Video games are no longer just a hobby for basement-dwelling nerds; they’re now an all-out industry with e-sport tournaments, big budget product reveals, and a whole industry built around watching other people play.
What many would have originally waved off as redundant has now become a legitimate part of both the digital and gaming landscape. And it makes sense; you can’t play video games at work, but you can sure as heck watch other people play them.
Many streamers or let’s players, as they are often called, have been able to make actual stacks of cash out of their endeavours, with people like PewDiePie, Markiplier, and xMinks becoming household names in the space of a few years.
One such person is Brad Jolly, aka DYoshiiTV. After leaving his job in television, Brad’s then-girlfriend convinced him to start streaming using the equipment he had left around.
Now, he’s one of Australia’s biggest streamers on Twitch, a video streaming platform with a specific focus on gaming, where he’s now become a partner. Who knew being a colossal nerd could be so damn lucrative?
“I earn a varied amount every month. Consistently a few hundred a month, sometimes a few thousand,” says Jolly. “This is excluding sponsor deals which have various stipends. Keep in mind I am a smaller Twitch Partner, others do make way more than I.”
While it sounds like Twitch are lining his pockets as an employee, it’s certainly not a traditional arrangement when it comes to making slick gaming content.
“They have exclusivity agreements on some of our stuff but we are not employees of theirs. Twitch don’t pay me a wage of any kind, they are a method I get revenue however through paid subscriptions.”
In addition to cash from Twitch, he also gets money from YouTube ads, merchandise sales, and web store affiliate links (which, for every sale made using the link, gives a small kickback payment to the affiliate, without increasing the overall consumer cost).
Jolly also notes that the hours can be a pain in the neck; as well as streaming, he also does his own admin work, video production, and countless hours of self-promotional (gotta build that #personalbrand), on top of still holding down a full-time job. As he puts it: “No real idea what sleep is but as a streamer you have to put the hours in to grow.”
That said, there are some sweet perks to the gig.
“I get a lot of products as well like PC hardware and games, so I also spend less money than I used to. Sometimes, I am flown to events internationally also.”
As for how to start out in the video game streaming scene? The key rule is to just start doing it.
“Each day you wait others start and the market becomes more supply heavy of content creators, thus making it harder to stand out. Once you have started you can figure out how to improve your brand.”
What are you waiting for mate? Get gaming.
