The Business: Confessions of Near-Failure In Livestreaming

Following up on how livestreaming isn't a frontier anymore, here's two of the better-known (and thus successful) livestreamers for Final Fantasy XIV testifying on how hard it was for them--who started years ago--to make it to where they can live comfortably from the revenue they bring in from livestreaming.

Zepla in particular is the one to pay attention to here, as she expatriated from the United States. Yes, livestreaming allows you to run an entertainment business--because that's what livestreaming is--from anywhere in the world with a stable Internet infrastructure that isn't dogshit. However, until you reach critical mass you are going to be lucky to pay any of your bills- nevermind living comfortably. Many streamers on Twitch, YouTube, etc. work real jobs at least on a part time basis because it's steady and more stable income than what most people monetizing livestreaming make; that IRL income is reliable and livestreaming is not.

In both cases, they broke through because they lucked into a niche that they recognized and embraced. For Arthars, it's his personality; he's very much like Asmongold (save that he's married with children) in that his brand is to be the Overly Engaged Gamer sort that actually knows his stuff. (Xenosys is another that succeeded in this manner.) Zepla turned on the Southern Charm, embraced the pun life--just watch her videos--and especially with Shadowbringers and its playable Viera molded herself into the Bunny Queen she is now.

Both of them almost crashed and burned. Sure, some of you will say "But they persisted, and here they are." No, they blundered into a niche and that fortunate happenstance allowed them to persist long enough to make it. It's that attention-grabbing niche, that little thing that garners and retains an audience, that permitted them to break through; you will see this as the common element in all commercially-success livestreamers, regardless of what it is they do.

In other words, they blundered into their professional persona.

If you think this cannot be deliberately manufactured, then I turn your attention to the VTuber scene and its utter domination by Japanese agency Hololive. The only difference between VTubers and other livestreamers is the use of an animated character instead of a real face; you still have to have a compelling persona, put on an engaing performance, and retain that audience from show to show in order to monetize that engagement via merchandise sales, sponsorships, subscriptions, donations, etc.- something Hololive has down to a formula, and competing agency Nijisanji just launched their third wave of Anglophone talent this weekend using this exact formula and they too shall succeed.

Hololive and Nijisanji are entertainment corporations. What did I say about trying to break through now? "Have a backer" was on that list, and here's such a backer.

"Have connections" is another, which leads me to VShojo, a Western VTuber group formed from independent talents like Project Melody, Ironmouse, Silvervale and a few others; by comparison to the Hololive set, they are a distant also-ran. Compared to most Western talents, they are the world-striding colosus. Get in with them, and your odds of success go up greatly.

The common element between these two things is that they need to see a positive, profitable, exchange by associating with you and that means you need to convince them that you are worth the effort to assist. In short, you need to sell yourself to them; Hololive and Nijisanji formalize this via an auditioning process. VShojo works a little more loosely, but ultimately it's still sales.

And let me confess to you that I hate sales, so this does not in the least come naturally to me.

The amount of work you will need to put in now to make being a livestreamer work as a primary income stream is going to be predicated on your ability to sell. That's why I say it should be a subordinate element in a bigger business plan, a means to an end, and not the end in itself.

And, most importantly--unlike these two--you have to go into it knowing that you can afford to fail, and that inability to survive a failed risk attempt is why so many that try and fail never try again (and why so many warn you away from trying at all). It's a business, business is not risk-free, and if you want to make it work then you have to be serious and treat it like a business from the get-go.