How to Start Streaming

Want to learn how to start streaming?

Video Game Streaming is gaining popularity as millions of people every month broadcast their games online. Twitch is the clear front-runner when it comes to streaming platforms, with over 8.5 million active users per day. Streamers are capitalizing on this interest by making their livings in front of the camera streaming. Twitch.tv allows anybody to become a streamer and with the right tools, you can start earning money playing games if you start streaming too.

Before you start you need to figure out what platform you want to stream on. Streaming on consoles like Xbox and Playstation can be extremely simple since they already have built-in streaming capability. If you want to stream from you PC you will need to have decent hardware and some streaming software. It might look intimidating when you check out some of the popular Twitch channels but its really not that hard when you break it all down, lets get started and see how you can start streaming on PC.

Get Your Twitch Stream Running

One of the first things you need to do before you can start streaming is setting up your Twitch.tv account. This is where you will select your username, which will appear in your channels url. Your twitch username is your very own personal brand, if you are not sure what a personal brand is or why its important checkout our post on personal brands.

1. Setup a Twitch account, head over to Twitch.tv and click on the “Sign Up” button on the top right.

   

2. Connect using your Facebook or enter in a username, password, your birthday, and you e-mail address.
   

   

    Your username is not permanent, Twitch will allow you to change it

3. Log into Twitch.
4. Select “Dashboard” from the drop-down menu on the top-right of the screen.

   

5. Set a Stream Title in the “Title” section of the “Stream Information” box.

   

6. Search and select the game you will be playing.

   

7. Time to select and configure your broadcasting software.

Broadcasting Software

There are a few software options you can choose from to broadcast your gameplay to Twitch. The 2 most popular options are Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)  and Xsplit. Both these tools are fully capable of providing excellent quality streams. Open Broadcaster is free to use and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux while Xsplit comes with a monthly subscription plan. While Xsplit does have more features its best to try out OBS when you first start since it is free, you can always upgrade if you need to. Once you have your software picked out its time to configure your setup. We’ll walk you through the Open Broadcast Software setup:

If you do not have OBS installed yet head over to obsproject.com and download it.

1. Open up the application.
2. Setup a new Profile

    Click “Profiles” -> “New” and name your new profile.
   Profiles allow you to save different streaming configurations.

3. Click on “Settings”.

   

4. Select the “Stream” Tab.

   

    

5. Set the “Streaming Service” to Twitch.

   

6.  Find your Streaming Key in your Twitch Dashboard.

   Click on the “Show Key” Button.

7. Enter your Twitch Streaming Key in the “Play Path” field.

   

8. Click on the “Apply” Button to save your changes.

   

9. Right click in the “Sources” Box and select Add > Game Capture.

   

   You can add multiple sources if you plan on switching between games or windows.

10.  Set a name for your video game source.

    

11. Select your game from the application dropdown and Click “OK”.

    

12.  You should now see a preview of your stream.

    

13. Click on the “Start Streaming” button and your stream is live!

    

    Head over to your Twitch channel to verify everything is working.

Now that you have your stream up and running its time to focus on your Twitch Profile. Take a look at how you can improve and update your Twitch Profile.