Before I even begin. If you are a streamer who legit only wants to be casual and feels there is no need to grow or you are only looking at this as a hobby with a few friends who game together or maybe even you have streamer friends and you want to just join in on the fun, this might not be a blog post for you. There is NOTHING wrong with that. A lot of people just stream for the fun and have no desire to pursue anything from this either. Believe it or not, I even felt this way before I started really getting into streaming. A few people I knew did it and I though why not. I can do that too. And would just go live from my PlayStation whenever I was gaming. I had no desire to really keep going or to make something out of this but here we are today! I will be breaking this blog as many before it into paragraphs no particular importance but things that are important (in my opinion) when exploring this side of streaming.

Why do I want to look at my Analytics?
This is a super valid question I think to ask. Why? Are you looking at this because you are curious about growth? Are you looking because you want to know where you can improve? Or are you looking just because you can? I used to look at my stats just for a curiosity sake. I didn’t really care much about growth I just looked and seen what happened and then I wouldn’t focus too much about them. Now that I want to see how I am growing I look at them frequently and keep track of things I’m doing that might help or hinder the growth of my channel.

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Where can I look at my Analytics?
The main way to look at them would be on your twitch dashboard. There is a section of where you can see stream lengths as well as followers, subscribers, etc. There is also lots of websites out there as well such as:
Social Blade: https://socialblade.com/
or
SullyGnome: https://sullygnome.com/
You can go back further with these then you can the twitch dashboard but its a great way to compare other things. Also Social blade has the opportunity to check other platforms and not just twitch as well too. They can be a great way to see how you are doing in the space of your choosing.

How do I analyze my Analytics?
The best way is to look at what you want to analyze. I would also suggest NOT looking at money. At least in the beginning. Subscribers can fluctuate a lot and to analyze these numbers a lot can make you feel horrible since you cannot control who and how many subscribers you will have at certain times. If money is your goal as well talking about this a lot in your stream can really push people away if they don’t see your vision. A great way to start is viewer average. That’s what I focus on anyways though. Subscribers are great to check up on occasionally but Its something you cant really focus on though. Its also great if say you are focusing on viewers, Say you use sullygnome and you can see how your viewers were and what you were playing at the time as well too. Since that is also important. Maybe you are trying to expand your channel and you want to see which games work, Or branch out into a totally different direction.

Remember as well, Regardless of what you are doing or analyzing, you have to be doing this for a period of time. Its not enough to just analyze things for a week and say there you go not working. Sometimes things take time, Starting a new giveaway for your regular viewers, playing new games, focusing on one game away from when you started, things of that nature. I have been keeping track of my stats though some months that were not very well that it’s good to see growth. Its also important to remember that not every month will be the same. You will have some that are amazing and others that may fall flat from expectations. That’s also okay. I know depending on my life and mind frame sometimes I am way to lazy and preoccupied to keep track. But none the less that is not that big of a problem as I normally step it up the next few months!

Also before ending this, know that even if you decide to track stats and things. The important thing is to have fun streaming. If you aren’t having fun and focus too much on numbers that almost will always translate into your streams. And with twitch (Not entirely sure about mixer) On the dashboard you can actually click away some stats like your viewers, views, followers etc. That way if you are noticing you are focusing too much on numbers then you can hide them from sight. I normally do this with viewers and than if I feel like looking at the number occasionally I hover my mouse over the hidden area and it will show in a tiny bubble. That way its not staring me in the face if I have a slower stream one day then the next as well too!

And lastly, Stats DO NOT make you. Its great as an indicator if you are on the right path or need to change some things in your channel, but it does not mean you are a success or failure. As mentioned before if you don’t give a damn about your stats that is okay too. If you want to keep growing and focusing a bit more on the analytics then this is a great way to start. I know for me I love lists and seeing how I am doing  but if I slip up a little bit I also don’t get too stressed about that as well. Since we all know outside of streaming we have a life, Its okay to take it easy on stats a month. Remember though, Being the most consistent will help with your overall picture too !