Twitch and Facebook Gaming Experience Massive Growth in 2020
In 2020, many content creators experienced significant growth on streaming platforms like Twitch and Facebook Gaming. According to StreamElements and Arsenal.gg, Twitch saw a jump from nine billion hours watched in 2019 to 17 billion in 2020. Similarly, Facebook Gaming increased from 1.35 billion hours watched to 3.59 billion in the last year.
COVID-19 Pandemic Drives Growth in Streaming
The COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in the increase of hours watched on Twitch and Facebook Gaming. Twitch experienced an 83-percent growth in hours watched in 2020, while Facebook Gaming saw a remarkable 166-percent year-over-year increase.
DLive Emerges as a Promising Platform
Although Mixer shut down in July, DLive has shown promising signs as another growing platform for streamers. The platform’s hours watched increased from 9.7 million in Q1 to 17 million in Q2 before stabilizing at around 15 million for the rest of 2020.
VALORANT Dominates Twitch Rankings
Among various new games on Twitch, only VALORANT managed to crack the top 10 categories consistently each month. VALORANT placed fifth in the overall rankings for yearly category watch time and achieved the highest peak of the year, surpassing even Just Chatting. In April, the game recorded 334 million hours watched, primarily driven by players seeking Twitch drops codes.
Here are the top 10 categories by yearly watch time on Twitch during 2020:
- Just Chatting: 1.9 billion
- League of Legends: 1.4 billion
- Fortnite: 804 million
- Grand Theft Auto V: 764 million
- VALORANT: 737 million
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: 637 million
- CS:GO: 635 million
- Dota 2: 464 million
- Minecraft: 459 million
- World of Warcraft: 411 million
VALORANT’s 737 million hours of watch time also put it at the top of the new IPs streamed on Twitch, followed by Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout with 139 million hours watched. Cyberpunk 2077 and Phasmaphobia held on at 61 million and 69 million hours watched, respectively.
In December, Cyberpunk 2077 and Escape from Tarkov joined the top 10 categories on Twitch. Escape from Tarkov experienced a 193-percent growth in viewership, securing its position in the rankings.
XQc reclaimed his most-watched crown at the end of the year, with around 20 million hours of watch time. He also became the most-watched streamer of 2020, accumulating nearly 150 million hours watched throughout the year.