The audio-over-video priority order is the structural rule that determines where the entry-tier budget should concentrate. Audio quality matters more than video quality for stream retention, and the data is consistent across multiple platform analyses: viewers tolerate moderate video quality if the audio is clear, but viewers leave fast if the audio is poor regardless of how good the video looks.

The mechanism: the human brain processes audio faster than video and tags poor audio as "this is unprofessional, this is uncomfortable to listen to" before the visual processing catches up. A stream with clear audio and a 720p webcam is watchable. A stream with muddy audio and a 4K camera is not.

The budget allocation: roughly the largest single share of the entry-tier budget goes to the microphone, with the remainder split across webcam, lighting, and other categories. The streamer who reverses this (cheap mic, expensive camera) discovers within the first stream that viewers are leaving in the first 60 seconds.

Audio first. Always. Build the rest around the audio investment.