State of the Stream April 2020: Valorant and its streamers top the charts, music is having its moment, and streaming hits huge numbers
There is no question that livestreaming has been on the rise for awhile, but the pandemic-driven shelter-in-place mandates have supersized the industry. In addition to more people watching and playing games, there’s been a huge influx of non-gaming context. This has ranged from big music events to dance classes and fitness streams as individuals and organizations look for new means to generate revenue for themselves or others. The following report outlines the latest narratives from StreamElements with data courtesy of our friends at Arsenal.gg.
Livestreaming is Crushing it with ~100% Growth in Hours Watched Year-over-Year
The livestreaming industry has proven to be one of the bright lights during these dark times based on its milestone-setting viewership numbers. Whether you look at the 1.49B hours watched of gaming-specific content on Twitch or the 1.65B hours watched when you add in the non-gaming content (like music, Just Chatting, etc.), it’s clear they are still king of the stream with overall hours watched. Facebook Gaming also managed to impress in terms of the rate of their growth, more than tripling their year-over-year numbers. While Mixer had the least amount of growth, Microsoft still has a potential ace in its pocket depending on how they marry Ninja with Xbox Series X and Halo Infinite.
Streaming is on the Rise Month-over-Month as More People Turn to the Medium for the First Time
From March to April, every major livestreaming platform experienced growth with 45% more hours being collectively watched. While the industry already had momentum coming into this year, sheltering-in-place definitely gave it an extra boost. Facebook saw the most significant leap in terms of personal growth, benefiting greatly from the release of their standalone gaming app and hosting several successful celebrity tournaments.
Valorant Impacts the List of the Top 10 Streamers on Twitch
Riot’s closed beta launch of Valorant was a thing of beauty when they leveraged select members of the streaming community to be primary destinations for others to visit in order to get their own beta keys via drops. A byproduct of this approach was that a number of the gatekeepers (i.e. keydroppers) soared up the charts, especially those who dropped keys for longer hours. Among the new additions to the top 10 was Anomaly (who reached the top spot!), ONSCREEN, Myth, and Sfory.
Valorant Achieved Staggering Viewership Numbers, but don’t Count Fortnite Out
Valorant did a lot of things right, from its beta key dropping strategy and leaning into influencers to being an exciting hybrid that married the best gameplay elements of other popular esports titles. The result was not just a lot of hours watched during the month, but reaching a peak concurrent viewership of 1.7M viewers on the closed beta’s April 7th launch.
Fortnite also continues to impress this year. It has grown month-over-month since January which is usually not the case for titles of its size that have been out for over a year. Helping with its momentum was April’s in-game event where Travis Scott premiered a brand new track.
Just Chatting Continues to be the Most Consistent Category on Twitch
While gaming categories rise and fall depending on new updates and events, Just Chatting, which boasted a whopping 138% year-over-year increase in hours watched, has turned our infographics into steps that keep on ascending. This year in particular has been a popular time for Just Chatting due to the heavy influx of new viewers with interests beyond games.
The Homeschool of Rock is in Session as Music Takes Center Stage
It’s no surprise that shelter-in-place mandates have driven all types of performers and music events to turn Twitch into their venue. What might be a surprise (to some) are the amount of hours being consumed watching it. Music & Performing Arts content has been doubling in hours watched from month-to-month since February, while year-over-year it has risen from 3.6M in April 2019 to 17M in April 2020, representing a massive 385% year-over-year growth.
While many have turned to Twitch as a way to make money in lieu of being able to tour and perform, others have used Twitch as a vehicle to raise money for those in need. Twitch even hosted their own celebrity-packed Stream Aid charity event that showcased the power of their platform.
StreamElements has also been helping musicians make the transition to the livestreaming space with our always free-to-use stack of production, monetization, and engagement tools which work in tandem with this recent blog post on how to get started streaming.
