Stream Hatchet has launched a report looking back at gaming in 2020, and among the many takeaways is newfound domination by Riot Video games, spiking viewership figures and the way celebrities like athletes and politicans are actually embracing the area.
The info intelligence agency, which works with publishers like Riot Video games and companies like UTA on monitoring streaming, stated that whereas there wasn’t extraordinary development final yr earlier than the pandemic began, that modified shortly in mid March and the good points had been maintained even after conventional sports activities returned in mid summer time.
Streaming of stay video video games in 2020 was up 81% from ’19, with Riot Video games’ League of Legends supplanting Fortnite as the most well-liked recreation.
Whereas Twitch stays the biggest participant among the many western streaming platforms, and doubled its hours watched in This fall 2020 from the identical interval in 2019, Stream Hatchet says that YouTube Gaming and even Fb Gaming additionally noticed notable development final yr. The one platform that didn’t was Microsoft’s Mixer.
YouTube went from 1 billion hours watched in This fall 2019 to 1.9 billion in the identical interval final yr, helped partially by signing new partnerships with high-profile streamers like Valkyrae and with Activision Blizzard Esports for Name of Obligation League and Overwatch League.
Whereas Fb Gaming is just not seen as pedigreed as Twitch or YouTube, Stream Hatchet says it doubled its hours watched in This fall final yr, boosted by cell gaming audiences reminiscent of PUBG Cellular and Garena Free Hearth.
Different highlights included how girls are a rising phase of viewership, presently round 30%, in response to YouGov knowledge, and that gaming streams sponsored by company manufacturers amassed 355 million hours watched final yr.
Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez additionally acquired a shoutout for incomes a peak viewership of 438,000 individuals throughout her stream final yr when she performed the favored Amongst Us recreation.
