Video live streaming service Twitch is among the technological platforms that have extensively benefited from the coronavirus pandemic based on the number of new streamers. Data acquired by Finbold.com shows between January and May 2020, Twitch added 3.46 million new streamers representing a growth of 87.81% year-to-date.
At the end of January, Twitch streamers stood at 3.94 million but slightly dropped in February to 3.75 million. In March, at the height of coronavirus lockdowns, the streamers skyrocketed by 35.4% to 5.08 million. The upward trajectory continued in April when the steamers hit 7.21 million. In May streamers stood at 7.4 million a growth of about 2.6 percent.
Between 2018 and 2020, the streamers were lowest in February 2018 at 2.89 million but later rose to 3.7 million in March. In January 2018, the streamers stood at 2.97 million representing a growth of 149.16% to the current figure. Before the rise in 2020 numbers, Twitch recorded the highest number of streamers in January 2019 at 4.54 million. From this point, the streamers declined to hit a yearly low of 2.94 million in 2019. From this low, the numbers of streamers began rising only to witness a drop in February this year.
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Top 10 most viewed games on Twitch
The Finbold.com research also looked at the top most-watched games on Twitch by the first week of June 2020 based on hours. Just Chatting is leading with 43.2 million hours in views followed by League of Legends at 30.9 million hours while GTA 5 occupies the fifth spot at 24.9 million hours. Fornite emerged fourth with 24.8 million hours while COD: Modern Warfare is fifth with 18.4 million hours in views.
CS: GO occupies the sixth slot at 18.2 million hours in views while VALORANT is seventh at 16.5 million hours of viewing. Dota 2 was eighth with 10.1 million hours while Minecraft had 9.84 million hours in views. FIFA 20 closes the top ten categories at 8.65 million hours.
Twitch is a leading video live streaming service with a primary focus on video games live-streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions. Additionally, the service enables live streaming of music broadcasts, creative content.
Recently, Twitch added ‘in real life” streams video content with an option of viewing either live or via video on demand. The service is free for millions of viewers however, users can choose to pay a certain fee to access additional features after subscribing to a streamers channel.
Coronavirus boosts Twitch numbers
Notably, the rise in Twitch streamers was an all-time high figure thanks to coronavirus lockdown that meant most people had to stay at home. During this period, movie theaters were closed with no live sports leaving video-game streaming platforms as an option for entertainment.
During the pandemic, it is worth noting that Twitch also attracted more attention from music players. With no live music shows, thousands of individual musicians and DJs have been giving fans live stream performances from home.
Additionally, with many people being rendered jobless amid the pandemic, Twitch offers a platform to earn extra income. Twitch streamers can earn through donations by setting up PayPal and Patreon accounts. Additionally, streamers can take advantage of the Twitch Affiliate Program and the Twitch Partner Program.
Twitch is now part of the streaming companies that benefited greatly from the coronavirus pandemic. With countries reopening, it will be interesting to see the number of streamers on the platform. However, the latest policy development might impact the number of streamers.
With the growing streamers, users have been hit with copyright takedown notices by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on recorded clips of old live broadcasts. This new feature might impact the numbers of streamers going forward.
