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Glimesh vs Twitch – What is Glimesh?

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Glimesh claims to be the next generation streaming platform, built by the community, and for the community. It is an open company with a mission statement that echoes transparency & fairness to all of their users. All of Glimesh's financial statements and analytics are made public for all to see, and all of the development work is accessible through GitHub.

The idea for Glimesh originated right after Mixer announced it was shutting down in July of 2020. Glimesh officially launched the Alpha version of its site to the public on March 2, 2021.

Glimesh vs Twitch

With all of the issues Twitch has been having lately, isn’t it time another platform made a meaningful attempt to dethrone the top live streaming platform in the world? That time may be now, and that platform’s name is Glimesh. In this article, we’ll dive into everything that Glimesh has to offer, and determine if it can be a viable platform to stream your content on.

Let’s take a look at some of the current pros and cons of streaming on Glimesh. Keep in mind that the cons listed may be addressed soon, as the development team is working very hard and they are very transparent in their work.

The Pros:

  • Immediate monetization – Offering subscribe buttons to every member in supported countries. Simply link your bank and you’re ready to start earning money! (Streamers may also disable this button if they choose to)
  • No advertisements – Viewers will not be forced to watch pre-roll or mid-roll ads.
  • Tag system – When adding tags, you will be able to see how popular each individual tag is. (Limit of 10 at once) Tags are the best way for a viewer to find your stream.
  • Visibility – Each category page is randomized every time the browser is refreshed, giving every streamer an equal opportunity for exposure.
  • Faster Than Light (FTL) – This platform uses Mixer-derived FTL protocol, allowing for chat messages to be synced up with the live feed with sub-second latency reaching as low as 250ms of delay.
  • DMCA Transparency – Glimesh still must abide by DMCA laws just like every other platform, but they promise to be as clear as possible with both the streamer and the community if a takedown request occurs.
  • Open Source & Open Data – Anyone can make and submit features to be added to the platform, leading to faster implementation of features you may want to add to your channel. Common metrics such as platform user growth, recurring subscriptions, and the total amount of live streams are all easily accessible.
Stream 3

The Cons:

  • Frequent disconnections – Streams may randomly disconnect a few times per stream. (The solution to this seems to be to lower your bitrate until it stops happening)
  • User Experience (UX) – Chat doesn’t always auto-scroll, offline channels will sometimes appear in the browse tab, the video feed is sometimes unwatchable, and the browse tab sometimes does not load in at all (displaying hundreds of tags)
  • Small Audience – There are currently just under 35,000 Glimesh accounts right now. The ceiling for your growth is going to be much lower compared to what is possible on the other major platforms.
  • Missing features – Glimesh is still in the “Alpha” phase, so there are a handful of missing features that you may be used to on other platforms. (VODs, clips, merch, bits, cheers, raids, channel points, re-runs, and custom emotes just to name a few) While features like this are mentioned in the platform’s roadmap, not having them readily available definitely fails to provide the full live stream experience.

What Will Set Glimesh Apart?

Every streamer can start earning money right away! There is no “affiliate” or “partner” status, keeping every streamer on the same playing field right from the beginning. Subscription profits are split 50/50, much like the affiliate split on Twitch, but Glimesh also takes care the applicable fees & taxes, and while it doesn’t seem like much, it leaves the streamer the full amount of their split. Streamers will receive their payouts every week, without needing to generate a predetermined amount of income.

Stream 1

This one should excite both streamers and viewers alike: There are no advertisements on Glimesh! The site is fully funded by subscription splits with streamers and Glimesh Platform Subscriptions (this supports the site as a whole) A Supporter subscription will cost $5 USD a month, and in return, you receive a gold avatar ring and animated emotes. A Gold Supporter is $25 USD a month, which includes all Supporter perks, an animated gold avatar ring, and a gold username.

Stream 2

The browse categories are limited to Gaming, Art, Music, Tech, IRL, and Education. There are no categories for individual games, allowing you to play whatever game you want, while eliminating the need to avoid oversaturated games. The streamers displayed throughout the browse page are randomized every time the browser is refreshed, and it can’t be filtered by view count. You can maximize the discoverability of your live streams by adding up to 10 tags in your channel settings. There is also a “Following” tab that will show streamers that you’re following and that are currently online.

Stream 4

In Glimesh’s current state, it still needs a ton of polish on both the streamer’s end and the viewer’s end, but if some of that is addressed, it may actually be a platform to keep an eye on. Every decision is made with streamers in mind, which certainly feels like a breath of fresh air in the streaming world we live in today.

Glimesh is still in its very early stages, so if you have the patience to build your brand while the platform itself is still constantly building, tweaking, and battling issues, bugs, and downtime, consider giving it a try! If you have established any sort of community or have seen any amount of success on other platforms, I truly believe that you are better off staying right where you are and taking a “wait and see” approach with Glimesh.

Seeing as they encourage equal opportunity for every streamer, you realistically shouldn’t lose out on much by not streaming on the platform in the early stages. It will be extremely difficult for any new platform to compete with giant companies such as Amazon (Twitch), Google (YouTube), and Facebook (Facebook Gaming), but they have great intentions and I’m hoping they will succeed.

About the Author

Nolan

Nolan, who also goes by Nolski, is a game developer and Twitch streamer from New York. He is passionate about content creation and loves making meaningful connections with anybody he gets to meet!

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