Getting your Twitch Stream Sponsored

Preface

This article is the first of a series dedicated to educating the Twitch.tv community on how to get the most out of your stream. Twitch has exploded in popularity over the last 4 years, and this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the business world. An increasing number of companies have recognized the power live streamers have to bring awareness and value to their products and brands. Through our dealings with streamers, we’ve discovered several common mistakes that can hurt your chances of landing a sponsorship. By following these 5 incredibly simple steps you will drastically improve your stream quality and quickly land a sponsor.

Step 1: Attract Attention

One of the most common issues we’ve found streamers have is that they’re not attracting attention to themselves. Start by structuring your Twitch channel so that it is easy and simple for sponsors to contact you. This can be as easy as adding a business email (if you don’t have one, make one right now) to the panels below your stream or even dedicating an entire panel for business inquires. This not only looks more professional, but also gives you an edge over other streamers. Trust us, whenever we see a business email on a channel we’re interested in, we thank Rngesus and automatically give that streamer more credibility. Get into the habit of checking your business email and Twitch messages daily.

Step 2: Play your Strengths

Understand who you are. This is a ridiculously simple concept that so few people practice. If you aren’t a great player stop trying to be a MLG pro. Play Indie games, stream Mario Kart, do something fun. Maybe you have a great voice, try broadcasting a few games. There’s no one “right” way to stream, but there is a best way for you as an individual to entertain. And that’s the key, to entertain. At the end of the day entertaining viewers is the only requirement for your stream to succeed. No one wants to watch C or even B level streamers. Viewers only want the best, the funniest, or the most informative content. They want to be amazed, excited, or to learn something in the time they spend on your stream. You need to give viewers an experience they’ll remember and want more of.

Step 3: Communication

Having open and frequent lines of communication is extremely important when trying to get a sponsor. Businesses have limited resources and deadlines that aren’t going to wait for you. A good habit to get into is the “24-hour rule”. Once a sponsor sends you a message or email, you then have 24 hours to respond. Taking longer than a day or two to respond will automatically put you in a lower priority than someone who responded within the first 24 hours.

The general goal in communicating with a sponsor via email is to arrange a phone or video call (Skype, Discord) within as few emails as possible, say 3 to 5. These personal meetings will allow important information to be exchanged much more quickly.

Step 4: Negotiation

Negotiations are a crucial part of the process. Although emails provide a lot of useful information, meetings are where the hard details get nailed down. It’s a faster paced exchange of information but a more quality one at that. Before coming to the meeting it is important to know your worth. Have a general idea of how much your stream is worth by looking at your average concurrent viewers, followers, and total viewership. These are the metrics most companies are interested in. You’ll need to leverage these numbers along with other value adding factors like showmanship and scheduling your stream during peak times.

Step 5: Always Be Closing

Once both parties have come to an agreement on terms, put it in writing. Don’t get scared about signing a contract, this is one of the most important steps. They protect not only the company but you and your stream. Follow the “Three set of eyes” rule and have 3 different people completely read the contract before signing. Also it’s important to know that accepted terms through an email can be as legally binding as signing a contract, so you may as well have the real deal.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to hit the follow button to get rest of this series. If you have questions or need help with your stream feel free to email us at lootvault2016@gmail.com.

Loot Vault is an E-Sports Betting RPG currently in development. Check out our progress at www.loot-vault.com.