NearStream is now officially in South Africa through Pinnacle ICT, and for our latest Talking Tech interview, we spoke with Wayne from Pinnacle, and full-time South African streamer KeepitKate.
In this episode we talk about how NearStream gear fits into a working creator setup, and what streaming looks like when it becomes a fulltime career.
Wayne, who handles NearStream at Pinnacle, said the brand has been in South Africa for around seven months. The range targets streamers, podcasters, small studios, and creators who want better audio and video without starting at the top end of the market.
NearStream’s local product line includes microphones, webcams, wireless lavalier mics, green screen kits, lighting, audio mixers, camera mounts, and capture cards. Wayne said Pinnacle saw space for streaming hardware that could offer decent quality at a lower barrier to entry, especially for creators who want to move beyond a headset mic and basic webcam.
He highlighted two products which stand out for him, first the wireless lavalier kits, which range from around R699 to about R3,000, depending on the package. And then the green screen kit, as it includes the backdrop, stands, clips, and lighting, all in one bundle.
Kate’s side of the interview gave us a proper test case for the hardware. She has been streaming for three years and moved into full-time content creation around April last year.
From her experience, the setup is straightforward. NearStream products work with the NearSync app, but Kate said the hardware also showed up in OBS, Meld Studio, Streamlabs, and other streaming tools without much fuss. The camera’s auto-framing and face-tracking features came up during the chat too.
Audio was the first serious lesson from the interview. Kate started streaming with the microphone attached to her headset, which she compared to speaking over an aircraft announcement system. Her advice to new streamers was practical: don’t buy everything before you know you enjoy streaming. Start first, then upgrade where it counts. For her, that meant audio first, video second.
Kate currently streams to Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok at the same time. She previously used an RTX 4060, then upgraded to a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, which helped with multi-platform output. She also moved from OBS to Meld Studio after dealing with crashes, and said Meld Studio made scene and audio management much easier, including the ability to exclude music from VOD recordings.
While it sounds like fun and games, streaming full-time is hard work. Kate said variety streaming means tracking releases, early access periods, beta tests, and the games her audience actually wants to watch. Horror does well with her community, partly because she scares easily and her fans love a good jump scare too.
Kate also warned new creators not to quit their jobs too early. Before going full-time, she worked long days, streamed at night, and used the numbers to decide when the move made sense. Smith added that brands look at consistency, effort, growth, and whether a creator clearly enjoys the work, not follower count alone.
Check out the NearStream range on Pinnacle’s website. Please note Pinnacle ICT is the importer, and you’ll need to buy the hardware from your favourite retailer.
Check out KeepitKate’s streams here.
For more insights from both Kate and Wayne, tune in to the chat below:
