Since 2018, TikTok has been widely accepted as the best place on the internet for aspiring creators to get discovered. Its easy-to-create short-form video content, high shareability, and mystical AI-powered algorithm have made it the perfect hub for talented creators to stand out and grow rapidly.

What is TikTok Live?

Recently, TikTok entered the livestream market where it hopes it can repeat its initial success, this time going up against streaming giants like Youtube and Twitch. Despite the fierce competition, TikTok has already converted over 20% of its current users into regular TikTok live viewers and boasts one of the most vibrant and engaging communities of creators anywhere on the internet.

Just like with its short-form video content, TikTok is finding success with its live content by prioritizing discoverability above all else, making it the perfect platform for aspiring livestream creators. This is your step-by-step guide to learn how to go live on TikTok and what you need to know to make the most out of each of your streams.

Why go live on TikTok?

TikTok’s discoverability alone makes it the obvious choice for growing your live audience in 2023, but understanding exactly what’s so unique about going live on TikTok is vital if you want to find success on the platform, so here are all the benefits of going live on TikTok.

1. The Algorithm - Unlike their competitors, TikTok doesn’t break streamers down by category and show you dozens of livestreams to pick between. Instead, the majority of viewers find livestreams through TikTok Live’s “For You” page. The livestreams only appear on the screen one at a time, and what shows up next is completely up to TikTok’s AI algorithm. In short, when you go live on TikTok you’re pretty much guaranteed to get at least some viewership.
2. Few established practices and metas - The other benefit of TikTok’s unique discovery-driven livestream display model is that there are far fewer copycats trying to hop onto a specific trend or established practices for what you should or shouldn’t do while streaming. This gives new streamers way more freedom to make whatever content they want to make on TikTok Live, since they aren’t beholden to any expectations for what their stream should be.
3. TikTok is still growing - Although this year’s 8.2% growth in the US is a far cry from the blistering 80+ percent growth that TikTok saw in 2019 and 2020, the platform is still the fastest-growing social media app in the US, which means more fresh eyeballs for your stream.
4. Great features — On top of a lot of the standard monetization and moderation features you’d expect from a livestream platform, TikTok also has some great unique features like Q&A, multi-guest, and live events. This year they are also rolling out the highly anticipated TikTok Live Shopping feature, which will enable streamers to sell goods to their audience in real-time.

TikTok Live does have its downsides compared to its competitors. For instance, converting viewers into followers and followers into core fans can be harder on TikTok than its competitors, since the vast majority of your live traffic comes from the algorithm-determined “For You” page. Also, for now, the monetization potential of your TikTok audience probably won’t match what you could make with an audience of a similar size on Twitch or Youtube.

With all that said, keep in mind that if you don’t already have an established audience on YouTube or Twitch, you’re facing a massive uphill battle in terms of getting noticed and building an audience. Twitch in particular has such poor discoverability that averaging just six concurrent viewers places you in the top 6.7% of all streamers in terms of viewership.

This makes some sense when you consider that Twitch's monetization model is driven by subscriptions, so the platform has a vested interest in pushing well-established and successful Streamers who sell more subscriptions. TikTok on the other hand has put discoverability first, making it by far the best choice for up-and-coming streamers who know how to keep their audiences engaged.

So, assuming you’re fully convinced that you should go live on TikTok, here’s how you can get started.

How many followers do you need to go live? And what are the other requirements?

The first thing you need to accomplish in order to go live on TikTok is to gain 1,000 followers. To do this you’ll need to start posting normal short-form TikTok videos regularly.

If your content is more suitable for live-streaming, we highly recommend that you start by streaming on another platform like youtube with Opus. You can then use Opus’ magic promo tool to grab highlight clips from your show, which can be converted into the proper format for yoTikTok in seconds.

The most important thing when gaining your first 1k followers is that your content is relevant to your brand, and that you make sure to include tags that will make your content more discoverable to people who share your interests.

Another important thing to note is that while gaining your first 1k followers, you need to make sure your account remains in good standing and you don’t violate any community guidelines.

Finally, you need to be over age 16 to begin going live, but you can’t fully monetize your stream and take advantage of all of TikTok Live’s features until you are 18 years old. Sure, there are ways you can get around the age restriction, but if you are young and hope to find long-term success on the platform, it’s best to respect TikTok’s rule here and focus on improving your content until you are old enough.