What do the Top Live Streamers on YouTube have in common?

I  recently did a search for who the top Live Streamers were in the News, Commentary, Teaching and Live Stream Education niches.

Many of the names and channels that popped up in the list were not unexpected such as…

Tim Pool, Meidas Touch, Benny Johnson, Russell Brand

As well as…

Roberto Blake, Nick Nimmin, Daniel Batal, Think Media Podcast, Ryan Hall Ya’ll

And many others.

I got to thinking…

What did they all have in common?   

Why were they all at the top of the list in my search?

What makes them stand out, as they are all in different niches with different audiences?

I did a little comparison and 5 specific items stood out to me...

#1 Set design

When I looked at the list, I noticed some recurring patterns in the set designs between all of these channels.   

5 specific set designs stood out to me…

– Talk Show Desk 

– Podcast Studio

– News Desk

– Gaming/Streaming 

– Clean Simple Office

The common elements between them all are…

– Good Background Lighting Composition

– Shelves & Appropriate Shelf Items

– Multiple Camera Angles

– Desk Mics

– Physical Depth Behind Host

#2 Format

This one surprised me a little as the top 5 that stood out the most are all similar or variations on a theme…

– Co-Host Talk Show

– Host + Guest Co-Host

– Host + Guest Interviews

– Solo Commentary

– Call In Show or Viewer/Audience Q&A

I would have thought that there would have been a little more variation on the Live Stream/Podcast formats then what I came up with.

This speaks to what is in demand where format is concerned irregardless of the niche.

#3 Stream Length

This one always fascinates me.   When you look at all the “Guru’s” the consensus on stream length is a virtual “Bell Curve”.   The extreme ends being ultra short, 5 to 20 minutes long and ultra long 3+ hours.   Which left the majority in the middle stream lengths of between 1 to 2 hours long.

So I ran a ranking comparison of stream length versus top Live Streams and this is what I came up with…

Ranking

#1… 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours

#2… 2-3 hours

#3… 1 hour

#4… 3+ hours

#5… 45 minutes or less

Now I want to interject my personal take on this, I am a firm believer in allowing your Live Stream to be as long as it needs to be.   

I have watched a well established Content Creator struggle with his Live Stream length for over a year as he was trying to fit 10 pounds of stuff he wanted to do into a 5 pound bag of time.

When he finally gave in, and just allowed his Live Stream to go however long it took to get through all that he wanted to present, his concurrent viewership went from around 100’ish to as high as 800'ish on any given Live Stream.

His subscriber count also went from just breaking 100,000 subs to almost 400,000 subs over a few years of being Live once a week, every week, for a number of years after the change.

Food for thought!

#4 Monetization

There are a number of ways to monetize your Live Stream on and off platform.   What I found interesting on this one was where one of the “On Platform" monetizations came in on the list.   These are the 6 most popular.   Remember this does not take niche into account…

– Memberships

– Super Chats

– Sponsorships

– Courses

– Affiliate Links

– Ads

Yes, you see that correctly, Ads came in last on this list… go figure.   Especially since many of the “Guru’s” tout pushing sub’s and views to maximize the Ad dollars.

Lastly…

#5 Discovery Strategy

There are a number of ways to go about this depending on which platform you choose to Live Stream on.   BUT… YouTube is the only platform with a builtin evergreen algorithm that can continually serve up your content even from years back.   No other platform has an algorithm that does this to the extent that YouTube does.

So here are the 6 most common strategies used by the top Live Streamers that are visible to us…

– Separate Clips Channel

– VOD’s and Live Streams, (same channel)

– Shorts/Shorts Channel

– Controversial Topics

– Interviews

– Live Stream Only

When you step back and take a 1000 foot view at all the data above, some major patterns become obvious...

– The “Talk Show” format is a clear favorite of the viewers.   Essentially they are the modern “Talk Radio Show” in video format.

– Clips/Shorts/VOD’s on channel or separate channel.   Live Streams by themselves generally grow a channel very slowly.   But Clips/Shorts/VOD’s increase the rate of discovery exponentially.

– Consistency matters more than Production Quality.

Most top Live Streams have a set day, time, format and segments all streamed from the same Live Streaming set.

– A great deal of your Live Streaming success will be dependent on how well you are able to generate audience loyalty and audience retention versus subscriber count.

What is the Overall Takeaway for YOU?

The most successful Live Streams are essentially modern day “Talk Radio Shows” in video format.

They have all the trappings…

– Desk Set

– Host, Co-Host, Guest Hosts

– Average 2 Hour Show Length

– Clips and Commentary

– Live Chat Interaction

– News/Commentary/Interviews

– Consistent Regular Schedule

If your goal is to build a large and successful Live Stream then taking some cues from the information above that is based on some of the most successful Live Streamers on the YouTube platform is a must.

If you are just starting down the Live Streaming/Podcast path, 

Let's talk and see if I can help you navigate through it all.

Click Here

Until the next installment...

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