Twitch is unique in that it found a niche in establishing a live streaming platform targeting gamers and video games.
Twitch is expected to have 51.6 million users by 2024, according to Statista. After its purchase by Amazon, it is one of the largest gaming platforms for broadcasters.
Twitch is now more than gaming, although gaming is still the primary component of the platform. Twitch began to move to other forms of content like television shows and other types of sports programs beyond esports.
Those who are interested in how much influence the platform has can review these Twitch statistics.
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Highlights
- Twitch has a daily audience of 15 million users.
- Twitch creators make up a large part of the Twitch market with 2.2 million broadcasting their games live every month.
- Viewers used 18.6 billion hours of streaming video content in 2020.
- There have been more than 100 million downloads of the Twitch app.
- Peak Twitch viewership on the platform was 6.5 million views.
- There are 140 million unique visitors to Twitch monthly.
- Amazon paid $1 billion in cash for the gaming platform and social media network.
- Most Twitch users are young with 41% between the ages of 16-24.
- Only 3% of Twitch users are between the ages of 55 to 64.
- The U.S. accounts for 24.32% of the platform’s average viewers.
- The most popular game on Twitch is League of Legends.
- The most followed Twitch user is Ninja, with 17 million followers as of March 2021.
- The most viewed Twitch channel of all time is Fextralife.
- Annual revenue for Twitch is $1.54 billion.
- Twitch is ranked 34th in global internet engagement.
Twitch statistics about users
1. Twitch has a daily audience of 15 million users.
Even though this is a high user number, it isn’t the primary thing contributing to Twitch’s success. It is the number of monthly broadcasters that make Twitch distinctive from other platforms because Twitch has a higher percent of content broadcasters in comparison to other platforms.
2. Twitch creators make up a large part of the Twitch market with 2.2 million broadcasting their games live every month.
Gaming is an integral part of the Twitch platform and its creators have been a huge part of its success. Twitch is the number one platform for gamers. Besides the 2.2 million creators broadcasting games, Twitch also has 9.1 million unique creators that stream on the platform monthly.
That streaming includes other types of content, including music, painting, illustrating, and live channels. It also features some of the most well-known esports contests and all of those offer large amounts of prize money to professional players.
Twitch statistics about usage
3. Viewers used 18.6 billion hours of streaming video content in 2020.
This latest statistic is a huge increase from past years, although Twitch had consistent growth every year. This statistic is a 70% increase over 2019 when the platform had around 11 billion hours streamed.
Every other year was a steady increase from the previous year with Twitch starting with approximately 2 billion hours streamed in 2012.
4. There have been more than 100 million downloads of the Twitch app.
An estimated 35% of those accessing Twitch comes from the world’s 3.8 billion smartphone users. This is what accounts for the 100 million downloads on the Play Store.
Another reason for the numerous downloads is that more than 9 million channels exist on Twitch. However, many of those barely get 100 followers while the largest channels have millions subscribing to them.
5. Peak viewers on the platform was 6.5 million views.
There wasn’t one show or piece of content that caused this peak. Peak times on Twitch are weekends when people are relaxing and gaming. The platform peaks when Europe heads into the evening while everyone begins to relax. It is daytime in America then.
For Americans, the peak viewing time is on weekends, particularly Sundays. However, the platform maintains a solid number of viewers on a given day.
6. There are 140 million unique visitors to Twitch monthly.
This shows tremendous growth over the past six years. Twitch had 55 million users in 2015, so that makes for almost triple the growth since then. Usage includes 127,000 live broadcasts at any point in time. Almost 25% of all users call Twitch their content home.
The upward trend is expected to continue as Amazon is putting effort into expanding the types of content the platform promotes with some “mainstreaming” the niche platform into content consumed by the general population.
7. Amazon paid $1 billion in cash for the gaming platform and social media network.
Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 after a bidding war with Google. Amazon ended up paying $1 billion in cash for the gaming platform and social media network. Twitch is now valued at $3.79 billion. In a recent announcement, Twitch said it would expand live streaming to other forms of content such as television shows and possibly NFL games. It is seeking a partnership with the NFL to bring that to fruition.
8. Most Twitch users are young, with 41% between the ages of 16-24.
The total percentage of Twitch users are millennials with 73% of them under 35 years old. This is part of the norm for most niche platforms like Twitch. This includes the percentage from the 16 to 24 age group and another 32% in Twitch’s demographic falling into the 25 to 34-year-old category.
Twitch’s users are mostly male with 65% of its demographics being men. That is largely due to its platform focusing on gaming, which is the content that men mostly watch. Men also watch sports, and esports is a big component of Twitch.
9. Only 3% of Twitch users are between the ages of 55 to 64.
This isn’t an unusual number. The low percentage of older people on Twitch is largely because Twitch is geared to live online gaming audiences and that is something most older people aren’t interested in. However, that number could change once Twitch adds more television shows and sports.
10. The U.S. accounts for 24.32% of Twitch viewers.
The United States outpaces other countries by a large margin in its reach for viewers. The U.S. numbers are followed by Germany with 6.6% of viewers and Russia bringing 4.93% of Twitch users After that, Canada comes in with 4.25% of Twitch viewers, and Brazil brings in 4.08% of viewers to the platform.
The forecast is for the U.S. to grow to 41.5 million viewers for Twitch by 2024, so Twitch remains dependent on the U.S. for a huge part of its market share.
Most popular Twitch streams
11. The most popular game on Twitch is League of Legends.
League of Legends is a game of teams that boasts more than 140 champions. It has an online battle arena that was inspired by Defense of the Ancients. It came out in 2009 and achieved immediate success. League of Legends has, so far, had 38.64 billion views.
League of Legends’ success is followed by other top games such as Fortnite, CS: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, Hearthstone, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO), and Grand Theft Auto.
12. The most followed Twitch user is Ninja, with 17 million followers as of March 2021.
Ninja has far surpassed all other Twitch.tv channels with 16.2 million followers. It is followed by Tfue with 9.65 million followers, Shroud with 8.51 million followers, Rubius with 7.2 million followers, Myth with 7.04 million people, and Pokimane with 6.52 million followers.
Ninja was released from its Twitch contract last year after Mixer shut down. That means the channel is free to stream wherever the owner wants. He was popular from the start of his return on Twitch with almost 100,000 viewers watching after just 15 minutes of him going live.
Ninja was also featured on ESPN’s cover.
13. Twitch’s most viewed channel of all time is Fextralife.
Fextralife is a news resource and gaming hub that covers video game trends and the Wiki-network. It also has news targeting the RPG genre. It also includes a blog hosted by knowledgeable members of the gaming community to inform on what is new, the best games, and all things gamers look for in niche news.
The fact that Twitch is the premier platform for gaming makes Fextralife a solid side companion to its other content.
Twitch statistics about revenue and growth
14. Annual revenue for Twitch is $1.54 billion.
Twitch has a similar revenue-making model to its competitor YouTube. In this model, advertisements and subscriptions fund the platform’s free streaming service. It began looking at expanding its business model since Amazon purchased it in 2014.
One of those changes is that Amazon integrated Twitch’s membership into its Amazon Prime membership in September 2016. Prime members can get a free membership to Twitch.
Twitch also makes money by selling in-app purchases that are called “Bits.” Those watching streaming content can support their favorite streams by buying Bits. There are different types of “cheering bits” that translate into animated emotes in chat messages. The streamer gets one cent of each bit.
15. Twitch is ranked 34th in global internet engagement.
This is significant when you consider the overall global market for websites and platforms. The global ranking of Twitch is impressive considering there are 2 billion websites around the world. There are also 4.66 billion active internet users to consider, so Twitch has a decent presence.
However, Twitch hasn’t surpassed other known competitors in global internet engagement. Google and YouTube still have more internet engagement worldwide in their video-sharing rankings.
FAQs
How does a Twitch Partnership work?
Top-performing creators can access Twitch Partnership to become an influencer. This is for serious broadcasters who have a large audience and want to take their broadcasting further. To be in the Twitch Partner Program, you must apply and be selected. This is a much stricter and tightly controlled process than becoming a Twitch Affiliate.
Twitch streamers must complete a Path to Partner achievement to even apply for Partnership but that doesn’t guarantee acceptance. Those who complete the path program will see an unlocked button to apply for the Partnership program.
Does Twitch monitor behavior off the platform?
Yes, Twitch tries to monitor behavior beyond its platform to broadcasters when they are offline. However, it isn’t easy and the effort is more of a policy statement than an enforcement tool
There are strict parameters to such enforcement, according to Twitch’s policies. First, the links from Twitch to other platforms where the conduct allegedly took place must be verifiable and the content must be tied directly to the Twitch subscribers.
Also, the target of the bullying behavior must be other Twitch users or a group on Twitch or employees of Twitch.
The platform doesn’t take any action regarding off-Twitch content that was created and posted before March 5, 2018.
Are there guidelines for my clothing during a live stream?
Yes and no. Twitch doesn’t have clear-cut rules regarding dress during a live broadcast but does recommend unique streamers to wear clothes that would be appropriate for public consumption considering the location, context, and activity that they are focusing on in their live streaming.
Does Twitch have a watch history?
No, the platform doesn’t offer a watch history. However, it does have a section where you can continue watching where they left off on mobile devices. You can also find your most recent searches in your search bar.
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