When it comes to streaming everyone wants to grow their audience as fast as possible. One of the most overlooked ways to get an advantage on Twitch is by streaming at specific times.
Most people think that streaming the most popular game at the most active time is the way to go. This is in fact one of the hardest ways to get noticed on Twitch, especially if you are a new streamer.
Let’s jump in and take a look at the best time to stream on Twitch.
What Is The Best Time To Stream On Twitch?
The best time to stream on Twitch is when there is low competition in your game category but still a good available audience to stream to. Generally, this is early in the morning or late at night PST timezone. Let’s take a deeper look.
It is hard to give you a specific time on when to stream as it depends on a few different variables. We are going to give you the information you need to determine the best time to stream for you.
If you are a new streamer, the time at which you stream is much more important. If you already have an established audience the times at which you stream will matter less. Let’s take a look at both.
Best Time To Stream For New Streamers
If you are a new streamer it is very hard to get noticed on Twitch at peak times of day as there are so many other streamers competing for the active audience. While there are more people online at peak times, most people gravitate towards the top streamers in a game.
As a new streamer, you want to find the time when there are fewer people streaming in your game category but still a reasonably sized audience available to stream to.
You can use this graph below from Sullygnome to determine when is the best time to stream.
On this chart the green line represents average viewers per channel and the purple line represents Live channels.
As we can see from the graph, when there are fewer streamers online, there are higher average viewers per streamer. From looking at this chart the best time to stream would likely be around 11PM – 3AM PST if you want as little competition as possible. An alternative would be streaming in the morning 5AM PST – 9AM PST as there is also less competition.
If you live on the West Coast these are obviously awkward times to stream however if you are on the East Coast or Europe you can fit one of these time slots into your schedule quite well.
This graph gives a broad overview of the whole of Twitch. This can give you a good indicator of when to stream but if you want to get more specific, you should look at the game you plan to stream. I will show you how to do this a little further into this article.
Best Time To Stream For Established Streamers
If you are an established streamer with a pre-existing audience then it matters less what time you stream. This is because of two main reasons:
- You already have an audience that will come and watch you, no matter what time your stream
- By having an audience you will appear higher in the game category during peak streaming hours meaning you can capture some of that massive audience
Even if you are established you can still stream at less competitive times to capture more audience. For example, the biggest streamers in your category probably stream at peak times and get the #1 spot for your game. You likely can’t compete with them during these hours.
However, if you are a #10 – 20 streamer at peak hours, you might be #1-3 spot during less competitive times. This will likely bring you in much more of a new audience than streaming in the #10-20 spots during peak hours.
During the Warzone boom, we saw Symfuhny stream in the early hours of the morning so he could be the top streamer for Warzone. While people like Nickmercs and TimTheTatMan were online at peak hours, Symfuhny could never get the #1 spot. When they are offline he can. While it was a grind he capitalised massively by committing to streaming in the early hours of the morning.
What Are The Best Days To Stream On Twitch?
If you are a new streamer we would advise streaming morning and night during the week and then streaming on weekends to get the most out of your stream. During these times you will be up against less competition and will have a higher chance of getting eyeballs on your stream.
What Times Are Most Active On Twitch?
Most Active Time For Viewers
The most active time of day for Twitch viewers is 4 PM UTC to 10 PM UTC. This is when most viewers are online. You can see how this looks on the chart from Twitch Tracker below.
While this time of day has the most viewers online, it is not the best time to stream as we mentioned above.
Most Active Time For Streamers
The most active time of day for live channels on Twitch is from 8 PM UTC to 4 AM UTC as we can see below on the chart from Twitch Tracker.
Ideally, you want to find the best overlap where there are lots of viewers online but fewer streamers online. This happens from around 4 PM UTC to 8 PM UTC.
How To Find The Best Time To Stream For Your Game
So far we have looked at the times to stream based on all of Twitch. However, when it comes down to it, every game will be different. There will, of course, be some overlap, especially in popular games however if you play something a little more niche, then you might be able to find better times to stream.
To check how many channels are streaming and how many viewers there are for a certain game we can check Twitch Tracker.
For example, this is a chart for Call Of Duty Black Ops 3. The blue line is live viewers and the green line is live channels. You want to analyse this chart for the game you are looking to play and find a time that has a good amount of viewers but also a low amount of channels streaming.
You can also use the formula:
Live Viewers/Channels = Viewers Per Channel
You want to stream when the viewers per channel is at its highest.
You can find your game’s stats by going to Twitch Tracker and searching for your game.
What If I Can’t Stream At The Perfect Time
If you are unable to stream at the ideal time for your game don’t worry. Not everyone can adjust their schedule around the perfect time to stream. You will still be able to grow your stream at peak time by building a loyal fanbase.
We would recommend focusing hard on producing content off the Twitch platform so you have a pre-existing audience ready to watch when you send them to your stream.
How Many Hours Should I Stream For On Twitch?
We recommend streaming for around 4 hours per session and being consistent about when you stream. If you have a large following then you may want to stream for even longer such as 8 – 10 hours per day.
However, if you don’t have many viewers you won’t grow your stream very much by streaming. Most of your growth will actually come from work you do off the Twitch platform such as creating Yotuube and Tik Tok content.
We wrote a whole guide to how long you should stream for if you want more detail.
Set a Stream Schedule
As I mentioned above, you want to ensure that you are streaming on a consistent basis, especially when you are smaller. If people know they can rely on you to show up at a specific time on specific days they are much more likely to show up to your stream.
We recommend streaming a minimum of 3 times per week for approximately 4 hours per session.
If you don’t have a stream schedule on your channel we recommend adding one immediately to keep your audience informed of when you will be live.
What Games Should I Stream On Twitch?
Most new streamers gravitate towards streaming the most popular games which is a huge mistake. Everyone is streaming the new popular game. Your a needle in the haystack when you stream in those categories.
When starting out you should find a smaller game that still has a passionate audience. You will be much more likely to pick up some viewers here and there as you’re actually showing up in the game category vs being buried 25 pages deep in a popular game.
If you want to pick the best games to play we have put together some guides on picking the best games to stream.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, you can now make the decision on when is best to stream for you. Ultimately, you want to stream at the least competitive time for the game you are playing. The less people streaming the higher you will appear in the category and therefore get more views at this time.
Let us know if this helps you out down below in the comments.
