It’s Supposed to Be Entertaining
You fire up your stream, drop into your favorite game, and start grinding. An hour goes by, you’ve seen your viewer count go up and maybe somebody dropped a message, but they drift back out just as quickly as they arrived. Why? Because you might be treating your stream like a private gaming session instead of a show.
Let’s focus on the actual entertainment value of streaming. When you hit ‘Go Live,’ it is crucial to remember that you need to actually be entertaining. The game you are playing is just your recreation; it is simply the table setting by which you deliver the real entertainment, which is you.
Why This Kills Your Stream
It’s just not going to work if you start streaming a game silently. Think about the viewer’s experience if a stream is just quiet gameplay, there is far more fun for a viewer to just go play the game themselves. Or worse, they will just leave and go to another streamer who is actively putting on a show.
Exceptions
There is one notable exception to this rule: if you are really good at the game. If you are a “sweaty,” top-tier player, and your viewers have already begun to show up around your content and come watch you be excellent, you can get away with letting your skills do the talking. Elite gameplay is its own draw. But for the vast majority of creators, relying on gameplay alone is a quick way to stall your channel’s growth.
The reason we track dead air on your stream is because too much of it, without the gameplay to merit, is a one way ticket to losing viewers.
Get a free stream review and let’s see if your dead air is impacting your viewer retention!