You can now stream with other people on Twitch thanks to a feature called Squad Stream. This allows up to four Twitch streamers to broadcast live together. Streamers get to collaborate, and viewers get to see multiple angles of the games being played.
How Twitch's Squad Stream Feature Works
Squad Stream lets Twitch streamers go live together for the first time. Up to four streamers can broadcast live together in one window, sharing their viewers. Streamers can either start a Squad Stream or join an existing one from the Twitch dashboard.
Squad Stream has several benefits. It will help streamers foster new communities who all enjoy watching the same Twitch creators, enable popular streamers to help smaller streamers find an audience, and add an extra element (or three) for viewers.
How to Use Squad Stream on Twitch
If you're a Twitch streamer keen to start a Squad Stream, go to your Creator Dashboard and open your Stream Manager. Then click the Quick Actions panel and find Squad Stream. You'll see My Squad (to start a Squad Stream) and Invites (to accept an invite to one).
To start a Squad Stream, click Add a Channel and type the name of the Twitch channel you would like to invite. You can invite between one and three other channels. Once all of the channels have accepted your invites, click Start Squad Stream to begin.
If you're a Twitch viewer keen to watch a Squad Stream, you just need to look for the "Squad Stream" tag when browsing. Once you find one, you can watch a Squad Stream, and click on each channel in turn to place them in the primary slot.
Why Squad Stream Is Only Available to Twitch Partners
Squad Stream is currently only available to Partners. However, Twitch plans to offer the feature to Affiliates and then all streamers over time. This is due to "the need for video quality options," which only Partners currently receive by default.
In a nutshell, video quality options (or transcodes) enable Twitch to adjust the streams in certain slots. Without this option, Twitch would try to deliver four 720p+ streams at once. Twitch goes into more detail in a post on the Twitch Blog all about Squad Stream.
Hosting and Raiding Are So Passe
Twitch already offers a couple of ways for streamers to help each other out. There's Host mode, which allows one Twitch streamer to host another channel's live broadcast. And Raids, which allows one Twitch streamer to send their viewers to another channel.
Twitch streamers have actually been collaborating in this way for a while now using tools like MultiTwitch. However, Squad Stream should make the practice more popular. In the meantime, you should read our tips for building a live streaming audience.