Twitch’s 2024 in Numbers – Is its Long-Term Future Still Bright? The Twitch 2024 community recap has now been published.
The recap, which gauges the popularity of the live streaming platform, revealed a total of 20.35 billion hours of content live streamed by viewers.
If you combined every hour in a year and multiplied it by two million, this would only come close to the 20.35 billion figure.
There are some serious numbers to weigh up regarding the Twitch community. The recap states that the platform now boasts over 21.4 million active streamers.
This is content creators who have active Twitch channels and stream to their followers regularly.
It’s also important to look at the number of streamers new to the Twitch community.
The recap states an impressive 9.51 million first-time streamers to the platform, which equates to 44% of all the active content creators this year.
This suggests that just over half of active streamers are long-time content creators, underlining a possible churn within the community.
What were the most popular categories of content consumed on Twitch in 2024?
Worldwide, the most popular category revolved around the hit video game Grand Theft Auto V.
A staggering 1.46 billion hours of GTA V content was consumed by users in all four corners of the globe.
Viewers channelled their inner gangster to join gamers and other GTA V personalities on real-time adventures in this immersive, open-world game.
One of the most interesting statistics to come from this recap is the most popular category among North American viewers – Just Chatting.
That’s right, some 843.39 million hours of content was consumed by people hanging out and chatting to streaming personalities.
That’s why people invest heavily in state-of-the-art microphones which block background noise and create the best audio experience for listeners.
The fact that Just Chatting managed to overtake various Esports categories this year suggests this type of live streaming could still have huge growth potential.
Poker is another popular Twitch category, whereby poker professionals and personalities regularly live stream their online poker sessions to their followers. Even the leading online poker rooms have their own Twitch channels.
PokerStars’ Twitch channel is accessible from its section teaching users how to play poker, with many of its brand ambassadors teaming up to live stream their own poker games as well as the biggest online events in the PokerStars schedule.
Looking at more region-specific data, the Asia Pacific demographic have long been enchanted by Esports and watching live Esports events.
Some 263 million hours were consumed watching the live Twitch streams of the Valorant Champions 2024 event in the South Korean capital of Seoul.
Chinese team EDward Gaming eventually took home the title, with around 1.4 million followers tuning in across the tournament.
In Latin America, Twitch also hosted the Kings League, a real-life seven-a-side football league broadcast exclusively on the Twitch platform.
This saw 48.7 million hours of Kings League action consumed by Latin American users this year.
What is the innate appeal of Twitch?
Gaming journalist, Nathan Grayson, recently published a book ‘Stream Big’ on the story of Twitch and the realities of being a Twitch streamer.
Within the book, Grayson explains why so many users are lured to Twitch.
He likened it to sitting on a sofa, kicking back and watching a friend play your favourite video game.
Although you may not be playing simultaneously, you’re still experiencing the moment in time together.
Grayson believes viewers tune in to Twitch streams to humanise their hobbies and pastimes, ensuring social experiences that few platforms can compare with.
Twitch connects people in a moment of time, no matter how much distance there is between them.
StreamElements recently published its list of the most popular Twitch streamers in 2024, based on the number of hours watched between January and November.
KaiCenat stands out from the crowd as comfortably the most popular Twitch personality, attracting 184 million hours of views, more than double the size of second-ranked ibai. 23-year-old KaiCenat is now the most-subscribed Twitch streamer on the platform, specialising in comedic live streams.
Meanwhile ibai is a Spanish content creator specialising in G2 Esports and has shot to notoriety in his native Spain.
So much so that he’s now friends with the likes of Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero.
All of which shows the power of Twitch in the modern era.
Hope you’ve found our article, Twitch’s 2024 in Numbers – Is its Long-Term Future Still Bright? useful.
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