With great entertainment of their communities, these 7 Twitch streamers became successful

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There are a lot of successful streamers on Twitch, but have you ever wondered who are some of the most successful in recent years?

### **1. Ninja** - Followers: 16.7 million
Ninja (Richard Blevins), who is best known for Fortnite. He created his account in January 2011, so he has been around for a long time. While being the most followed channel on Twitch, in 2019 he moved to Microsoft's Mixer for a few months. But it wouldn't stay this way for a long time. In July of 2020 Mixer shut down, so Ninja tried streaming on Youtube for a little while, but is now back on Twitch.

### **2. shroud** - Followers: 9.3 million
shroud (Michael Grzesiek) is a very competitive FPS streamer. He created his account in November of 2012, and gained a lot of popularity when Playerunknown's Battlegrounds was at it's height. These days he is streaming various FPS games like Counter Strike, Apex and Valorant, but PUBG is still is most played game with 2600 hours of streamed gameplay.

### **3. pokimane** - Followers: 7.8 million
pokimane (Imane Anys) is the most popular female streamer. She created her account in June of 2013, and has always been pretty successful, but has been enjoying a boom on popularity due to Among Us. These days, she usually does a lot of variety streams, including Just Chatting streams, or games like Valorant.

### **4. xQcOW** - Followers: 5.8 million
xQcOW (Félix Lengyel) has been enjoying a steady since he created his account in September of 2014. While in his early days he mostly only streamed Overwatch, which is still his most streamed game with almost 5000 hours streamed, these days he does a lot variety streams with games like GTA 5, Minecraft and Fortnite, and due to his entertaining personality, he averages over 100k viewers each stream.

### **5. tommyinnit** - Followers: 5.5 million
tommyinnit (Thomas Simons) is the youngest streamer on this list. His account is also relatively new, only created in February of 2016, but has been enjoying a massive boom in popularity since July of 2020 with his Minecraft streams. His newly found popularity is definitely linked to his entertaining streams with the Dream SMP Crew, which is a crew of several Minecraft streamers. But tommyinnit is definitely the most watched streamers on this list these days, averaging almost 300k viewers each stream.

### **6. Quackity** - Followers: 3.5 million
Quackity (Alex) is just like tommyinnit relatively new. His account was created in September of 2013, but up until 2019 he hasn't really streamed much. It was only due to the YouTube algorithm pushing his videos, which in return made him stream more on Twitch and getting more and more views. He is also part of the Minecraft Dream SMP crew, which is his most streamed game, averaging over 150k viewers each stream these days.

### **6. sodapoppin** - Followers: 3 million
sodapoppin (Chance Morris) has definitely been around for the longest on this list, with his account being created in November of 2011. He enjoyed early popularity with his World of Warcraft streams, which he streamed for over 2000 hours. He might not be the most watched streamer on here, "only" averaging around 20k viewers each stream these days, but it's still important to understand his importance in the early days of Twitch.

7 Successful Twitch Streamers

I understand. It’s quite hard figuring out how much you should spend on a PC, so it’s suitable for streaming.

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You don’t want to spend too much for your PC to be overkill, but you also don’t want to spend too little, so it will start dropping frames when you stream.

Of course this also highly depends on what you want to stream.

Triple A games require much better hardware to be able to run smoothly and also for your stream to look good. That’s why in some instances, and if you really have the money, you can run a dual-PC setup.

But in this, I will just go over on what I think is good enough to run most games well and for your PC to also handle streaming. I will only go over the most important hardware here.


So what do I think how much you should spend on a good streaming PC? The answer: Around $1000. You can probably spend a little less, but remember, the less you spend, the harder it is to get a good looking stream.

Here is some hardware I would recommend:

**GPU**: I only recommend NVIDIA GPU’s. Especially with the new encoder, this is really good for streaming. Right now I am running a GTX 1660 SUPER. Of course, this is more of a budget GPU. But especially with the current situation on chip shortage and scalpers, I think the 1660 SUPER is a great deal. 

**CPU**: Of course you can go Intel, but I think that AMD with their lower prices is a lot more affordable.

I have a Ryzen 7 1700 right now. It was the first generation, and it still runs great. Personally, I wouldn’t go for a Ryzen 5, and I don’t think a Ryzen 9 would fit into the $1000 budget. So the Ryzen 7 is a good sweet spot. You can probably find the newest generation for around $300.

**RAM**: I never needed more than 16GB. Of course it’s always nice to have more RAM, but I would rather save the money and spend it on a better CPU.

**HDD/SSD**: These can get pretty expensive really quick. Of course they have gotten a lot cheaper over the past months. Personally, I am running a 1TB SSD + 4TB HDD setup right now. You can use the SSD space for your OS and some frequently used games, and the HDD space for the rest of your game library and recordings of your stream, if you want to do that.

For the rest of the hardware I really don’t have a recommendation.

But what I would always recommend, spend money on the important parts. Get a good CPU/GPU/PSU. Do you really need that fancy RGB case for $100? 

In the end, your viewers won’t see your PC, but will see your stream. So you want your stream to look good and run smoothly.

And of course, with the current situation of chip shortages and scalpers, it’s really hard to find good hardware at reasonable prices. So try looking at used hardware. Maybe someone upgraded to an RTX 3090 and doesn’t need their 1660 anymore. If it still runs well, and you can get it for half than what Amazon is selling it for, go for it. It’s always good to save money to be able to use it on different hardware.


I hoped this helped you get a general idea on how much you should spend on a good streaming PC.
So go build a sweet PC, and don’t cheap out on important hardware.


How Much Money Should You Spend on a Gaming PC?

OBS might be a bit overwhelming the first time you start it, so here are some basic tips to make your stream look good

iPhone laying on a wooden desk. Left from it there is a white illuminated gaming keyboard and right from it there is a green illuminated gaming mouse.

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So after you downloaded and installed OBS Studio, I would recommend linking your Twitch Account. That way you don’t have to enter your streaming key, and you also have stuff like Twitch chat and your activity feed right in your OBS window. No need for another browser window.

To change what windows you can see in OBS, click on View -> Docks, and then check and uncheck what you need and don’t need.


Now onto the settings, which are really important to make your stream look good.

First we will look at the Tab “**Output**”. This is where you will set how good your stream will look.

First of all, change the output mode from “Simple” to “Advanced”. This way you will have more control.

If you have an NVIDIA GPU, I would highly suggest using the NVIDIA NVENC H.264 (new) encoder. This is a special encoder on your GPU. It will make your stream look better and also lower your load on your CPU.

**Rate control** you will want to set to “**CBR**”, which is constant bitrate. This will make sure, that OBS won’t automatically adapt your bitrate, which can make your stream look worse.

**Bitrate** is a little more complicated. It depends on your internet speed, and what you stream.

First of all, the maximum bitrate Twitch allows is 6000kbps. So go check your upload speed and see what your internet can handle.

Second, it depends on what you stream. For me, I usually stream retro SNES games, which don’t have a lot of movement on screen. So for that, something like 3000kbps is enough. But if you stream newer games, something with a lot of movement like a first person shooter, you want to set your bitrate as high as you can. If your PC and internet can handle 6000kbps, do it. It will look a lot better.

So remember: the more movement on screen, the higher the bitrate must be, in order to not look like a pixel-y mess.


**Keyframe interval**: I have set this to **1**.

**Preset: Max Quality**. You can use this if you have a good computer. The lower you go, the worse your stream will look, but it will also use less resources.

**Profile: High**. Same as the above. You go lower, stream looks worse, but will use less resources.

I have turned on **Look-ahead** and **Psycho Visual Tuning**. If you want to know what those do, click on the checkmark next to the option.

**GPU**: If you have only one GPU, set this to **0**. So if you have more than GPU, which most people don’t, you need to choose another GPU. But just set this to 0 and you will be fine.

**Max B-Frames: 4**. If you turned on Look-ahead, set this to 4. In short what this does: Your GPU will look at the previous and upcoming frame, and when needed, will insert another frame, and will make your stream look better.

So that’s all for the Output tab, we’re almost done!


Next Tab: **Audio**.

Most of this should be pretty obvious. Add any audio devices you have. Your desktop audio will probably already be added. With that, your stream can hear everything that’s happening on your PC, like when you watch a Youtube video or something.
Mic/Auxiliary Audio: Also pretty straight forward. Just add your microphone, and maybe any extra input devices like a mixer or something.

Personally, I use the Line-in from my PC for my consoles which I added as Mic Audio 2. That way, I can hear what’s happening on my consoles without any delay, and I can change the audio level in the mixer no problem.


Next up: **Video**

Here you can set the resolution and FPS.

In my opinion, FPS is always more important than resolution.

Of course this highly depends on your PC hardware. Of course if your PC is powerful enough, you can stream at 1920x1080 and set the FPS to 60. If you skip frames, I would recommend lowering the resolution to 1280x720 but still try to stick to 60fps. If your PC still can’t handle that, drop down to 30fps.


In the Hotkeys tab, you can set hotkeys for muting mic, switching scenes etc. Just play around with it and look what you need.


That should be it for the settings.


Now go fill up your scenes with some nice looking Layouts, add your game and facecam, and happy streaming!


How to Get Started With OBS

Just a few tips and tricks where you should actually spend your hard earned money

Man looking at screen in his livestreaming setup.

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I know what you are thinking. You are watching your favorite streamer with over 10,000 viewers, and you see their fancy stream with a $2000 DSLR, green screen, dual PC streaming setup and expensive headset, keyboard and mouse. You are thinking “The only way they got that big is because their stream looks amazing! Let me go buy some new stuff!”. And let me tell you, you couldn’t be any more wrong. 

Don’t get me wrong. Having a decent enough computer to stream your game is really important. Viewers don’t like watching a stream that drops 50% of the frames, cheap microphone, 480p.
So it’s important to invest your money into gear that will actually improve your stream.

Here are a few tips where you should actually invest your money:

-	A decent microphone: Audio is such an important factor for your stream. Having a microphone that’s crackling and quieter than the game is a no-go, and will turn off any viewer. You can get good sounding microphones for under $100 these days.
-	A decent webcam: While you see a lot of big streamers use an expensive DSLR, there is really no need. Twitch encoding will decrease the quality significant, and no viewer will turn off your stream because your facecam doesn’t look good enough. I would recommend something like the Logitech C920.
-	Elgato’s streamdeck: Please don’t. It’s just a few fancy macro keys. You can achieve the same thing with macro keys on your keyboard. 
-	Want to capture console games? Get a good 1080p/60fps capture card.
While there some cheap chinese capture cards, I really don’t recommend them. I tried one a while ago, and it was just unreliable and painful to use. I personally have been using the Avermedia LGP lite for 5 years, and it worked perfectly. It’s just 720p/60fps, but if you PC is not powerful enough for 1080p/60fps anyway, it’s a good, cheaper alternative.
I recently just upgraded to the Razer Ripsaw HD. While I am using a lot of Razer gear, I am not a big fan of their unreliable software. But so far the Ripsaw HD has been working great. It does 1080p/60fps and looks amazing. I got it on sale for around $120.
Another good alternative is the Elgato HD60 S+, it’s a little more expensive, but still pretty good.
If you don’t want an external capture card, I would recommend the Elgato HD60 Pro. In my opinion there is no need for the 4K60 Pro if you are just streaming on Twitch. Twitch doesn’t support 4k, and probably won’t be supporting it for a while. Streaming 4k also requires a beefy PC and a beefy internet connection. So don’t waste your money on that. I wouldn’t pay more than around $150 for a good capture card.
-	Dual-PC or single-PC streaming setup: I don’t really see the point of using a Dual-PC streaming setup. If your PC is decent enough, it should handle gaming and streaming with no problems. I have been using a Single-PC setup for years, and I never had any issues. So rather than spending $2000 on 2 decent PCs, I would recommend using all the budget on one good PC. If you are dropping frames due to encoding issues, check which part is the culprit. Is your GPU at 100% load constantly? Buy a new GPU. Don’t waste your money on hardware you don’t need.
-	Greenscreen: Personally, I am not a fan of these. I would rather make the gamefeed a little bit smaller, putting your facecam into one of the corners, rather than blocking the gameplay. But if you really want to use one, please don’t buy unnecessarily expensive greenscreens. You can achieve the same with a roll of green cardboard.
-	Lighting: If you want to use a webcam and want it to look professional, you want to buy some good lighting. But there is no need to buy expensive lights from big companies. Looking at Amazon, you can buy a pack of 2 lights for around $70. I would recommend using one key light to light up your face, and one back light to separate you from the background.

So those are some basic recommendations. If you have any money left over from not buying unnecessary stuff, the first thing you should always think about first is upgrading your streaming PC. It’s the center piece of your stream. If it doesn’t run well, your stream will not look good and turn off any new potential viewers. Lower the load on your CPU and GPU by buying a better one, so you can stream with a higher resolution, higher FPS and higher bitrate.


Don’t Blow Your Money on Overly Expensive Gear

There is no denying it. Growing your viewer base as a new streamer is hard.

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[According to statista.com](https://www.statista.com/statistics/746173/monthly-active-streamers-on-twitch/), there were 9.52 million active streamers on Twitch in February. That’s a
crazy amount! So for any new streamer, just starting your stream and expecting a bunch of new
viewers to come in randomly is not going to happen.

No viewer will scroll through thousands of streams, to the bottom of the list of a game directory and
click on a random streamer with just 1 viewer.

That is especially true if you want to be a variety streamer. A lot of viewers follow a streamer for one
specific game. That’s even true for big streamers. If you compare their viewer base when streaming
their main game, versus some random game, you will see that even those have a lot less viewers.
How do you think that would affect a smaller channel with less than 10 viewers?

So a good way to grow your viewer base, grow a community and make a few people stick around
even when you are not playing the game they followed you for, is to stick to one game.
But of course, just playing your game day in and day out probably won’t get you far. It’s also
important to interact with the game’s community. It’s always helpful to check out other streams and
making friends with them. Your channel getting raided is possibly the best way to get a bunch of new
followers and potentially regular viewers.

Also check out some Discord servers. There are a lot of Discord server that allow you to advertise
your stream. Doesn’t really matter if it’s your favorite streamer’s Discord server, a server specifically
for the game you want to grow in, or even your own server. Making your own Discord server is
always a good way to interact with your stream community. You can make announcements
whenever you plan on doing something, you can setup a notification channel for when you stream,
so they won’t miss out, or you can simply just talk to them. It’s always more fun if you know your
viewers a little bit, maybe make some friends with them, instead of just seeing them as viewers.

Having a schedule is also really helpful. Viewers like to know when to expect your stream. No one is
forcing you to stream every day, but if you start your stream on 2pm the one day, and then at 10pm
3 days later, it’s unlikely that you will get the same people watching you, and potentially just less
overall.

But of course, just playing one game for months on end is not fun. While you should mainly stick to
one game, just to grow your viewer base, switching things up to not get burned out is really
important.

A good way to do that is to maybe have a special day, where you do something completely different.
Maybe just have a schedule like: Stream your main game 4 times a week, and a different, casual
game 1 time a week. While you will still have a lower viewer base than when you stream your main
game, I promise you, that some of those new viewers you made from your main game, will stick
around watching you play a different game, because they got to know you and just enjoy you as a
person.

You could also start your stream off with a different game, and then switch to your main game in the
middle of the stream. But of course, then it will be difficult for your viewers to know when you switch 
your game. Twitch won’t give them a notification when you switch games, and you would just lose
out on the viewers, because they will just think that you played the other game the whole stream.
That’s where [CationCrew](/) is really helpful. Either your viewers can sign up themselves to
get notifications when you switch to their game, or you can set it up in your community Discord
server.

So what did we learn from this article?

Stick to one main game to grow your viewer base, switch things up every now and then to not get
burned out, interact with other streamers and the game’s community, use Discord servers. 

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7 Successful Twitch Streamers

August 8, 2021 by Volpey

How Much Money Should You Spend on a Gaming PC?

May 13, 2021 by Volpey

How to Get Started With OBS

April 27, 2021 by Volpey

Don’t Blow Your Money on Overly Expensive Gear

April 23, 2021 by Volpey

The Best Way to Grow as a Streamer? Stick to One Game

April 22, 2021 by Volpey