OVERVIEW
In this case study, I research streamers and viewers to design a platform that aggregates community features and streamlines viewer engagement to grow small creators.
CLIENT
Senior Thesis
ROLE
UX, Visual, Research
TEAM
Individual
TIMELINE
Fall 2022
INDUSTRY RESEARCH
Growth in the industry
The COVID-19 pandemic and technological advancements has given rise to crowd-sourced live streaming, an upcoming billion dollar industry. Youtube and Twitch make up 90% of the livestreaming market with over 7 billion hours in collective watchtime in Q1 2022. Twitch generated approximately $2.6 billion revenue in 2021, a 41% year-on-year increase and has a market share of 90% of content streamed.
OPPORTUNITY IN THE INDUSTRY
While there are 3 million live viewers daily, 95% of streamers average 0-5 viewers a stream.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Understanding what works
While a platform tailored for growing small creators doesn’t exist in the market, comparing other social media and streaming platforms offered me insight into understanding what features are beneficial for creator growth and encourage viewer engagement.
Community Interactions
Positive community interactions and inside jokes lead to more engagement within the creator's audience.
Short-form Content
Short-form content is the best form of advertising in grabbing the attention from new viewers.
Personalization & Inclusivity
By fostering a community that creates a sense of belonging, streamers can attract audience members who identify with the streamer's values and content.
Content Backlog
New viewers respond positively to watching previous streamer content, especially if they are in a different timezone or unable to tune into the stream.
CREATOR RESEARCH
Best practices for growth
In order to attract more fans and supporters, streamers need more sophisticated communication techniques during live-streaming than simply posting pictures or videos on other social media.
Putting in hours is not nearly enough, and studies prove building a brand through social media is most effective. Reddit, Tiktok, Youtube or platforms that are dominated by larger streamers, leaving little exposure for smaller creators.
Community Forums
Community forums like Reddit helps expose new creators through subreddits such as Livestreamfails, a clip sharing community, as well as encouraging community content.
Social Media
Social media platforms offer communication outlets to strengthen creator-audience engagement as well as update viewers on when creators are going live.
Video Sharing
Edited videos help create a backlog for new audience members to watch previous content and highlights, while adding another source of revenue for creators.
VIEWER SURVEY
Understanding Audience Frustrations
I conducted a survey with 50 live-streaming audience members, to understand the current struggles viewers face in the current live-streaming landscape.
PAIN POINT 001
Streamer communities are riddled with toxicity and hate
PAIN POINT 002
Users have difficulty finding new streamers to watch
PAIN POINT 003
Fans have trouble keeping up to date with content schedules
CREATOR SURVEY
Understanding Creator Frustrations
I conducted an online Google forms survey with 50 small streamers in order to analyze the problems they face growing in a saturated community.
Key Findings
REVENUE SATISFACTION
84%
of streamers are dissatistified with their current streaming revenue. All respondents said they would consider going fulltime if the pay was better.
REVENUE STREAMS
87%
of streamers rely on ads and donations as their main form of revenue, with the other 13% having only 1 - 2 brand deals.
FULL-TIME ASPIRATIONS
84%
of streamers would like to pursue streaming as a full-time career, despite the majority only pursuing streaming as a hobby.
MULTI-PLATFORM UTILIZATION
100%
of streamers use multiple platforms to interact with viewers, despite finding it difficult to upload and gear their content towards the different platform algorithms.
INTERVIEWS
Gathering insight from all angles
I talked to a psychologist in order to verify my community features that reduce toxicity and help promote engagement.
I consulted a technical analyst at Accenture to help work on my monetization and revenue opportunities.
I interviewed a Twitch streamer to inquire problems with streaming platforms and how she built her community.
ISSUES IN THE INDUSTRY
Problem Prioritization
PROBLEM 001
Difficult Steamer Exposure
PROBLEM 002
Unorganized Brand Growth
PROBLEM 003
Poor Revenue Opportunity
GOAL OF DESIGN
Designing for community engagement
Aggregating community features to streamline viewer engagement and grow small streamers.
PERSONAS
Identifying the target audience
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USER FLOWS
User Story
As a viewer, I want to find funny new streamers that play social games with friends.
User Story
As a small creator, I want to promote my stream and update my profile.
WIREFRAMES
I used Figma to layout core wireframe concepts and rapidly explore variations. After many iterations, I introduced color and fleshed out the panels with more detail.
THUMBNAIL EXPLORATION
Tags That Matter
Each thumbnail has organizational tags based on viewer preferences, streamer, and genre. Tags are curated based on user preferences and previously watched.
Color Coding
Each thumbnail is either color coded purple or red to indicate if they are streaming on Twitch or Youtube. Clicking on the thumbnail will link straight to their stream.
Current Activity
Due to multiple activities, custom thumbnails often confuse viewer expectations. The thumbnail picture shows a recent capture from their current activity.
FINAL DESIGN
Home Page
The status bar displays followed streamer statuses.
The recent news category displays personalized creator community posts.
The recommended section curates streams based on your interests.
FINAL DESIGN
Explore Page
Highlight clips are curated and infintely scrollable for increased engagement and easy discovery.
Comment sections are pivotal to community fostering and engagement.
Recommended section allows users to browse clips independently, aiding in user freedom and discovery.
FINAL DESIGN
About Page
Community posts can be created and commented on by community members who achieve Backer status.
The about panel is a personalized bio which includes the creators socials, bio, and follower count.
The backer status is given to viewers who watch for an set period of time and verifies that content is being created from legitimate fans.
FINAL DESIGN
Announcements
The announcement panel is the main way for creators to communicate with their audience. Polls, videos, and messages are posted here based on time, allowing for viewers to always be up to date.
The creator’s color choice is highlighted on all announcements in order to boost user personalization and easy recognition for followers.
FINAL DESIGN
Schedules
The schedule bar allows creators to organize time slots and set alerts for viewers following.
The highlighted bar shows that the streamer is currently live. The drop down menu allows viewers to view the date and tags on the stream, as well as a button to directly watch the streamer.
FINAL DESIGN
Clip Explorer
Tether allows creators to upload saved streams and filter content for easier identification and organization.
Clips on competing platforms are deleted and undiscoverable after a certain period of time. Tether allows viewers and creators to save and view clips indefinitely.
FINAL DESIGN
Monetization
Merchandise is inaccessible to smaller streamers due to limited resources. Tether circumvents this barrier by allowing creators to sell products through a customizable store.
A congregated community platform for streamers allows for companies to view growth data. This gives opportunity for streamers to further advertise themselves without having to leave the platform.
REFLECTION
Key Takeaways
As a designer passionate about the streaming industry, I extensively researched and studied different streaming models to optimize viewer growth and engagement. Streaming is still considered the wild west compared to other entertainment forms, but the authenticity of the medium and its cultural growth gives an opportunity to mature the industry. As streaming becomes more and more saturated, it is pivotal to foster smaller talent and eliminate some of the luck involved with growth.
Whats Next?
I wish to extend this case study to include mobile designs as well, despite mobile users only making up 35% of viewers. With more time I also hope to build out a clip editor and more micro-interactions.
