State of the Stream — 2021 Year in Review
Welcome to the State of the Stream where we share the latest streaming data around platforms, content creators, and related trends. The following report features narratives crafted by StreamElements based on data courtesy of our friends at Rainmaker.gg. In addition, there is a bonus section with Trovo data from our other friends at Streams Charts.
Twitch and Facebook Gaming both grew over 45% year-over-year
When the pandemic led to stay-at-home mandates, the popularity of livestreaming soared across the board on platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and Trovo. In today’s report we look at two of those platforms and you can see just how big an impact it made on viewership numbers. Twitch increased 45% with over 24B total hours watched in 2021 and Facebook Gaming rose 47% with 5.3B hours watched.
YouTube Gaming also boasted some impressive numbers, stating “For the first half of the 2021, YouTube saw over 800 billion gaming-related views, over 90 million hours live streamed, and over 250 million uploads” on their blog.
No strangers in the top 10 games of the year, but New World shined in the #18 spot as top new IP
There were no surprises among the top 10 categories on Twitch in 2021 with Just Chatting, Grand Theft Auto V, and League of Legends having asserted themselves every month this year. Coming close to cracking the top of the charts was New World at #18 which had the crowning achievement of being the most viewed new IP of the year with 259M hours watched.
In terms of non-gaming content, beyond the omnipresent Just Chatting category, it’s clear slots, music, and sports are gathering steam.
xQcOW is top streamer on Twitch two years in a row
While there are a lot of shifts in the top streamers on Twitch month-over-month, xQcOW has proven to be the one constant presence. In addition to being the most viewed streamer of the year with over 261M hours watched, he wore the same crown in 2020.
When it comes to female streamers on Twitch, they are still in low numbers in the top 100 with only 2 cracking the list. The first and #33 overall was Amouranth who was followed by saddummy at #85.
Amouranth managed to maintain her popularity by creating compelling content for new categories as they surface.
The following Trovo section of our State of the Stream Report was created in partnership with Streams Charts.
Trovo’s growth chart resembles an impressive set of stairs
Trovo launched its beta in July of 2020 and has seen a steady quarter-over-quarter increase in hours watched. This all preceded their official launch on December 13th when the beta ended. While each quarter has improved in viewership, the biggest increase has been its quarterly year-over-year growth. In Q3 2021, 73M hours were watched which marks a 715% rise compared to Q3 2020 when they were at about 8.9M hours watched.
Grand Theft Auto V dominates on Trovo too
While there are a lot of areas where streaming platforms overlap, one area that showcases how Trovo differs is its top 10 games of the year chart. It boasts some of the same games (Grand Theft Auto V is a darling everywhere), but sets itself apart with a wealth of mobile games, such as Call of Duty: Mobile, Free Fire, and PUBG Mobile.
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