Fights, camera, action: the beginner's guide to streaming video games

Streaming is big business on game platforms such as Twitch, so how do you start? Five experts reveal the knowledge, the kit and the attitude gamers need to find their audience

Being a gamer" used to mean actually playing video games, but now watching other people play is almost as important. Last year, more than 740m of us watched gaming streams on Twitch, YouTube and other platforms, with superstar streamers such as Ninja, Tfue and Pokimane attracting many millions of adoring fans. But it's not just about the big names making big bucks. Every month, almost four million people use Twitch to broadcast themselves playing video games and most of them don't expect to become millionaires as a result. If you or your children are thinking of joining them, here's a quick guide to getting started.

To help out, I spoke to several highly experienced streamers: Clare Siobhan is a YouTuber with 1.75m subscribers who also streams on Twitch; Nina Freeman is a game developer and Twitch streamer; ex-professional Call of Duty player Ben Perkin presents Xbox On on YouTube and streams as BennyCentral; Gav Murphy is a video editor and presenter with RKG; Mollie plays The Sims on YouTube and Twitch as The EnglishSimmer; and Mary Kish is a streamer and head of community marketing at Twitch.