It’s a great place for creators to show off their skills to this engaged audience. This is perhaps the reason why over 4 million creators stream on Twitch every month. While you can, of course, upload great content on your Twitch channel regularly, it may not be possible to hold their attention all the time. In such a situation, Twitch hosting can come in very handy. Before we get into how you can host on Twitch, let’s try to understand what it is first.
How to Host on Twitch: The Ultimate Twitch Hosting Guide:
What is Twitch Hosting?
Twitch hosting feature lets you broadcast other streamers’ channels on your own channel. This would ensure that your audience can see their broadcast without having to leave your channel. This serves as a great way for you to help other streamers reach a wider audience while ensuring that your audience remains engaged too. It’s a widely used method for promoting other users on Twitch but can also be used to boost your engagement when you’re not creating any content of your own. Now that you know what Twitch hosting is, let’s take a look at why you should do it.
Why Should You Do Twitch Hosting?
Here’s why you should do Twitch hosting.
1. Cross Promotion
When you host other channels on your account, you also get added reach and market your account. The streamer might mention all the hosts or display their names. You might also get featured in the Live Hosts category or the target channel’s chat. This increased reach can help you get more followers for your account too.
2. Engaged Audience
If you don’t stream regularly, it’s likely that your audience may lose interest in your channel. This is because they won’t get to see new content when they want. By hosting other channels, you’ll be able to give them new content all the time. Now that you know why you should do Twitch hosting, let’s see how you can use it to your advantage.
How to Host on Twitch
It’s possible to host on Twitch from both your PC or mobile device. This makes it easy to keep some content streaming on your channel when you’re not streaming your own content. However, before you can start hosting on Twitch, remember that you can only host one channel at a time. Also, you can host a maximum of three channels in a 30-minute period. Now that you know the basics, let’s look at how you can host on Twitch.
Auto Hosting
Twitch makes it extremely easy for streamers to host other channels. It accomplishes this through the Auto Host feature. This feature lets you host other channels on autopilot as soon as you go offline. All you need to do is to select a few channels that you’d like to host on your Twitch account and the Auto Host feature will select one from the list and host it. You could either specify a particular order for hosting or enable random picking from the list of channels. This ensures that whenever you’re offline, your account won’t remain inactive. The best part about Auto Hosting is that it is fairly easy to set it up. All you have to do is go to your Twitch Channel. You can do so by going to your profile by clicking on the profile icon and then navigating to “Channel.” The profile icon is located at the top-right corner of the website and Channel is in the drop-down menu. Then, head to the Channel settings and click on Auto Host and switch it on. In the list that follows, you need to add your favorite channels. These are the ones that will be auto hosted when you go offline.
From PC/Mac
Open your web browser and head to Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv). Log into your Twitch account or sign up if you don’t have one.
Once you’ve logged in, head to your profile icon on the top-right of the screen In your profile, click on “Channel” in the drop-down menu. Doing this will take you to your personal Twitch channel.
Click on the chat window that appears on the right side of your screen.
In this window, type “/host channel name”. For example, if you want to host a channel called Solomon, you’d have to type “/host Solomon”.
Your own viewers will now be able to see the channel you are hosting. However, do remember that all the views on your channel will be added to the hosted channel’s views. But the chatroom on your website will still remain active, which can mean more engagement.
One thing that you need to remember on Twitch is that the usernames have to be absolutely correct. Unlike other social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, there’s no autofill option on Twitch. If you don’t get the username right, you won’t be able to host the channel that you intended to. Once you manage to get the channel streaming on your page, you can start viewing their stream on your own page as well. When you want to stop the hosting, all you need to do is head to the chat window and type “/unhost”.
From Mobiles
Download the Twitch app from App Store or from the Google Play Store depending on your mobile OS. Login to your account using your username and password or sign up and create a new one if you don’t have one yet. Next, head to your account by tapping on the account icon. This would appear on the upper-right corner of the screen in Android. If you’re using iOS, then the account icon will show up on the upper-left corner of the screen. Once the account screen appears, you need to click on the Chat tab. This will be the fourth tab below your profile picture. On clicking it, the channel’s chat window will open up. In your chat tab, all you need to do is type “/host channel name”. For example, if the channel name is Swiper, you need to type “/host Swiper”. This will start the hosting and your audience will now be able to see that channel’s stream.
Just like the PC version, all the views will be attributed to the hosted channel, the chatroom will be yours. This can help you generate engagement. You’ll also be able to view the hosted channel’s stream from your page. The mobile apps too, don’t provide channel name suggestions or autofill them. So, you need to ensure that the channel names you type are accurate. Else, you won’t be able to host them. Once you’re done with hosting the channel, you can type “/unhost” in the chat window to stop the hosting. Now that you know how to host on your Twitch account, let’s take a look at how you can get others to host you. Doing so can help you get more views and engagements as well.
How to Get Other Twitch Channels to Host You
To grow your Twitch channel even further, you should try to get other channels to host you as well. Here’s how you can achieve it.
1. Ask Your Viewers
If you’ve got a loyal fan following, you should consider reaching out to them to follow, subscribe, and host you. While many of your viewers may not have a lot of followers, if you get hosted by numerous users, you’ll be able to reach a larger audience. This, in turn, can help you amass more followers and views. As a result, you’ll be able to grow your influence on the platform with ease. All you need to do to get them to host you is to ask them to do so in a nice manner. It may help if you can guide them through how to host on Twitch too.
2. Create a Host List
Yet another way of getting people to host you is by creating a host list. This list can be added to your Twitch layout. When you mention people who host you, others will also become interested in getting their name on that list. For them, this would become an opportunity to get featured on your profile and grow their reach. They may also feel that you’d host them in return for hosting you.
Final Thoughts
Hosting on Twitch is a great way to keep your account active even when you’re not streaming your original content. It helps you leverage the content of other accounts to engage your audience. While the other channels get the views, you get the engagement. This makes it a win-win situation for both. You should also encourage your audience to host you and create host lists so that more users of the platform will be inclined to host you. If you haven’t started hosting on Twitch yet, get started now.
