Imagine you are sitting back, looking at your stream and you are just thinking to yourself, “How can I improve my stream?” Well one of the best and easiest ways is purchasing stream overlays.
Is Buying Overlays Worth It?
Buying overlays is absolutely worth the investment. For a small price, you can get professionally made overlays that will make your stream look more professional and help you stand out. Many companies, such as OWN3D.TV also offer package deals that come with alerts, sounds and other things that help make your stream look legit.
If you try to make an overlay yourself, you will soon realize that not only does it take a long time to learn how to make an overlay, but assuming that you are an inexperienced graphic designer, any design that you create will not compare to something a professional graphics designer with years of experience can create.
Trust me on that one. It’s harder than it looks.
And overlays really do make a stream stand out. You have to think that when people are scrolling through looking for streams to watch, they will be more likely to click on a stream with cool looking overlays over a stream with no overlays or bad overlays.
Where are the Best Places to Buy Overlays?
When it comes to purchasing overlays, you will not find a better place than OWN3D.TV. OWN3D has overlays to suit all themes and styles. They also have a ton of seasonal overlays that you can use for different events and holidays. They are simply the best when it comes to overlays.
If you want to check out some of their overlays, then you can do so by clicking here. I have used OWN3D.TV and not only are the overlays awesome, they are also super easy to set up and use.
You won’t have to worry about getting the right dimensions when it comes to using OWN3D.TV. Everything is made to fit your streams and so it is literally just plug and go.
Here is an example of an overlay that I purchased from OWN3D.TV.
I have used a graphic designer that I personally hired before, and don’t get me wrong the work was good, but I feel like I got way more overlays, as well as better quality overlays when I went through OWN3D.TV than I did hiring my own personal graphics designer.
Not to mention OWN3D.TV was much much cheaper.
OWN3D.TV has some really cool animated overlays for cheap that would cost you hundreds of dollars if you were to hire someone personally to make you custom overlays.
The animated overlays are honestly really cool. It’s not just an image that sits there on top of your stream. The animated image actually move around. Way cooler in my opinion.
If you want to see examples of animated overlays, check out my latest Twitch stream by clicking here. And don’t forget to drop a follow while you’re there.
These overlays come with things like alert sounds and transitions. It really is a complete package. These overlay packages will have your stream looking super professional without you having to break the bank.
Another great option for overlays is Streamlabs Prime.
I like Streamlabs Prime because not only do you get access to hundreds of overlays when you sign up, but Streamlabs Prime also comes with multi-stream (the ability to stream to multiple platforms), access to all the apps in the Streamlabs App Store, extra file storage and much much more.
I recently switched over to Streamlabs Prime and I love it. If you want to check out Streamlabs Prime, you can do so by clicking here (also, if you use my link you get a discount).
Now, back to the overlays, I think the overlays on Streamlabs Prime are awesome! And the fact that you get so many overlays just for signing up for Streamlabs Prime is even more awesome.
Honestly, getting access to so many overlays just by signing up with Streamlabs Prime is a steal. No, like it is a major bargain. I can’t stress that enough!
So you could literally have like five different overlay setups that you could switch between to keep your audience on their toes.
And like I said, these overlays are quality so it’s not like you are getting a bunch of wack overlays.
They are professionally done and similar to OWN3D.TV, these overlay packages are also plug and go. You don’t need to make a lot of edits if you don’t want to.
However, I feel like the overlays on Streamlabs Prime are not as good as the overlays on OWN3D.TV. I mean it makes sense.
OWN3D is entirely dedicated to overlays whereas Streamlabs uses overlays as a cool accessory to their streaming software. Also, OWN3D.TV has a lot more overlays to choose from.
Long story short, if you want the best looking overlays, I think it is best to use OWN3D.TV because they have the best quality.
But if you just want a ton of really good overlays that you can have at your disposal, then I recommend you go with Streamlabs Prime because you get access to a ton of great overlays once you sign up.
But really, either way, you will not be disappointed in either overlay packages that these two companies offer.
Now if you just want overlays, and don’t want to spend any money, then your best option is NerdorDie.com. In my opinion, they have the best free overlays out there.
These free overlays will not be nearly as good as the overlays you purchase from OWN3D or Streamlabs Prime, but they are quality.
And if these three options didn’t have what you are looking for, then you can check out Kudos.TV.
Kudos has a great selection of both premium and free overlays and so you can easily find something that works with your budget.
In fact, I got this sweet Robot themed overlay from them below. You can check out the robot themed overlay here if you like it.
Now that I have listed a bunch of great places for you to get stream overlays, let’s talk about if they are really needed for being a good streamer.
Are Overlays Really Needed for Streaming?
Overlays are not required for streaming, but they do help make a stream look more professional. In fact, many of the biggest streamers use overlays as a form of branding and to help them stand out among other streamers.
I recommend that if you are just beginning to stream, then overlays are one of the last things that you should worry about.
Having amazing overlays will not do as much for your stream as will good camera and audio quality. If you have $50 to spend, then I say use that money towards upgrading your equipment first.
Once your equipment is at a point that you want it to be, then you should start looking at how to add some cool overlays to the stream.
Like I mentioned above, there are some good websites where you can get some great overlays for free. Free $99 and so you shouldn’t stress about nice overlays right at the beginning.
In the beginning, focus on your equipment and getting comfortable on camera. Once you are good on those two things, and you are looking to add some extra spice to your stream, then check out websites like OWN3D.TV or Streamlabs Prime to get hooked up with some sweet overlays.
As always, if you have any questions or just want to hang with me, stop by my Twitch channel here and say what’s up!
For even more streaming tips and how-to content check out my Youtube channel here. And if you want to check out my streams then stop by my Twitch channel here.
In the end, overlays will make your stream look much more professional and can be a great tool to help you stand out among the crowd. And for a small price, you can get some super cool overlays so why not give the a try?
Good luck streaming my friends! And may all your streams come true!
Eric streams 3 days a week on Twitch and uploads weekly to Youtube under the moniker, StreamersPlaybook. He loves gaming, PCs, and anything else related to tech. He’s the founder of the website StreamersPlaybook and loves helping people answer their streaming, gaming, and PC questions.
What is Stream Overlay? - Streamers Playbook
Sunday 21st of February 2021
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