When Is The Best Time To Stream On Twitch?
First things first, Twitch viewers are found across the world and watch streams 24/7. Thanks to the different time-zones there is always an audience for your stream, but you must find this out yourself by streaming and seeing what happens.
Due to the language tags, it is unlikely a non-English speaking viewer will find your English-speaking stream in 2020.
Your time should be the best time for you
Deciding the best time to stream should be based on your life, not your possible viewers’ lives. If you find that 2am is the most popular time for the game you play and therefore the best time you to stream, but it means you only sleep four hours a night, then that is not a good stream schedule.
Sure you may pick up an extra couple of viewers, but you’ll be half asleep, your content won’t be what you want it to be, and it’ll affect your real life the next day. So ultimately it’s not worth it.
Prime-time isn’t always the best time
By ‘prime time’ I mean that period between 6pm and 10pm that it feels like Everyone is online.
Let’s think about it. It is
So how do we deal with it?
- Why not test streaming at other times?
- Why not stream in short bursts twice per day?
What else!?!?!?!?!!?Look at other articles
Twitch Peak Time
If you are aiming for an international audience (which starting out, you probably shouldn’t be), don’t worry about the ‘peak times’ or the quietest ‘dead times’ on Twitch. This quieter times will provide you with the opportunity to stand out in a smaller crowd.
Everyone streaming your game in the evening – can you stream around 5pm instead? Or how about a Sunday morning stream? If there are ways around it that you can do, then give it a go!
You can use a tool such as Sullygnome or Twitchstrike to see when Twitch viewers and are most active.
The ratio below (shown as a darker colour) is the number of people watching per broadcaster. Higher the ratio means higher demand and therefore more opportunity for you to find viewers.
You can use Twitch tool’s to see how many other broadcasters are live at which time per game. Here is an example comparing CS:GO to Valorant using Sullygome data.
When is the best viewer to streamer ratio?
Understanding the average number of viewers per streamers is sometimes really interesting and a useful way of working out when the best time to stream is and also the best game to stream on Twitch.
While tools such as Sullygnome, TwitchTracker and TwitchStrike give you this information, It’s not always as useful as you think. Just because a game is seeing an average of 30 viewers per channel, doesn’t mean yours will automatically get 30 viewers.
Be aware of others
You may be streaming a small game and then somebody like Lirik comes along and starts streaming it too. It may raise awareness of the game and people start watching your stream, or it may do the opposite and drive every potential viewer to the big streamers and not you. The best thing to do is to be aware of what is going on as you stream and adjust accordingly.
How long should you stream for?
While average viewer watches content on Twitch for over an hour and a half, the length of your stream should be based completely on your life. Unless you have a built-out show with segments and guests that need proper timings, the longer the Twitch stream, the better.
The longer you are available to watch, the more likely viewers are going to find your stream. I personally recommend a minimum of 3-4 hours if possible. Of course, relying on Twitch discoverability alone is never a good sign (as it isn’t very good) so making sure you are promoting yourself and building up content across other discoverable platforms will reduce your reliance on this.
How many days should you stream per week?
The average streamer streams 5-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, which is extremely similar to a ‘proper‘ job. But this makes sense. It’s what we are culturally used to, both from a physical point of view but also from a mental health view.
Consistency is everything
A viewer base is built off consistency, just like a TV show is. It is all well and good streaming when most people are online or when you are most likely to stand out. But if you can’t do that same time week in, week out, then those people who initially watched you are not going to come back and watch your broadcast. They’ll find somebody else and build a habit watching them instead.
To finish this off, there is no ‘perfect time’ to stream on Twitch. Every single category or game has differences audiences. Only you can decide the best time to stream for your life, your audience and your content.
Bonus round: Building A Community
While streaming when the data says is the best time to stream, ultimately it doesn’t mean much if nobody can find your channel.
You can learn more about building a community by clicking the image or button below:
Learn more about The Emergence
Hey I’m Mark! I create guides & tutorials for streamers. Teaching content creators everything they need to know to help them start to stream or grow their channel.
You can follow me across the below channels:
- Twitter — twitter.com/emergencegg
- Twitch — twitch.tv/theemergence
- Discord — discordapp.com/invite/VxFA7Xc
FAQs
There is no ‘best’ time for one streamer, but consider where your audience may be when you are streaming? Are they at school, college or work? Will they be watching a stream at
For America, Between 7 – 11pm US time (that’s 1am – 6am Europe time). A similar evening time for Europe would mean it is the afternoon for an American audience
Struggling to choose a game to stream? Learn more in our guide to choosing what game to stream on Twitch.
Streamers typically stream an average of 3 – 6 hours each time, although it does depend on the content you are creating. The longer you stream, the more time somebody has to notice you. A Twitch Affiliate needs to have streamed for at least 8hours in the last 30 days.
The most important thing is to stream consistently. Viewers will fall into a pattern of watching you at certain times on certain days. A streamer with no schedule is not one who grows on Twitch.
