A report from streaming analytics firm StreamElements shows that even as cities started to open following lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, viewership was far above last year for the same time period. In July 2020, both Twitch and Facebook Gaming saw significant increases over July 2019.

Twitch went from 851 million hours to 1.4 billion year-over-year, a 67% increase. Facebook had a much smaller increase in raw numbers, but greater growth, going from 109 million to 345 million. As the report notes, this was all amid Mixer shutting down, which led to high-profile streamers who had cut deals with Microsoft either moving back to Twitch or migrating to Facebook.

Meanwhile, in month-over-month figures from June to July, some of the top games slightly decreased in viewership. Those include League of Legends, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, among others. A handful of games actually got an increase in viewership, though: Valorant, Minecraft, and World of Warcraft. Minecraft saw the single biggest increase, at a whopping 37% change compared to the others only increasing by single-digits.

"While the amount of time spent watching livestreams has fluctuated in the last couple of months as cities begin to open up and people are leaving their homes, the industry is still hundreds of millions of hours beyond Q1," said CEO Doron Nir, in the announcement. "This is no small feat and speaks to the power and momentum of the medium in terms of attracting both streamers and viewers."

StreamElements Top Categories on Twitch (% Change June-July 2020)

Just Chatting (+6%)
League of Legends (-6%)
Fortnite (-5%)
Grand Theft Auto 5 (-6%)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (-1%)
Valorant (+5%)
Minecraft (+37%)
Counter-Strike GO (-90%)
Dota 2 (-15%)
World of Warcraft (+7%)

Posted: Aug 26, 2020 4:57 pm
Related Forum: Social Media

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/streaming-report-shows-big-viewership-increases-fo/1100-6481261/