What Is a Twitch Raid?

Raids are a prominent part of the culture on Twitch and have been used for both good and bad on the streaming platform. 

But what is a Twitch raid exactly, how can you start one, and what is the difference between a raid and hosting?

Let’s dive in.

What is a Twitch Raid?

Twitch raid is a feature on the streaming platform that allows an active streamer to send their audience to another live stream on the platform and give them a boost in viewership and engagement. 

Raids on the platform usually take place at the end of their live stream.

Since they are supportive tools, raids on Twitch are a great way to help out new streams who are struggling with low viewer count. However, the platform has faced plenty of bot-driven hate raids as well.

These raids include fake users that watch the channel and leave hateful comments in the raided streamer’s chat. Hate raids even led to protests in the Twitch community and the platform even sued certain people over hate raids.

How Does a Twitch Raid Work?

The process of raiding is quite simple. When you raid someone on Twitch, you send your viewers to the live stream of another user. Once you raid a channel, Twitch will let all of your viewers know in the chat section.

If you go offline, your channel will host the raided channel

How To Use Twitch Raids?

There are two ways to start a raid on Twitch:

• Type the raid command in your Twitch Chat, followed by the channel’s name of a person you’re planning to raid. It should look like this: “/raid Channel name.”

• Click on the ‘Raid channel’ option from your Channel Dashboard. A small window will pop up with a search option. Type in the target channel’s name and select ‘Start raid.’

Once you pick a channel to raid, a tiny window will appear in your channel chat that lets viewers know they’re raiding a channel and the number of viewers joining the raid. 

After a 10-second countdown, you can click on the purple “Raid Now” button, marking the official start of the raid. When a raid occurs, the target channel will receive a notification about the raid and the number of participants.

How To Block Twitch Raids?

While raids can offer a boost in viewership for struggling channels and introduce viewers to new streamers, some Twitch users have taken advantage of the feature to overwhelm the chat section of other users with hateful messages. 

Twitch has tried to deal with hate raids, but there are some that still slip through the cracks. If you want to make sure you don’t end up on the receiving end of hate raids on Twitch, the platform allows users to block all raids or only allow raids from teammates, friends, and channels that you follow. 

Here’s how to change your preferences in settings: 

1. Click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
2. Go to ‘Creator Dashboard’ and click on the drop-down menu.
3. Click on the arrow next to ‘Settings.’
4. Scroll down to find a box labeled ‘Raids.’
5. Pick one of the three options: Allow all raids, block all raids, or only allow raids from certain streamers. 

How To Moderate Messages From a Twitch Raid?

Streamers that don’t want to entirely exclude an opportunity to get a boost in views, but are worried about hate raids, can take some control over the chat in their channel. 

More specifically, they can limit viewers’ interaction in the chat. They can choose from: 

• Emotes-only chat: Viewers can only comet in emotes. 
• Subscribers- only chat: Only subscribers can leave comments in the chat.
• Followers-only chat: Only your followers can post in the chat.
• Slow Mode chat: Viewers have to wait a certain amount of time to send a message in the chat. 

How To Get Raided On Twitch?

Raided Twitch channels are often held by streamers that are active in the Twitch community. 

Twitch streamers who have big channels on the platforms are more likely to raid someone who had shown support for their content rather than a channel that has never interacted with them.

Therefore, if you want to receive raids on Twitch, you shouldn’t hesitate to take part in other communities, though make sure they are in the same niche as you.

Twitch Raid vs Hosting

Both Twitch Raids and Twitch Hosting are great ways to support other streamers, promote brands, and raise awareness about charities on Twitch streams. 

While in a raid, you share a Twitch streamer’s audience with another streamer’s channel, with hosting, you embed another Twitch user’s stream on your channel. For instance, if you host someone’s live stream, you’ll expose that channel to people from your chat and anyone who can see your live stream.

The main difference between the two is that in a raid, you transfer your audience and viewer numbers to another channel’s chat. On the other hand, when you host another channel, you keep your audience on your stream and remain responsible for chat moderation, even though you’re essentially offline. 

Bottom Line

A Twitch raid is a feature that streamers on the platform can use to boost another channel’s viewership by sending their audience to the targeted channel’s chat at the end of the live stream. It’s not only a great way to show support for newer channels that are struggling to gain traction on the platform, but it also introduced viewers to new pieces of content.