Stream Hatchet: Gaming Streaming Market in Q2'24
Market showed growth in Q2 after 2 years of decline.
Market Situation
Gaming stream views in Q2 2024 reached 8.5 billion hours, a 10% increase from the previous year. After two years of decline, the second quarter is positive again. Experts attribute this to the growth of Kick, Rumble, and CHZZK. Interestingly, the number of hours watched surpassed the pandemic year of 2020 by 4.8%.
Esports event views in Q2 2024 dropped by 1% to 654 million hours, marking the first decline since 2019. However, the Q2 2024 results are still the second highest in history. The most-watched tournament was the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational for League of Legends (70 million hours, accounting for 10.7% of the total).
Twitch held 60.3% of the market in Q2 2024 (down from 70% in Q2 2023); YouTube Gaming had 23.4% (up from 17% in Q2 2023); Kick held 5.5%. Facebook fell out of the top 5 in terms of audience, with AfreecaTV in 4th place (3.4%); and the new South Korean platform CHZZK in 5th place (2.1%).
Twitch views in Q2 2024 fell by 5% compared to Q2 2023. All other platforms in the top 5 saw growth. YouTube Gaming grew by 50% YoY; Kick by 163% YoY; AfreecaTV by 13%; no growth data is available for CHZZK as it is a new platform. Facebook Live dropped by 69% YoY, ranking 8th in popularity in Q2 2024.
Seasonality in Twitch and YouTube Gaming
The biggest difference between weekday and weekend viewing hours occurs in the fall, with 13.1% more hours watched on weekends. The smallest difference is in the summer at 9.7%, likely due to many people going on vacation.
In summer, people watch streams less on weekdays than in winter or spring, but more than in autumn. On weekends, summer viewing is similar to autumn but still less than in spring or winter.
Most Popular Games in Q2 2024
Grand Theft Auto V (510 million hours, -13% YoY), League of Legends (439 million hours, -17% YoY), and Valorant (299 million hours) were the leaders in viewership.
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Elden Ring saw the largest growth in Q2 2024, with views up by 331% (reaching 161 million hours), driven by the release of a DLC.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang also saw significant growth in the top 10, influenced by esports.
The best launches in Q2 2024 were Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (81.2 million hours), Destiny 2: The Final Shape (24.8 million hours), and Wuthering Waves (19.2 million hours). Interestingly, expansions outperformed full games in popularity. It's also worth noting XDefiant in 4th place with 16.7 million hours.
Most Popular Genres in Q2 2024
FPS (1.2 billion hours, -4% YoY), Action-Adventure (831 million hours, -24% YoY), and MOBA (812 million hours, +3% YoY) were the most popular genres on streaming platforms. The decline in Action-Adventure is due to the lack of major new games, unlike last year when Diablo IV and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom were released.
The share of FPS dropped to 13% in Q2 2024 from 16% in Q2 2020. MOBA's share fell from 11% to 9% over the same period. However, views for Action games rose from 4% in Q2 2020 to 8% in Q2 2024. RPG views increased from 3% to 7%.
Streamer Statistics
KaiCenat was the most popular streamer in Q2 2024, with 43.8 million hours watched.
Over the years, the share of top channels has been declining. This allows new faces to emerge on the scene.
In Q2 2024, the top 5% of channels accounted for 86% of all hours watched. The top 0.01% of channels accounted for 33% of all hours watched.