Thoughts about Stream.Me?

[Xist]

Hi guys,

I'm involved with the new site Stream.Me

We are starting to do some tournaments (we have a CS:Go tournament going now and will add some new ones). I've even talked to CIG about doing some Arena Commander tournaments whenever the game is stable enough to actually do that, and they are all for it.

There are some cool features we have that no other streaming site has. We're also running some contests to pay out people who have the most active streams and we pay better than any of the other sites.

I'd really love some feedback from you guys about it, especially those of you who stream. What do you like about it? What do you not like? What do you think we could do to improve it and make it something that stands out more?

We have some servers that will support 4K game streams if you can produce them; if you want to try them let me know. All of the other servers can do 1440p@60fps streams with no problem.

Our biggest problem right now (I think) is that we don't have many people using the product yet. So I guess the biggest question is this: What can we do so that people will want to use the site instead of one of the other sites?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. :)

 

[Blind Owl]

Will this site be head-to-head with twitch? I don't know much about streaming, I'll just state that now so I don't sound ignorant. I think the idea of streaming some arena commander tournaments would be fun.

 

[Xist]

Will this site be head-to-head with twitch? I don't know much about streaming, I'll just state that now so I don't sound ignorant. I think the idea of streaming some arena commander tournaments would be fun.

It offers many of the same features as Twitch, and some features that Twitch does not offer.

I'm not sure that it's really clear what the differences are unless you really use the site as a streamer though. That is probably something we could do better, is help people understand it more easily. :)

 

[lex]

You should state possible streaming settings (max possible bitrate for example, ingest servers and so on) somewhere in FAQ.
Especially ingest servers. As someone living in EU, presence of somewhat "local" ingest is critical for me, since i have very poor connectivity to US.
(I stopped streaming year ago anyway)

 

[Duckforceone]

one of the biggest issues i have with being european and watching twitch streams, is that even on my 20mb download, alot of streams lag for me if the streamer runs only source (ie non partnered) and has his source set too high.

do you offer all viewers the ability to watch streams at lower settings? i would be unable to watch a 4k stream for one... :D

 

[Duckforceone]

ok first glance at your site.

I had to scroll all the way to the bottom to find the faq... if you want new streamers, you need something better at the top saying you need new streamers and what they get from switching to you...
the faq doesn't really say why, except it's easier to get partnered.

as a viewer, all i see is a friggin huge huge huge banner, and then a few live streams beneath...

i need a game list, because i do not care about who is live, unless they stream a game i want to watch... i don't want to click on see all live streams, i want to click on show games. on the frontpage. not hidden behinde 3-5 clicks or more.

well that's my first input... i'll get back to you on review.

 

[ErikMcKetten]

Something to bear in mind, partnered Twitch streamers agree to not stream on other sites - and many of the TEST Streamers are partnered or trying to get partnered. You really need to offer them something good to make them want to lose that option, because Twitch has the viewers and sets the standard for monetization of a stream.

 

[Xist]

one of the biggest issues i have with being european and watching twitch streams, is that even on my 20mb download, alot of streams lag for me if the streamer runs only source (ie non partnered) and has his source set too high.

do you offer all viewers the ability to watch streams at lower settings? i would be unable to watch a 4k stream for one... :D

We automatically transrate every stream into many different options for viewers. You can watch it on any device from any Internet connection whether it's excellent or not.

So even if the source stream is a 20 Mbps 4K stream, you can still watch it on your 500 Kbps 4G connection on your iPhone if that's what you have.

 

[Xist]

Something to bear in mind, partnered Twitch streamers agree to not stream on other sites - and many of the TEST Streamers are partnered or trying to get partnered. You really need to offer them something good to make them want to lose that option, because Twitch has the viewers and sets the standard for monetization of a stream.

Thanks for the info. Yes we're aware of that. It would be great if more streamers refused to sign the agreement that tells them when and where and how they can stream, and just said forget you I'm going to do what I want and if a better system comes along, I'm going to use it.

But alas, I fear I'm dreaming. :)

Other than throwing huge amounts of money at people to get them to break their contracts, do you see ways we could entice people to try out the service?

Since we don't have too many people using the site right now, that's an issue for a lot of new streamers. But for people who already have a following, especially connected to social media, they should make more money on our site than on Twitch or YouTube - we pay out higher percentages, but the reason for that is that (for the moment) you really have to bring most of your own viewers with you.

Classic chicken/egg.

 

[Blind Owl]

Twitch has the viewers and sets the standard for monetization of a stream

You can make money streaming? Lol, I'm apparently waaaaaay behind the times. It wasn't until I joined TEST that I even knew what streaming was. And twitch, etc. And I considered myself a gamer. Weird. This community is expanding my mind.

 

[FireEmblem6]

I looked over your site a bit, and will express how I feel as I get to each part.

The main banners are a bit too big. If I have to scroll down to figure out what you are about, it isn't encouraging me to stick around. I know the site is called stream.me, but for all we know, this could be like your own reality show, or streaming every day life not necessarily about gaming.

The first few streamers I see are multistreamers with low view totals. You may want to move that away and put some of the more popular channels mixed in with some of the lower view streams. By having high streamers at the top, you can show people are invested in your site, and could see a similar following by switching to your channel while also showing you still care about the new streamers trying to build themselves up.

I know you are just starting out, but you really need a way to search for what you are looking for. The search bar only appears to work for finding users, not what you want to watch (Or was I just unlucky with all of my search attempts?)

The faqs seem pretty bare. Recommended upload and download speeds as well as what resolutions you support should be included. You should try to include as much information about your service as you can especially if you want people to move away from their default choices.

There is nothing encouraging me to switch off of twitch anywhere on the site. Cool, there is a contest but I do not play Counter Strike, so what else would encourage me to switch?

I wish you guys luck. It will be hard to try to pry people away from twitch when people are pretty invested in it.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

Hi guys,

I'm involved with the new site Stream.Me

We are starting to do some tournaments (we have a CS:Go tournament going now and will add some new ones). I've even talked to CIG about doing some Arena Commander tournaments whenever the game is stable enough to actually do that, and they are all for it.

There are some cool features we have that no other streaming site has. We're also running some contests to pay out people who have the most active streams and we pay better than any of the other sites.

I'd really love some feedback from you guys about it, especially those of you who stream. What do you like about it? What do you not like? What do you think we could do to improve it and make it something that stands out more?

We have some servers that will support 4K game streams if you can produce them; if you want to try them let me know. All of the other servers can do 1440p@60fps streams with no problem.

Our biggest problem right now (I think) is that we don't have many people using the product yet. So I guess the biggest question is this: What can we do so that people will want to use the site instead of one of the other sites?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. :)

Good luck taking on the giants of the industry buddy (Twitch and YouTube). I hope you succeed but I think you'll have a tough time if I'm honest.

 

[Xist]

Good luck taking on the giants of the industry buddy (Twitch and YouTube). I hope you succeed but I think you'll have a tough time if I'm honest.

Thanks. If it was easy, it wouldn't be any fun! :)

Seriously though we're having a blast working on this project. This site is only one of several ways that we're using this technology but it's the most fun one IMO. :)

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

Thanks. If it was easy, it wouldn't be any fun! :)

Seriously though we're having a blast working on this project. This site is only one of several ways that we're using this technology but it's the most fun one IMO. :)

No problem, it'll be interesting to see how it goes.