A tight niche beats broad appeal every time at the Struggling stage. The math is structural. Twitch and YouTube both rank streams within categories, and the smaller the category, the easier it is to climb. A streamer in "Just Chatting" competes with thousands of broadcasts. A streamer in "Cozy Crochet ASMR" competes with five.

The criteria for a viable tight niche: enough viewers exist to find you (at least 200 active concurrent viewers across the category at any given time), but not so many streamers that you disappear (under 50 active broadcasters in the category most days).

Niche examples that work in 2026: cozy RPGs, speedrun coaching, vintage PC building, art streams, language learning, fitness with chat coaching, cooking with chat decisions, cryptocurrency analysis, vintage anime watch parties, niche music production. Cam model verticals work the same way: gothic, gamer, MILF, fitness, ASMR, cosplay, fetish-specific.

The tighter your niche, the higher your discoverability and the higher your premium pricing power. Generic loses to specific. Pick one and commit for at least 6 months.