The world of livestreaming has been consistent in the past decade or so, with no major changes. Remote-controlled toys have helped performers become more connected and interactive, while the growing popularity of tip-based sites has brought on more models — yet the overall growth potential of models has been stunted when compared to non-adult sites. Why might that be?
For years, YouTube and Twitch streamers have been able to appear on multiple platforms at once. Mind you, the latency — the time from when something is recorded to when the viewer can see it — has been subpar, but it has allowed them to be seen on multiple sites. Other issues also arise when a streamer must simultaneously be entertaining while monitoring several screens.
Getting as many people to notice me as possible means it is easier to gain a following and increase my earnings. This is especially true if you’re just starting out camming...
On the adult entertainment side of the fence, models have found ways to be on multiple sites, using multiple computers and devices. But this can be taxing.
Juggling who said what, who tipped this and what task you should be doing now, all while trying to become known and find a place that you can eventually do most of your camming on, is tricky! This leads to most models choosing one or two sites, and not going beyond that, which is very limiting.
Streaming From Multiple Places at Once
So, how can a model get onto multiple cam sites, take advantage of the traffic, be able to set a sexy mood and not be lagged up to a half a minute behind viewers? Fortunately, there are third-party services that can assist with multi-streaming, with built-in capabilities that handle potential latency issues and aid in organizing all the information from various sites more easily for you to digest.
Personally, I’m a fan of SPLTstream, which allows you to split practically in real time. This is important to any cam room atmosphere. With programs like this, the chat is color-coded so you can tell who is on what site. That is terribly important for following up after your shows with customers who may have special requests for custom videos. Notifications are likewise color-coded and held apart separate from the chat. That means fewer scammers can try to get you to perform an act without paying you. If the tip isn’t in that window, they did not pay you!
The biggest pivot, though, is being in multiple places at once. Getting as many people to notice me as possible means it is easier to gain a following and increase my earnings. This is especially true if you’re just starting out camming, which is such a grind and really difficult. People come in and out of your chat room, and it can be hard to talk/interact when very few are there in the first place.
By having as many people as possible to talk to, you increase the likelihood of your personality showing as more people filter the stream. Thus, this increases the chances of viewers staying to enjoy who you are, not just because they think you’re cute. After all, the key factor for most top performers is their personality!
Anyone can feel the sting of lower viewer numbers when first starting on a new site. Anything you can do to increase the number of viewers also greatly improves the energy of the room. Even performers on less token-based and more one-on-one chat platforms can benefit from being open to everyone. The more people you have to talk to, the better.
Going One-on-One With Everyone
Private shows are also especially important and a staple for many performers’ shows. Split-streaming programs can enable you to accept private chats right within their system. The whole point is to make it easier for the performer to avoid needing to work out tech problems during their stream. The system makes it so you can pop in and out as needed for your shows.
Some customers are also very shy and may want to send private messages. Those are also accepted within these split-streaming systems, and you can choose to deny them at your leisure. I have to admit, that was one of my fears when I saw that some of these applications are web-based. Would I have to log in and out of sites to be able to do my lucrative private shows? However, my fears turned out to be unfounded, because having a system that handles everything for me cuts down on any possible frustration.
Expanding Your Reach Beyond Camming
The tech benefits of split-streaming can extend beyond cam shows to promotion in general. After all, cam sites allow us to mention our social media pages, which means more follows and thus more fans with whom you can connect and build deeper relationships. For many in our community, camming has been the key to gaining more followers. Add to that the ability to be in multiple places at once, and you have yourself a powder keg worth of ammunition for boosting a cam star's visibility and reach.
Now, a greater number of previous viewers will get reminders to come back to watch shows across an array of sites and see more of their favorite star, not just during designated showtimes on one particular platform. This also trickles down to increase other income streams, and furthermore, social media algorithms will push you higher, since you are getting increased engagement overall from more people getting to know you during each of your streams. More viewers simply fill all the sails in a performer’s boat to a grand degree.
All in all, the time of adult performers being influencers is here. Leveraging platforms to get ourselves into a position where we can convince our customer base to do more than just buy clips and throw tokens is swiftly becoming our reality. This makes enabling us to be in multiple places at once seamlessly even more valuable. This is truly how models can begin to take hold of their futures.
Getting Valuable Data Across the Board
What does data have to do with camming? A lot. Knowing which sites convert best for you means you spend more time learning how to optimize the traffic and catering to the demographics of that site. The issue has always been that a model cannot figure out the best site without spending a bunch of time on each one to get a feel for it. A person who has lots of data truly has more control.
With programs like SPLTstream, you actually get to see all the chat going on and harness this information. It allows you to be on sites you may never have tried in the past, but now see you are doing well on, or at least to give a site a fair shake without missing out on those sweet funds from the platforms you’ve already established yourself on. This makes finding out which sites you should really focus on a lot easier. After all, as the old saying goes: time is money. But one model’s moneymaker can be nothing but crickets to another.
With one-stop shop streaming tech, you can see all your top tippers across the sites you use, the average time you spend camming, the number of viewers and the last time you broadcasted. Most importantly, you can better gauge the total number of viewers who came to your room. That number helps you figure out how many viewers you need to make your goal. It also helps you figure out how you can make your cam shows more interesting and hold viewers’ attention. It is hard to get that sort of data out of many companies, but split-streaming tools put it right out there for you.
I see much room for expansion on the data we get, too, given the availability of the average time a user is in chat, the time periods with the highest number of users, average concurrent user counts and more. This is data that has helped livestreamers outside of the adult industry do better and, of course, will help us do just the same. Knowing more about both our existing and potential clients will only lead to better shows — and for smaller creators, it helps with being able to climb the ranks, with a leveling of the playing field that is long since overdue.
This really becomes a game-changer for models. Discovering that a site you may not have tried is a gold mine also means models can reach out to those sites for added promotion and increased exposure, all because they were in multiple places at once! At the end of the day, utilizing the marketing and traffic budget of multiple huge companies only makes sense. As models we do not have the type of cash flow to market ourselves on such a large scale, especially those of us who are mid-tier or just starting out.
Amberly Rothfield is a content creator, adult industry influencer and brand ambassador for an array of companies like SPLTstream and APClips. Follow her on AmberlyRothfield.com and @AmberlyPSO on Twitter.