Fans are spreading their time among an ever-widening variety of platforms and channels when live-streaming video, according to data from the Live Streaming Trends Report. This indicates that, far from being married to favorite platforms, games, or creators, consumers are willing to shop around for fresh content and great experiences. The report compiled by Stream Hatchet finds live streaming viewership up 10% overall in the past year. Twitch still leads as a platform but dropped from 70% to 60% of the market share during the past year.

The report finds that an increasingly diverse array of creators is capturing attention. While the top 5% of creators were responsible for 86% of streaming hours watched for the quarter, that represents a drop from 98% five years ago. This points to opportunity for media leaders to partner with creators or develop their own.

Politics lured viewers, helping push Rumble into the top ten platforms in hours watched for the quarter, surpassing Facebook Live. Based in Toronto and drawing most of its audience from political coverage with uncensored discussion, Rumble’s viewership benefited from content surrounding the U. S. presidential debate. During the debate week, Rumble’s total viewership peaked at 10.7 million hours, with almost a third of those hours coming from streams with keywords related to U.S. candidates and politics. Rumble surpassed Facebook Live by over 40M hours in its first full quarter, becoming the 7th most-watched platform.

In an interesting move, the Democratic National Convention just announced that it would be streaming on a number of non-traditional platforms including social standouts TikTok and Instagram but also on Amazon’s Twitch as well as Prime and YouTube.

Variety of platforms widens

Twitch still holds more than half of the market share (60.3 %), but YouTube Gaming increased its share to almost one quarter of the market (23.4%). Other strong platforms include Kick, which increased its viewership by 163%, now in third place with 5.5% of the market. AfreecaTV came in fourth. Meanwhile, Facebook Live dropped out of the top five.

The market showed opportunity for new platforms. The new South Korean platform Chzzk came in at fourth place, winning 2.1% of the market.  Rumble became the 7th most-watched platform. Bigo Live, offering options like virtual live with 3D avatars, also had a strong debut, reaching 9^th place.

Diversity of creators grows

Just as fans tuned into a wider variety of platforms, they also chose to watch a more diverse range of creators. During the past five years, the share of viewership held by the top live streaming channels decreased, boosting opportunity for emerging creators. While the top 0.01% of channels held 45% of the audience five years ago, that percentage fell to 33% by the second quarter of 2024- a12% decrease. A few takeaways stood out.

• Male live streamers still dominate the market, with American KaiCenat taking the number one spot of the quarter with 43.8 million hours. His 78% increase in viewership this quarter was buoyed in part by the popularity of Elden Ring.
• Most of the top female live streamers (7 out of 10) engage primarily in Just Chatting rather than gaming.
• Some Vtubers (virtual YouTubers using avatars) showed an impressive jump in popularity. Kuzuha Channel, run by a male Japanese streamer, increased viewership by 27%, taking the #1 spot among Vtubers. Japanese creator Aqua Ch. 湊あくあ and Korean 고세구!, both female, surged 392% and 202% respectively for the quarter, achieving sixth and seventh place.

Top games and genres

The second quarter of 2024 found downloadable content (DLC) dominating new game releases. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was by far the most successful new release, reaping 81.2 million hours watched across all platforms in its first 30 days. Destiny 2: The Final Shape was a distant second, with 24.8 million hours. Those two titles combined garnered 55% of the top ten new games’ viewership in their first month.

Across all platforms, a few top games captured the lion’s share of viewing hours. Grand Theft Auto V and League of Legends lead the pack. Combined, these two games accounted for almost 950 million hours watched for the quarter, although they dropped in overall percentage of hours watched.

The action genre soared 30% higher over the past year thanks in large part to Elden Ring, which accounted for 24% of the action genre audience. The survival game Rust rose 150% in viewership, also boosting this category. Driving and Racing games were up 13%. While first person shooter games still topped hours watched at 1.2 billion for the quarter, that number represents a 4% drop since the previous year. Likewise, the action-adventure genre’s viewership declined 24% due to lack of new releases.

Looking forward

The live video game streaming market is important to the popularity of streaming platforms, game publishers, media, and creators. The latest data demonstrate the industry’s resilience after a post-pandemic slump. Media leaders should continue to keep a close eye on up-and-coming creators and platforms as well as the overall consumption trends of younger audiences.