How to Go Live on TikTok (and Succeed)

Philip Romano
5 days ago
7 min read

Woman in a blue shirt sits on a brown chair, eating pizza. Neon signs of a banana and ice cream are on the brick wall background.

TikTok is the name of the game for aspiring creators looking to grow faster than ever before. With over 1 million creators posting regularly to the social media giant, it’s also equally as difficult to stand out from the crowd.

However, there are many ways to succeed on TikTok without having to rely entirely on video posting alone. TikTok LIVE, aka TikTok’s internal livestreaming platform, has become an ever-popular way to watch live streamers. With a set of features like those available on YouTube LIVE and Twitch, TikTok LIVE has become a hallmark for audiences looking to watch livestreams tailored to them right on their phones. By streaming on TikTok, you give the algorithm more content to push, and you might have the opportunity to grow faster than by just posting traditionally.

In this guide, we’ll cover what exactly a TikTok LIVE is, what it entails, what’s required to go live, and how you can both monetize and grow by using it.

What is TikTok LIVE?

TikTok LIVE is exactly what it sounds like – it’s TikTok’s built-in livestreaming platform. It allows viewers to tune into streams from their favorite creators, featuring the same vertical format that made TikTok famous, as opposed to the traditional widescreen live formats available on YouTube and Twitch.

As with any livestream, creators can directly and instantaneously interact with their audience through chat, creating a deeper, more personal connection between the two. It’s a fantastic way to deliver more content to the people who want it most, while also opening yourself up to new and exciting audiences platform-wide.

How to Go LIVE on TikTok

Before going live on TikTok, there are a few key things you’ll need to tackle first. To go LIVE on TikTok, you’ll need to meet a minimum set of requirements to gain access to the feature. The requirements to go LIVE are:

Have a minimum of 1,000 followers
Must be at least 18 years of age
Adhere to TikTok’s Community Guidelines (and have no major prior infractions)

These requirements may differ in some regions of the world depending on local law, but this is the default for the United States.

On top of meeting basic eligibility, you’ll also want to optimize your profile for reach. Think about this: what’s your niche? Who’s your target audience? What do you want your brand to look like and be about? Focus on creating consistent branding across the board between your profile picture, bio, and links. Define exactly what your goals are with streaming, and who you’re trying to reach.

Another aspect of preparing to stream is the technical element. Is your internet connection good enough to stream in high quality? Will you be using your phone camera to stream, or a professional camera? Do you have enough lighting in your room to stream? Focus on creating the best possible livestream visually and auditorily, without necessarily spending thousands on equipment (especially for amateurs).

The final thing we recommend focusing on prior to starting the stream is ultimately planning your content. What will you be doing on the livestream? Will you be playing a game, hosting a Q&A, doing a sale, or some other form of entertainment? By planning your content like a “run of show”, both you and your audience know what to expect from your stream, creating a much more engaging environment.

Long and short – do as much prep work as possible before you start streaming, so that your first few will be as high quality and entertaining as possible. The higher you start off, the easier it will be to improve and climb the ranks.

A hand with a geometric tattoo holds fanned-out U.S. dollar bills against a plain white background, suggesting financial success.

Can you make money on TikTok LIVE?

Yes, there are plenty of ways to profit from TikTok LIVE! TikTok itself provides multiple options for your audience to financially engage with you, as well as some external options you can employ to help keep the stream engaging enough to encourage money spending behavior.

Gifts and Coins

Probably the most convenient way to make money from TikTok. Your audience can send tips in the form of gifts and coins, a currency exclusive to TikTok. These can trigger alerts or pop-ups on your stream, giving the viewer a sense of “being noticed” while contributing to a stream they’re really enjoying! These convert into real currency in your TikTok payout section, so keep an eye out for when you qualify for that minimum payout.

Subscriptions

In addition to gifts and coins, TikTok also offers the option to subscribe to a streamer. This is similar in essence to any other subscription service, where viewers pay anywhere from $2.99 to $99 per month to support the streamer. The streamers themselves can choose the actual subscription cost, but the average is typically around $4.99.

To access Subscriptions, you must meet the minimum requirements:

Have over 10k followers
Have over 100k video views during the last calendar month

TikTok Shop LIVE

In addition to solely TikTok LIVE, TikTok also offers the ability to sell products through affiliate campaigns via TikTok Shop. TikTok Shop sellers can submit requests to creators to sell their product on stream, and creators earn commission for each product sold. Alternatively, creators can also actively seek out these affiliate collaborations through TikTok Shop itself and choose which campaigns to join in on.

Brand Collabs and Sponsorships

Outside of TikTok’s own built-in monetization features, creators can also venture outside the platform itself for money-making opportunities. Brand collaborations are an excellent way for brands to get more reach through creators like yourself, without necessarily needing to list products on TikTok Shop itself or provide through affiliate codes.

By working with brands directly, you unlock other campaign opportunities like PR packages, flat-fee campaigns, and even long-term relationships. It helps brands notice you and get you onboarded sooner rather than later.

We have an entire guide dedicated to securing brand deals, which we recommend reading here. We also have a guide for writing pitch emails to brands, available here.

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Best Streaming Practices on TikTok LIVE

Now that we’ve covered the essentials for how to get your stream up and running, we have to cover how to make your stream great. The fact of the matter is that poor quality or poorly thought-out streams won’t cut through the herd, and you’ve got to stand out if you want to succeed as a content creator in 2025.

Here are a few best practices to keep in mind when starting up your streaming career:

Creating a quality setup

Let’s face it – nobody's going to want to watch a stream that’s low resolution. If your camera isn’t capable of higher resolutions or at a minimum HD (1080x1920 pixels), then it may be worth looking into upgrading your gear before starting to stream. There are plenty of great choices online for a budget, and they will ultimately improve your viewership.

If you choose to use an external camera, you’ll likely not be using your phone to stream but rather a laptop and your camera setup. To do this, you’ll need to install a tool like TikTok LIVE Studio or OBS on your laptop and choose your camera as a video input device. While we won’t get too in-depth here, there are plenty of wonderful resources on YouTube for getting your stream camera up and running.

Good on-camera visibility is also an essential requirement. Streaming from a well-lit room with natural lighting will make your face more visible and friendly as opposed to a ring light in a dark room. The same can be said for audio – using a USB or Bluetooth microphone may help improve audio quality if your stream room suffers from background noise.

Engaging your audience

Aside from the technical, your stream also has to be entertaining. An engaging stream will attract more long-term viewers and even encourage some to follow or even leave a gift. We recommend removing any distractions from your stream room so that you’re entirely focused on the audience and what you’re doing on stream.

Make sure to acknowledge people in the chat and respond to comments as soon as possible, as this will keep viewers engaged. You can also change visuals or angles every few minutes to disrupt any fatigue buildup, or use props or polls to create moments and keep chat active.

Woman in a kitchen with gray cabinets, wearing a headscarf, holds a plate toward a smartphone on a tripod, smiling animatedly.

Developing a signature live format

Something to think about when starting up your stream career is how to keep people coming back. By keeping your lives in a consistent format, viewers will know what to expect from you, and the most dedicated viewers will come back for each and every stream. Build a format by keeping your stream to a few different topics or styles, such as gaming let’s plays or chat together style streams.

Another best streaming practice is to create a TikTok LIVE schedule and stick to it. By creating a schedule, you create anticipation, and your audience knows exactly when to get online for your stream to begin. As well, it helps keep you to a strict time routine – something that’s very easy to fall out of when you’re just beginning.

Repurposing clips for omnichannel presence

Our final tip is a much more recent one – repurposing clips from your stream as social content. Who said livestream content only had to be available while you’re live? With the recent rise of streamers like IShowSpeed and Kai Cenat gaining traction from their ridiculous livestream clips, it can help grow your audience faster than ever before. It can also open yourself up to audiences in other time zones, as clips help audiences enjoy your content when they may not be actively able to view your LIVE.

You can achieve this by streaming and recording simultaneously via OBS Studio, or you can typically download your stream VODs later to chop up into social content. Then, publish as you see fit! We recommend posting everywhere you can so that you get the maximum amount of reach possible, via YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and even Twitter.

Score Success with TikTok LIVE

The success of TikTok isn’t going away anytime soon, and creators looking to jumpstart their content career will find themselves wondering why they hadn’t started TikTok LIVE sooner! However, successful creators don’t just go live on a whim - they plan, analyze, improve, and repeat.

By combining engaging entertainment with high-quality visuals and meaningful interaction, you can turn your TikTok LIVE sessions into consistent follower growth and brand-building opportunities. If you’re ready to take your creator journey to the next level, apply for Advanced Creative Media’s Creator Partnership Program – featuring exclusive brand collabs, shop campaigns, and expert content support.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many followers do I need to go LIVE on TikTok?

You need at least 1,000 followers to access LIVE, and 10,000 followers for additional features like Subscriptions.

Can smaller creators still earn from LIVE?

Yes! Engagement matters more than audience size. By creating consistent, high-quality livestreams, you can vastly outperform larger creators with lower interaction.

What’s the best time to go live?

It depends on your audience’s habits and time zone. We typically recommend streaming in the evening (7-9 pm).

If you’d like to learn more about your own best times, read our full guide here.