State of the Stream for Dec 2023: Twitch has Q4 uptick, CoD: Warzone blows up, fps_shaka wears his first crown

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.

Twitch wraps up 2024 with slight growth in Q4

Twitch’s growth was relatively flat in 2023, but the platform ended the year on a high note with a slight increase in viewership. In Q3, 5,154.0B hours were watched compared to Q4 with 5,292.0B, amounting to a 3% difference.

Daily hours also peaked in December over the previous two quarters.

StreamElements co-founder Or Perry had this to say about 2023:

“Twitch had relatively few peaks and valleys in 2023, with only a 3% increase in hours watched in Q4. One notable takeaway is that streaming cutbacks from top talent who now share time on other platforms did not significantly impact viewership. This has also opened the door for other stars to take the throne, such as Japan’s fps_shaka landing top streamer for the first time. One avenue for Twitch to accelerate its growth is to encourage its creators to multi-stream, given the existing broader gaming audience.”

Viewership of Call of Duty: Warzone explodes!

Call of Duty: Warzone rocketed up the charts with the launch of Season 1. Hours watched increased 349%, with a 29 million month-over-month increase. Symfuhny was the most viewed CoD: Warzone creator during December, with 1.8M hours watched, almost twice as much as chowh1, the runner-up.

fps_shaka takes #1 for the first time, putting Japan on the top of the map

Japanese-speaking streamer fps_shaka has cracked Twitch’s top 10 on many occasions, but this is the first time he has taken the throne. The game that drove this rise was Grand Theft Auto V, which he streamed for 239 hours. The only other month he extensively streamed GTA V was July, which put him in the #2 spot, so this game is his not-so-secret weapon for obtaining more crowns.

Raderaderader, another Japanese-language channel, entered the top 10 for the first time. GTA V was their game of choice as well.

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