New data shows that Twitch is growing at a record clip. The live streaming service added 3.5 million streamers since January 2020, representing 88 percent growth.
The growth can be attributed to stay-at-home orders. Entertainment options have been limited due to a lack live sports and closed movie theaters. Video games have proven to be a popular retreat. In fact, the Switch is experiencing global shortages.
According to Finbold.com:
At the end of January, Twitch had 3.94 million streamers but slightly dropped in February to 3.75 million. In March, the streamers skyrocketed by 35.4% to 5.08 million and by April they hit 7.21 million. In May streamers stood at 7.4 million a growth of about 2.6% from the previous month.
Between 2018 and 2020, the streamers were lowest in February 2018 at 2.89 million but later rose to 3.7 million in March. In January 2018, the streamers stood at 2.97 million representing a growth of 149.16% to the current figure. Twitch recorded a significant number of streamers in January 2019 at 4.54 million, the highest before the 2020 spike. From this point, the streamers declined to hit a yearly low of 2.94 million in 2019.”
The report notes that the most-watched game Twitch is currently League of Legends with 30.9 million hours watched. Grand Theft Auto V managed 24.9 million hours, while Fortnite had 24.8 million hours. Rounding out the top five is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18.4 million hours in views.
Other most viewed games include CS: GO (18.2 million hours), Valorant (16.5 million hours), Dota 2 (10.1 million hours), Minecraft (9.84 million hours), and FIFA 20 (8.65 million hours).