Ludwig Explains The Biggest Differences Streaming On YouTube Vs. Twitch

Once the streamer with the most subscribers on Twitch, Ludwig Ahgren made waves in 2021 by leaving the platform for YouTube. Since then, he's had a rocky relationship with his new home but has remained successful nonetheless. A content creator with a knack for attracting audiences and achieving financial success, Ludwig clearly knows a few things about the streaming business.

This week, Ludwig appeared on "The Iced Coffee Hour" podcast. During the episode, he answered questions about his career, his background, and his achievements. He also fielded inquiries about his jump from Twitch to YouTube and elaborated on how each platform offers its own experience.

Ludwig explained that YouTube had fought to get him on its team while Twitch seemed content to let him leave. He felt YouTube seemed committed to expanding as a streaming platform while Twitch had become complacent. Further, while he acknowledged that Twitch has a better interface for streaming in terms of features like chat, he believes YouTube will "catch up." While YouTube has taken a while to build momentum, which Ludwig attributed to its status as a bigger and slower company, he feels it will beat out Twitch before long. Of course, the differences extend beyond the companies' business models.

Ludwig noted that building and maintaining an audience differs quite a bit across the two platforms. He explained that on Twitch, it's important to find a game and work to become the top streamer for it. Once you're popular, the key is streaming for extended periods of time to rack up as many viewers as possible, whether they're engaged or not. As long as you keep streaming, you'll show up in searches for that game.

Meanwhile, streaming on YouTube means competing with more videos and an algorithm that's always suggesting new options to viewers. To maintain an audience, Ludwig said, it's important to keep videos short and exciting and to find a way to make viewers feel like they're part of "a moment" so that they don't click away to something else. Ludwig himself admitted he only recently figured all this out and it's not easy to make it on YouTube. Still, his advice could be helpful for any aspiring streamers looking to break into either platform.