content what I haven't done before, because it will be rewarded if not by money in every occasion but my community feedback. I don't get that on Twitch at all and nowhere near to it on Youtube either. Need to make more videos to get picked up my the algorithm to get more subscribers and slowly build a constant viewerbase for streams.

So in short JA is better and a lot more worth my time than any other platform I'm on :D

Sturmer 5/6/2024, 1:14:19 PM

Lanah Tyra

Remember, as a content creator, your primary goal is to enjoy yourself and share that fun with your audience! If these raids are becoming too stressful, consider skipping them entirely or switching to ad-hoc mode. Trust me, your fans will enjoy watching you play even the simplest games, like the 'dino game' in Chrome, as long as you're having fun.

Trizrizzle 5/6/2024, 12:49:27 PM

There's no right answer, you gotta do what is fun for you and what fits into your irl schedule. If you're struggling with a regular schedule because you're streaming group activities and need them to be there that can be hard. But if its what you want to stream, maybe you can try find some new groups or communities to play with. Or maybe you can pick another game you love that you have a slower playthrough of. And you can always use that as your backup game if you schedule a stream but can't coordinate with other players. Amd that way you dont need to come up with any ideas on the spot, its a comfort game, and your viewers will be familiar with your progress

Lanah Tyra 5/6/2024, 1:10:26 PM

Trizrizzle

The original group activities I was streaming the 48 man raids were very niche content not many people were doing so I got a lot more viewers for them. When that stopped due to the content not being popular anymore in game and struggling to find people for the weekly runs I swapped to 8 man raids. But my friend group is casuals, so those streams didn't get much views to start with, which is understandable, people probably want to watch pro raiders not us dying to the same thing over and over again.

Will see what the new expansion brings, but until then it's probably better to stream something which only depends on me, as it's a lot easier to keep the schedule for that. But this will mean less streams a week as I can only stream then when my partner is not around. We play next to each other so I either stream something with him or when he's not there.

Konquest 5/6/2024, 12:57:25 PM

I think it’s good either way. A regular schedule will give your viewers something to constantly expect and they can get ready to watch. On the other hand you can also announce your streams a few days beforehand as opposed to a fixed time. But eventually when you have memberships I think members will be expecting something more on a regular basis. I do agree if the content is something they are interested in. The time doesn’t really matter. They will watch the VOD and tune in to streams when they can.

Lanah Tyra 5/6/2024, 1:12:29 PM

Konquest

I think my main problem is having to build a new viewerbase now as the one I had disappeared when I stopped doing my niche content. So need to make content now which only depends on me, I enjoy doing and can keep to a less frequent but regular schedule. And when I can start my niche content again, that viwerbase will still stick around for it.

Kings Court 5/6/2024, 3:28:12 PM

Having a schedule makes it easier for people to know when and where to find you. You will likely find that when you stream on schedule your normal peeps will turn up, but it will not stop drops in those numbers and viewers. When I stream off schedule I notice that numbers are usually lower. This is just my experience though, your experiences may be completely different !

Horror and Cats 5/6/2024, 10:55:26 PM

If I’m doing a FULL game let’s play, I’ll schedule them out. But otherwise I’ll just schedule it in YouTube a few hours in advance if I know the mood/energy reserves are there for me.

Scheduling is basically a guarantee that I WON’T be in the mood because that’s just how my brain works lol.

Like, when I have an early morning work meeting, I will have massive insomnia. If I have no meetings, I’ll sleep much better. I am easily stressed about having to do things at specific times.

Lanah Tyra 5/6/2024, 11:26:45 PM

Horror and Cats

I can relate to that. I do well with deadlines and I like schedules in general, but lately if I scheduled something it was guaranteed it will go wrong. Trains cancelled, static member cancels raid or torrential rain and I get soaked and exhausted.