Twitch alerts are essential tools that you can use to thank your viewers for showing support for your livestream. They also can be used to incentivize your audience to donate and subscribe. Twitch alerts can be used in many different and creative ways to improve the overall experience of your streams.
What are Twitch alerts?
Twitch alerts are notifications that pop up during livestreams on Twitch. More specifically, they are widgets laid over streamer’s livestreams. These alerts are designed to thank viewers for showing support during livestreams. They appear when there are instances of donations, follows, subscriptions, donation of bits and incoming raids from other streamers. Usually, each category of alert is unique. So, a follow notification usually looks and sounds different than a donation notification. Twitch alerts only happen during livestreams and don’t occur any other time.
Why should you be using Twitch alerts during your streams?
Many streamers use Twitch alerts. A majority of the most popular streamers opt to use them as well as moderate-sized and small streamers. The reason for this is they help engage their audiences and improve the quality and professionalism of the livestream.
First and foremost, Twitch alerts help streamers thank their audiences for showing support and keeps the entire process smooth. For instance, say a viewer donates while the streamer is in the middle of an intense moment during a game. Most streamers want to thank their viewers for their support, however sometimes the timing of the donation or follow may interrupt the content being streamed. Twitch alerts allow the streamer to acknowledge the person showing support immediately and let the streamer thank the person verbally when it’s a better time for them.
Where do you get them?
There are a few ways for you to get Twitch alerts. One of the most widely used ways is to use OBS and the streaming notification program called Streamlabs. Streamlabs is a livestreaming software that integrates with OBS that can be used to overlay widgets in OBS that display notifications when there are donations, subscriptions or raids. Streamlabs is often used on Twitch, but it’s also widely used on other livestream platforms like YouTube Live and Facebook Gaming. One of the major reasons why it’s so popular is because it’s an easy to use, free software that allows you to add custom graphics, sounds and text alerts to livestreams.
Step by step setting up Twitch alerts using OBS and Streamlabs
First, you need to make sure you have OBS installed and configured to your Twitch account. If you have OBS installed, you can start setting up Twitch alerts in Streamlabs.
To start, go to streamlabs.com. Log in to the platform with your Twitch account. If it’s your first time logging into Streamlabs with your Twitch account, you will have to verify your account. Once you’re in, go to the “Alert Box” on the left menu. If you don’t see it, you can always search for it in the page’s search bar. After getting to the alerts page, you can start adjusting your alerts’ general settings. Some of the things you can adjust in the general settings include the background color of the alert, its delay and choosing the layout for the alert, like if it is just text or includes an image.
Once you’re happy with the general settings, you can then start setting up Twitch alerts for specific events. Near the general settings tab, you’ll see other tabs like “Follows”, “Subscriptions”, and“Bits” etc. Here, you’ll be able to enable and disable which alerts you want. So if you only want alerts for follows and not have alerts for subscriptions, you can. When you’re in a specific alert tab, you can choose to add a fade in and fade out to the alert, set the media (image or GIF) displayed when the alert pops up and include text animation and sound. Additionally, you can adjust the alert’s volume and delay. Remember, each tab will affect that specific alert. So if you lower the volume on “Follow” alerts, the “Subscription” alerts volume will stay the same.
Next, you have to get your widget URL. The Widget URL is at the top of the Alert Box page. You just have to click copy. Once you have it copied, go back to OBS. Hit the plus button for sources and click “add a browser source.” From there you can name the source whatever you want. We recommend something like “Follower alert” so you know exactly what the source is. After naming, hit okay and paste the Widget URL you copied from Streamlabs into the box’s URL box.
Once that’s done, you’ll see a clear box. This is where the alert will appear on your stream. You can move this box around to adjust where the alert displays. Be sure to test it before you go live. To do this, go back to Streamlabs and hit “test follow” You should then be able to see how the alert will display in OBS.
Steps
- Log into Streamlabs using your Twitch account
- Go to “Alerts” box
- Set general settings for alerts
- Go through individual alert tabs to set each alert up individually
- Copy Widget URL
- Post Widget URL into OBS
- Adjust alert widget placement in OBS
- Test the alert
Streaming with Twitch alerts
Even if you’re new to streaming, Twitch alerts can help you engage with your audience and appear professional. It’s good to have them even when they might not be perfect or exactly the way you want them to be. You can start out with a simple picture or gif with a thank you message. As your channel grows in support, you can then update the alerts into something more personalized. Keep in mind that these alerts will be played whenever the specific action is done. So, make sure the alert isn’t too distracting. If there’s a flood of donations throughout your stream, it might annoy some of your audience if they’re constantly hearing the alert. You can always adjust the alerts during the stream as well.
Twitch alerts are one of the most important tools for streamers. It’s important for them to utilize their alerts to help encourage support for the channel and ensure viewers feel their support is valued.
Image courtesy: Sykkuno