State of the Stream for October 2021: Twitch is rising again, Esports has a big month, and VTubers are moving on up
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.
Download the PDF and Hi-Res slides HERE.
After a dip in Q3, Twitch is on the rise again
From the end of Q2 and throughout Q3, Twitch dropped down from averaging over 2 billion hours watched a month, but had major momentum in October to move back toward that point with over 1.9B hours watched. A big accelerant were big Dota 2 and League of Legends events taking place during the month. Facebook Gaming remained almost on par with its previous month and boasts an impressive 61% year-over-year growth with over 521M hours watched.
League of Legends and Dota 2 create the perfect viewership storm
Dota 2’s The International 10 and League of Legends’ 2021 World Championship are two of the biggest esports events of the year which is validated by massive viewership spikes on Twitch. The hours watched of Dota 2 were up 189% while League of Legends increased 98% (this doesn’t include the final matches which took place in November).
New World managed to keep viewers engaged beyond its impressive premiere at the end of September by finishing out October as the 5th most popular game based on hours watched.
Gaules is no stranger to the top spot, but xRohat is a stranger to the top 10
Ludwig had amazing success when he made a deal with his audience that he would keep streaming if they kept subbing. Apparently it is a replicable formula with Germany’s xRohat making a similar offer with similar results. He went from around 1.5M hours watched in September to over 7.8M in October which catapulted him 435% from the #99 spot to #9 among top individual streamers on Twitch. During this marathon most of his time was spent playing GTA V or sleeping, so apparently “you snooze, you lose” is no longer a credible adage.
While xQcOW has held the top spot more times than any other streamer, Gaules has grabbed it from time to time, and one of those times was in October. The majority of Gaules’ time was spent playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with over 500 hours logged, but the second biggest chunk of his playtime was the 105 hours dedicated to War by Grow Games (Like Gaules, Grow Games is from Brazil with War currently #200 on Twitch’s chart of top games based on viewership).
Beyond individual streamers, dedicated esports channels dedicated to League of Legends (RiotGames and LCK_Korea) and Dota 2 (dota2ti_ru and dota2ti) dominated the top of the charts given the major events happening with both games.
Amouranth‘s versatility with non-gaming categories helped made her Twitch’s most watched woman
The top 10 women streamers on Twitch has a lot of familiar faces with Amouranth high above the rest with over 3.1M hours watched. She has been adept at drawing an audience to every category she streams in, from ASMR, Pools, Hot Tubs, Beaches, Just Chatting, and even the recently launched Animals, Aquariums, and Zoos where she shared the screen with horses.
Adding a twist to the top 10 were ironmouse and veibae, both of which are female VTubers. These live avatars illustrate the growing appeal and influence of anime that has been permeating the pop culture landscape, such as the Demon Slayer movie being a huge box office success, the iconic Cowboy Bebop getting a live-action adaptation on Netflix, and Fortnite’s soon to hit collaboration with the Naruto Shippūden series.
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