Are Intros Important For Live Streaming?
The quick answer to this is yes, definitely. When you’re building your channel and live streaming, your intros can set the tone for everything. There are multiple reasons that having a quality intro for the videos you stream is important. Your streaming intro says a lot about you and what you’re all about. Your video introduction will give followers an idea of who you are as an individual, what quality they can expect in the video they’re about to watch, and whether or not they’re likely to return and watch more from you. Your intro can also be a deciding factor in a viewer’s opinion of your channel in general. Below, we’ll take a look at why video intros are so important and how you can maximize the potential of your videos and intro graphics across a variety of platforms.
Animated Streaming Intros Give Your Audience Time to Settle In
You can ask pretty much any streamer if they prefer an animated video intro or a simple hello to start out a stream. Most will tell you that a quality intro with top-of-the-line animation is the better option. While these animated intros can be tough to make, they’re totally worth it. Hiring a professional to create an amazing animated intro is obviously the easiest option. Additionally, a pre-intro, such as music that plays for a bit before a stream begins, can be a great way to give viewers time to show up. Your “pre-intro” can have animation so that people who show up early have something to watch. Then, if you change your music and use your regular streaming intro, viewers are ready to settle in and watch your stream. This can help you increase your audience and give them a chance to watch a stream live from the beginning. Essentially, your animated intro can be both convenient and entertaining for other streamers and viewers.
Twitch Intros Gives You Time to Prepare
Apart from letting your audience know that great content is on its way, your intro offers benefits to you as well. Your intro gives YOU as the streamer time to get ready and be totally on-point. Even if you need a minute to get ready, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your audience has something to watch while they wait. It also lets you seamlessly begin your stream without an empty audience. This is nicer than having your viewers pop in the middle of a stream.
You’ll Be Rockin’ and Rollin’ From the Get-Go
Many professional streamers will tell you that having a nice intro lets you get your audience built up before you even start streaming. This is important because larger streamers know that an audience can gather slowly. It’s not a good feeling to talk to an empty audience. If you have a small stream with few viewers, your intro may not seem to make an impact at first. However, once your viewers do show up, they’ll be expecting quality content and come to appreciate the consistency. If you want to grow your stream audience, it’s smart to think big from the get-go. A Quality intro and pre-intro can let you get things started off right.
Creating Impressive Video Graphics
Quality graphics can help you grow your audience, stream better, and look more professional. The question is, how can you get quality animated graphics for your streaming or video sharing? These animated designs can take time. Complicated programs and software are usually needed to achieve the professional look that most people want. Let’s look at how you can get quality graphics and animations for your videos, streaming platforms, and live feeds.
What Goes Into an Animated Design?
A high-quality animated intro, outro, or segway isn’t created in minutes. These designs take time and can’t be made with some free generator online. In most cases, complicated animated designs like these are made using professional graphics creation software. It’s kind of like asking how a movie is made. There isn’t a program where you can type in a genre, add some actors, choose the filming location, and hit “go.” There must be direction, in-depth filming knowledge, and artistic flare. In the same way, a video intro, outro, or other animated graphics, can’t be made in a free generator. Expensive software is used in the animation process that utilizes complex algorithms and can take years to learn. Not only that, but animation takes time, skills, and experience. Those smooth designs and animated intros that you see at the beginning of a Youtube video or gamer streams have likely been carefully created by a graphics expert and/or professional designer.
Do You Have to Be a Professional to Create an Animated Intro?
The answer to this is yes and no. While there are certain online generators that can be utilized to create certain simple animations, you’re not going to get professional quality. You’re more likely to get large letters that bounce like a computer screensaver from the ’90s. If you want an animation that says “coming soon” at the beginning of your screen, for instance, a simple free generator could probably make some metallic looking letters for you with a black background. The problem with these generators is that you’re likely to get logos embedded in the animation, the graphics look cheap, and the designs aren’t customizable. On top of that, you may pour a couple hours into designing something just to find out the program you’re using isn’t compatible with the streaming or video platform you want to use it with.
So How Can You Get Your Own Professional Animated Designs?
This is a much easier question to answer. Gaining access to your own professional intros, outros, animated designs, and backgrounds are much easier than many people think. These days, many individuals and companies exist to fill this niche in the market. These companies can easily design custom animations, overlays, intros, and more for prices that can actually save you money. Your time is valuable. If you choose to purchase animated designs, you can save time and thus save money while building up your audience on a variety of platforms. On top of that, you’ll be supporting designers and the streaming industry in general. Shadey Designs, for instance, offers animation services for very fair prices. Allowing Shadey Designs to save you the headache of trying to animate your creations and envisioned art is a smart way to make all of your videos more professional with less hassle.
Understanding Viewer Behavior
As you stream live on gaming platforms or post videos on Youtube, it’s important to understand the perspective of your viewer. In this post, we will take a quick look at how you can better understand the behaviors of your viewers and keep them coming back for more as you post videos, stream, or build up your channel.
People May Not Interact With You – You’ll Need To Reach Out
As you put out content, you should know that only about 15% of your audience is going to interact with you. If you’re streaming, you’ll likely get interaction from around 5-7 out of every 20 viewers. As your channel grows, this number may shrink. On youtube, that means comments will be sparse and likes might also be uncommon in certain situations. That’s okay! Just because you aren’t getting a ton of feedback doesn’t mean no one’s watching. As a live streamer, you should be the one to break the ice. Recognize your audience and thank viewers for tuning in. If you are posting videos, you can interact with your subscribers in other ways. Remember, the larger your channel and the more subscribers you have, the less useful feedback you’re going to get. That’s not unusual. Your proof of success is in the growth of your channel.
Your Viewers May Be Diverse
Catering to a diverse demographic can be a challenge. You can get people watching your channel from all walks of life as your stream of post videos. Luckily, if they’re watching your content, you can bet they all have similar interests. Play to this factor!
Everyone Likes Aesthetically Pleasing Content
If you are posting videos, streaming, or building an audience on a social media platform, don’t underestimate the power of attractiveness. We aren’t necessarily talking about your appearance. We are referring to the quality of your graphics and videos. If you’re streaming live, this means overlays, intros, outros, and transitions. If you’re on a site where your videos aren’t initially live, you’ll want to be sure that every one of your videos is of good quality. If you use any intros, outros, or overlays, it’s a good idea to ensure that they are also created with quality, careful planning, and superior graphics.
Understanding your audience is a big part of successful channel building. If you are looking to improve the quality of your video streaming or posts, Shadey Designs can help! We have an extensive range of graphics experience and can make custom animations for your streams, videos, and more! Shadey Designs is here to support the growth of your channel and the quality of your content.