Twitch Teams: The Ultimate Guide

(Thank you to Shanappers from team Watch Us for helping with the article.)

Nothing is ever genuinely completed by only one person. There will always be help from sources you may or may not recognize. Even the most solitary project is, in some ways, a team effort.

And that’s a good thing. It’s important to remember that it’s okay to need or seek help. And that’s why it’s important to consider joining a team on Twitch.

A lot of the biggest streamers on Twitch are on teams. The fastest-growing small and medium-sized channels are usually on teams. At the end of the day, two heads are better than one.

So imagine if it’s four, five, six, ten, fifteen, etc. It’s just basic math. So let’s do some arithmetic together and show why joining a Twitch team might be the best thing for you to do.

What Are Twitch Teams?

A Twitch Team provides a place for like-minded individuals to grow and improve their skills. Twitch teams are part of the Twitch partner program.

They are a feature that allows partnered Twitch channels to create communities of other streamers that will stream under the same banner/name/ideology.

Think of it as an actual sports team. You can play basketball by yourself all you want, and you can definitely improve doing that. But there will be a limit in terms of what you can do without having others around you to learn from interacting with and build dynamic skills with.

We have a quick guide here for how to make a Twitch team if you’re wanting to start one.

How Do Twitch Teams Work?

Twitch teams also provide a sense of identity for a streamer. Just like how wearing a basketball jersey makes you feel like you’re part of the team, having the iconography, images, and other material gives you a sense of purpose and identity.

Being built around a common cause gives you and the other streamers on your team an instant connection and common ground.

It’s also a great chance to network with other streamers. You can meet people who like the same games as you, who have the same style as you, or just seem like they’d be fun to stream with.

Often, streamers that are part of the same team will do a multi-stream together. Multi streams are simultaneous live streams collaborating with multiple channels. It’s ubiquitous for people to download an extension that allows them to watch all streams at once.

As part of a team, it’s also common to host each other and try to build off of each other’s success. There is no guarantee that you will be as successful as some of your teammates.

Still, it’s about the effort put into building that community and creating a solid foundation for everybody’s channel.

In some ways, it’s like an incubator of sorts. A bigger channel that is already partnered with Twitch invests its time and efforts into smaller channels with which they see a lot of potential.

Not every channel is going to pan out. Not every channel is going to grow. But the ones that do well do very well.

The Different Types of Twitch Teams

There are many different Twitch teams, but we’re going to break them down in a few different ways.

Open Teams

Open Teams are the largest communities by virtue of their open Nature. This type of Twitch community will let everybody in or almost everybody in.

This is to provide a large swath of streamers to all be supporting each other and take a shotgun approach. Everybody’s allowed in, everybody’s hopefully helping each other, and everybody will grow.

Strength in numbers  Is the name of the game here. These communities will have hundreds, or maybe even a couple of thousand members in their team. This can stretch past the idea of a team and more into a general community.

If you’re looking for a large group that could have a little bit of everything, this is a great place to look.

Sponsored Teams

Do you know what the second most-watched twitch team is, according to Stream Charts? It’s G Fuel. Yep. The second-largest Twitch team in terms of hours watched is a sponsored team. In fact, outside of professional Esports teams, sponsored teams are the most common in the top 100.

Sponsored teams are what they sound like. They share a sponsor who wants to promote a product on Twitch, and the team provides a way for those streamers to collaborate. It’s one of the key benefits really of a sponsorship deal.

So if you ever get asked to do a sponsored stream, ask about the networking opportunities.

And speaking of networking…

Networking Teams

This might feel a little cold-blooded. It could seem a bit corporate to you. But sometimes, you might just want to join a team because you are trying to expand yourself.

You might be saying to yourself: “This isn’t LinkedIn! I just want to stream and meet some cool people.”  Absolutely! 100% valid.

But what networking teams can really provide is a clear and concise location for streamers to grow and improve themselves. It’s okay to be focused on the Improvement of your stream and to see the numbers and try to improve them.

Having a like-minded individual or group to bounce ideas off of, stream with, and crunch the numbers with makes sense!

You’re going to be an amalgamation of the closest people to you. So the streamers that you spend the most time with are going to have the greatest influence on you. And if you want to take that kind of approach, a networking team makes the most sense.

Special Interest Teams

Special interest teams are not as focused on the growth of a channel or specific goals related to your stream. Instead, this is usually to promote an idea, a group of individuals, or bring awareness to something.

If you’re part of the LBGTQIA+ Community, you might want to join a team that is specifically intended for members in such a community. Perhaps there is a team that is dedicated to a certain charity, and you want to make sure that you’re bringing awareness to it.

You might really like a specific Esports team and could join their Twitch team as a way to help promote or show your pride for that team. The possibilities are endless with a special interest team and will only be limited by your imagination.

The Pros and Cons of Twitch Teams

It’s essential to go in with both eyes open and a clear perspective of what you should expect when joining a Twitch Team. Let’s go over it, both good and bad.

Pros of Twitch Teams

Some of the pros of joining a Twitch team are pretty obvious. And some of them you might not realize at first.

• Chance to network with a lot of other streamers
• Increased discoverability for people who follow a particular team
• Cross-promotional streams between your channel and others
• Learning from larger channels or more experienced streamers
• Making friends
• Learning skills applicable Beyond streaming like organization, management, and interpersonal communication. (Throw that on a resume!)
• Opportunities that you might not have ever had before, like joining special events, podcasts, or channels outside of Twitch that you can then use to grow your channel

Cons of Twitch Teams

That being said, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s good to tell you why you should join a Twitch team, but we also need to tell you about the cons.

• Guilt by association if somebody on your team is caught up in a controversy
• Getting lost in the shuffle of a team and feeling like you don’t get any help
• Poorly moderated teams lead to a toxic environment
• Strict requirements in terms of how often you stream and when you stream
• Other members power tripping and sucking all of the fun out of the team
• Misalignment of you and your team members,

Twitch Teams for Small Streamers

The nice thing is for a lot of stream teams, they don’t care about how many viewers you have. What they care about is how often you stream, whether they see you trying to improve every stream and if they think you’re a good fit.

That being said,  here are a couple stream teams that do an excellent job of promoting everybody and making sure everybody’s stream improves.

(Quick warning, don’t join any teams that are just follow-for-follow or set off any alarm bells in your head)

Team Watch Us

Team Watch Us is a great community of about twenty streamers that are really hitting their stride.

They’ve recently picked up a few new streamers and provide a really supportive environment that extends to every member.

TSAN (Twitch Streamers and Networking)

TSAN is a larger group of streamers that is more focused on helping other streamers network and improve. The community itself is very diverse and provides a large group that allows for plenty of networking.

Featuring Facebook, Discord, Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram communities, you’ll have plenty of avenues to grow your channel and network.

SmallStreamerCommunity

This is probably one of the largest teams designed explicitly for small streamers. With over 1,200 different streams and thousands of members on their Discord, Small Streamer Community is an excellent example of how the value you get is going to be the value you give.

It’s hard to stand out in a group of so many streamers, but there are so many different resources available with this team that if you put the work in, you will see results.

Should You Join a Twitch Team?

Twitch teams are not going to suddenly rocket you to thousands of subs and a lifetime of riches. They aren’t a magic bullet for you to suddenly become the next xQc or Pokimane.

But what it is, is an opportunity. An opportunity to learn and improve. An opportunity to meet like-minded individuals. And yes, an opportunity to grow.

If you can find a team that feels like a good fit and is something you’ll put as much in as you’ll get from, absolutely join one.