How to Repurpose Stream Recordings
into More Content for Your Channel
Live streams are a great way to give your channel fresh content while also engaging audiences in a real-time setting. When the stream ends, however, you’re left with a large chunk of raw footage that you can use to craft more dynamic content to attract new viewers to your channel.
Live streaming your gaming sessions is a great way to build your audience as it allows them to feel like they’re participating directly and have input on what goes on. Variety, however, spurs growth, and it’s important to have other content on your channel to appeal to a wider audience (i.e. a more traditional viewer who likes to watch without needing the extra interaction).
To that end, the footage you’ve gathered via live streams is a handy resource for future content. Ignoring this easy source of content is not only wasteful, it prevents you from reaching a larger audience.
Ultimate Time-Saver
The biggest reason to ensure streams aren’t one-and-done content is the amount of time it saves you. Between keeping up with the latest gaming trends, editing previously recorded content, brainstorming new ideas, writing scripts for future videos and handling promotions and your social media presence, there’s a lot on your plate. Free up some of your time by utilizing the wealth of footage you’ve already captured thanks to your live streams.
On top of turning your saved streams into a source of footage for more polished video content, it also saves time when you’re cross-promoting content in multiple places. Use highlights from your streams and post them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to entice new viewers. Trimming out 30–60 seconds of footage from your stream is significantly quicker than scripting, recording, and editing an all new video for each platform.
Best Uses for Your Stream Footage
Now that you have all this live stream footage lying around, there is a variety of options for putting that footage to work:
Replays for Viewers — Even your most stalwart fans aren’t able to watch every live broadcast. YouTube archive’s streams once you’ve finished, but the notifications don’t always go out the same; meaning loyal subscribers who missed it live may never see it at all.
Go back and edit your stream for replay watching. Every stream has lulls or errors you aren’t happy with — loading screens, waiting in lobbies for multiplayer matches or other technical problems. Edit those moments out and trim it up into a shorter, easier to watch video.
Secondary Audiences — There’s a distinct difference between audiences who enjoy watching live streams and on demand viewers. Viewers who tune into streams are prepared for a lengthier video and enjoy the direct communication, which picks up the slack in slower moments. On demand audiences want a more streamlined video where they can get the ‘meat’ of the content in a shorter span of time. Trim the stream — or break it apart — into 15–20 minute videos to appeal to those viewers.
Walkthroughs — A great way to add relevant and long-lasting content to your channel is game walkthroughs. Gamers frequently turn to the web when they’re stuck on a particularly hard area or looking for a specific item or Easter egg. Using footage from your streams to craft your own easy to follow guides not only provides new content for your channel; it turns your videos into valuable resources for gamers even months or years later.
Compilations & Top Lists — Everyone loves a good recap video. If you have a good number of streams under your belt, selecting specific moments from each one to edit into a single video is a good way to reuse old footage for new content. You can do a countdown of your funniest moments during a stream, coolest moments, best plays, or even a top list of your favorite games of the year.
Highlights — Stream long enough, and you’re sure to have some awesome moments go down. Save these and use them as highlights on your social media, or as separate uploads to show subscribers and newcomers your best moments in a convenient way.
Reviews — Game reviews are great for your channel, and if you’ve been streaming the game, they’re easy to create. Use your stream footage for B-roll, then record your review dialog and edit it all together.
Transcribing — Once you’ve edited your stream, go through and transcribe your audio. You can use this for closed captioning, which not only makes it more accessible, but also improves your SEO.
Don’t Let It Go to Waste
There is a multitude of uses for your streaming videos beyond their initial broadcast. Even if streaming is a smaller part of your overall channel content, it’s a valuable source of raw footage.
From gifs for social media to highlight reels and walkthroughs, reusing streamed footage saves you valuable time you can put into growing your channel in other ways. Don’t let it simply sit there and go to waste; repurpose your streams to work for you in expanding your audience.
