Streaming Industry Sees Continuous Growth as Twitch Leads the Way
The streaming industry has experienced consistent growth over the past year, with each quarter breaking new records. Twitch, in particular, has excelled, achieving record-breaking performance in terms of hours watched and streamed for three consecutive quarters.
Increased Viewership Across All Platforms
The latest industry report from Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet reveals that the total number of hours watched across all streaming platforms increased by 2.5 percent from Q1 to Q2 2021, reaching 8.99 billion hours. During this time, viewers spent over three billion hours per month watching live content, marking a 16 percent increase compared to the same period in 2020.
Twitch Sets New Records
Twitch reached another all-time high in the third quarter, with 6.51 billion hours watched, a 27 percent increase from the previous year. This continuous growth solidifies Twitch’s position as the leading streaming platform.
YouTube Gaming Numbers Decline
While Twitch thrived, YouTube Gaming saw a decline in its numbers. Hours watched dropped four percent to 1.2 million, and hours streamed decreased by 7.9 percent to 8.92 million in Q2 2021. Additionally, the number of unique channels and average concurrent viewership on YouTube Gaming decreased by 10.2 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, from Q1 to Q2.
On the other hand, Facebook Gaming maintained its momentum, witnessing a 12-percent increase in hours watched, reaching 1.1 billion hours in Q2. Viewership on the platform also increased by 42.7 percent compared to the same period in 2020. However, the number of unique channels streaming on Facebook Gaming decreased significantly, dropping from 1.5 million to just over 840,000.
The top games across all platforms during Q2 were Grand Theft Auto V with 866 million hours watched and Just Chatting with 822 million hours watched. In the realm of esports, Riot Games dominated, with the League of Legends MSI 2021 receiving nearly 60 million hours watched. VALORANT Masters and the WePlay Esports Dota 2 AniMajor followed with 23.9 million and 22.7 million hours watched, respectively.