Following its launch in 2011, Twitch rose to prominence relatively quickly, becoming a household name among the video game and eSports crowd. But the platform has since been diversifying its offering in a bid to reach a broader audience and, of course, enrich the Twitch demographics data. And while 2020 will be remembered by many as the year of economic decline brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, Twitch enjoyed unprecedented growth.

Today, the numbers tell a success story. We’ve dug deeper and analyzed the data to compile a list of stats that will provide you with valuable insight into who uses the platform, how often they do so, and much more.

Twitch Audience Demographics  - Editor’s Choice 

  • The all-time peak of concurrent Twitch viewers in a single month was 6,577,002.
  • Felix Lengyel (xQcOW on Twitch) earned $1.98 million in 2020. 
  • Twitch users spend an average of 95 minutes on the platform daily.
  • 73% of Twitch users are below the age of 35.
  • 65% of Twitch’s core demographic is male. 
  • Just Chatting was the most-watched category on Twitch in Q1 2021 with 754 million hours.
  • Fortnite had a peak of 2,277,171 viewers during the Device event on June 15, 2020.  
  • Non-gaming content represented 11% of total hours watched in December 2019.

Twitch Stats on Streamers

1. The most followed Twitch streamer has more than 16 million followers.

(TwitchMetrics)

The top 50 Twitch streamers enjoy the undivided attention of tens of millions of followers. The name at the very top of that list is Ninja, who currently has more than 16,790,000 followers, and that number is continually growing. He also has an impressive peak of 85,395 viewers. Ninja is followed by Tfue, with more than 10.5 million followers. The next three names on the list, Rubius, shroud, auronplay, each have more than nine million Twitch followers.

2. The all-time peak of 6,577,002 concurrent Twitch viewers in a single month was recorded in January 2021.  

(TwitchTracker, Mediakix)

Twitch has an average of 2,709,745 viewers per day. Of course, not every day is average, and some days attract more people than others. 

The platform had the highest number of concurrent viewers during the month of January in 2021, which surpassed the 6.5 million mark. June 2020 isn’t far behind with 6,059,527. The weekly average is somewhat lower than the daily one, with 2,699,752 viewers. Most viewers on Twitch tune in to watch the platform’s more than 2.2 million creators. 

3. The highest number of concurrent viewers for a Twitch stream is 2,468,668. 

(The Guinness World Records)

Depending on the popularity of the streamer, a stream can have anything from a few viewers to millions of people that tune in to watch the content. One stream, in particular, stands out for its massive audience.

On January 11, 2021, Fortnite gamer David "TheGrefg" Cánovas Martínez from Spain broke the Twitch viewer record, which was previously held by his American counterpart, Ninja. For his part, TheGrefg has an impressive seven million followers and regularly shares streams of himself playing Fortnite, League of Legends, and Valorant.

4. Felix Lengyel, better known as xQcOW, emerged as the top-earning streamer on Twitch in 2020, pocketing an estimated $1.98 million.  

(Statista)

Given the tens of millions of viewers and the ballooning popularity of the platform, it’s little surprise that the top earners on Twitch rake in a substantial amount of money. According to recent Twitch streamer statistics, at least eight content creators generated more than a million dollars in revenue throughout 2020 from advertising, subscriptions, and donations. Meanwhile, streamers with the highest number of followers, like Ninja, are sitting on an estimated net worth of over $20 million.

5. Twitch streamers with 1,001-9,999 daily viewers earn between $80 and $1000 per month.

(LolFinity)

Streamers who manage to attract more viewers over time gradually grow their earnings as well. For instance, newbies who have up to 100 daily viewers make a maximum average salary of $100/month. Meanwhile, a locally prominent streamer with up to 9,999 can expect an average Twitch income as high as $1,000/month. Twitch superstars with up to 10,000,000 daily viewers make most of their money from sponsorship deals and can earn an average of up to $100,000/month.

6. xQcOW was the most-watched Twitch streamer between August 2020 and August 2021, pulling in more than 250,000,000 hours of watch time.

(SullyGnome)

In addition to being the top earner in 2020, xQcOW is the most-watched channel on the platform. The channel had an average of 70,729 viewers, with a peak of 167,224 viewers during the aforementioned time period. These figures further solidify xQcOW’s status as one of the best Twitch profiles currently available.

7. The average Twitch Affiliate has 30 viewers.

(CreatorHype)

The Twitch Affiliate program enables streamers to monetize their channel while they grow their audience and work towards becoming a Twitch Partner. The average Twitch Affiliate with its 30 viewers made just over $444 during the first half of 2021, gaining roughly 170 followers per month. Those who gained more than the average number of viewers on Twitch made considerably more money. For example, a streamer with 110 viewers generated more than $2,700.   

8. In January 2021, Twitch hit a peak of 9.89 million active streamers. 

(Statista)

The rapid expansion of the live-streaming sector is directly attributable to the global Covid-19 lockdowns. In the early months of the pandemic, the number of active Twitch streamers went from 5.08 million in March 2020 to 7.21 million in April of that year. According to the latest Twitch stream stats, those numbers continued to soar in the months that followed, and there were similarly impressive spikes between October (7.84 million) and December (9.24 million). 

The number of streamers on the platform hit an all-time peak in January of 2021. Since then, the figures dipped slightly to 9.36 million in April. When it comes to the number of followers, Ninja remains the top-ranked streamer on Twitch. 

Twitch Viewers Stats

 9. In April 2021, Twitch had an average of 3,108,249 concurrent viewers.

(TwitchTracker)

In order to avoid any confusion, it’s important to point out the difference between concurrent and total views. The former refers to the number of viewers who are watching the stream each second, and as such, this number fluctuates as viewers leave or join the stream. The total number of viewers refers to how many people watched the stream since the beginning of the broadcast.   

The highest average number of concurrent Twitch viewers during the first half of 2021 was recorded in April. In the following months, those averages saw minor declines. By June, the average was less than 2.8 million viewers. 

Nevertheless, these numbers still signal a high degree of interest in the content and its creators. 2021 is also the year that set new records, including January’s all-time peak of total viewers. Some of the top streamers undoubtedly contributed to these impressive stats. For his part, TheGrefg had the most concurrent Twitch viewers for a streamer at the start of the year. 

10. An average of 30 million people visit Twitch every day.

(Twitch.tv)

The average viewership at any given moment on Twitch is more than 2.5 million. However, way more people actually visit this streaming service on a daily basis, be it for several hours or a few moments. 

The platform’s global reach is massive, with an estimated one trillion people tuning in throughout 2020. According to Twitch viewership stats, the platform’s users are located in 230 countries throughout the world. 

11. Q2 2021 was the third quarter in a row that Twitch recorded an all-time viewership high with 6.51 billion hours watched.

(Streamlabs)

The platform enjoyed a 27% year-on-year increase in viewership between Q2 2020 and the same period in 2021. In 2020, visitors watched a total of 5.118 billion hours of content. That number increased to 5,436 billion hours in the last quarter of the same year and grew to 6,337 billion hours in Q1 2021. 

The amount of time spent on Twitch by average viewers accounts for a significant portion of the total number of hours watched across all streaming platforms. And while Covid-19 restrictions drove up unemployment rates, streaming platforms are continuing to grow, with the total number of hours watched rising from 8.77 billion in Q1 2021 to 8.99 billion in Q2 2021.   

12. Twitch’s core demographic is 65% male.

(Mediakix)

In terms of gender, Twitch leans heavily toward the male demographic, which accounts for more than half of all users. These Twitch viewer demographics may be explained by the fact that males make a higher percentage of gamers worldwide. 

But that doesn’t mean that women creators aren’t popular on the platform. Today, powerful women are a prominent feature in almost every aspect of the tech industry, and Twitch is no exception. Several names, including Valkyrae and Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys, have climbed to the upper echelons of live streaming since the start of 2021. As such, we should be seeing these disparities within Twitch audience demographics diminishing over time. 

13. On average, Twitch users spend 95 minutes on the platform every day.

(Make a Website Hub)

It goes without saying that the amount of time that Twitch users spend on the platform varies. Some are there for hours, while others stop by for a few minutes and call it a day. The average Twitch user spends slightly longer than 1.5 hours on the streaming site. 

While compiling information on Twitch viewers and relevant stats, we learned that many users tune in from their mobile devices. In fact, the Twitch app is one of the most used on the market.

14. Gen Z makes up 43% of the Twitch userbase.

(CivicScience)

Twitch has a pretty young audience. A recent survey involving ​​151,400 Americans (aged 13+) revealed that nearly half of the viewers belong to Gen Z while 27% are Millennials. Among those surveyed between the ages of 13 and 24, almost one quarter (23%) watch Twitch frequently. That number drops to a mere 3% among those who are 55 or older. 

These Twitch trends also underscore the fact that much of the platform’s content tailors to younger generations. This might be a short term fix for younger people who are struggling to find a healthy work-life balance and need to unwind at the end of the day.     

15. Nearly 50% of Twitch users are between the ages of 18 and 34.

(Twitch Advertising)

If you needed further proof that Twitch is young people’s territory, here it is: 21% of the platform’s users are between the ages of 13 and 17. Anyone younger than 13 isn’t permitted to have an account, and according to the company’s terms of service, those below the age of 18 should be accessing the platform with an adult. These rules are partly in place to ensure that the average age of Twitch viewers doesn’t fall below the appropriate threshold.

16. 7% of Twitch users are aged between 45 and 54.

(GWI)

After covering the younger side of Twitch’s user base, it’s time to take a closer look at some numbers about the older viewers who account for a smaller but still relevant percentage of the community. 

Twitch viewer statistics show that 7% of Twitch’s users are between 45 and 54 years old. Meanwhile, only 3% of users are older than 55 and younger than 64.

17. On average, 2,354,600 people tune in to Twitch on Sundays.

(Influencer Marketing Hub)

A lot of people stream on Twitch. In fact, the sheer number of content creators makes it difficult for newbies to get a foothold on the platform.

As such, one of the first things new streamers need to worry about is finding the best days to stream on Twitch. Generally, it’s better to avoid days when tons of other streamers are active, enabling newcomers to work around the competition.

According to available data, Sunday is the busiest day for Twitch. An average of more than 2,3 million people viewers tune in on that day.

18. The average Twitch session lasts eight minutes and 41 seconds.

(Similarweb)

We already mentioned that people spend around 90 minutes on Twitch on average. However, that number largely includes active users. When we include both the active and inactive Twitch.tv demographics, the average session time sinks to a little over eight minutes and 30 seconds.

19. Over 20% of Twitch viewers are in the United States.

(Similarweb)

Most of the content on Twitch is in English. As such, many would assume that most viewers come from English-speaking countries. While the United States has the largest number of viewers than any single country, it isn’t an overwhelming majority.

Nevertheless, when evaluating the demographics of Twitch with respect to international borders, Germany is a distant second, accounting for only 6.84% of the traffic. Other notable contributors include Russia (4.23%), Canada (4.12%), and France (3.91%). All those countries combined still generate less traffic than the 22.40% coming from the US. 

Twitch Game Stats and Data on Other Categories 

20. The Just Chatting category was the most-watched on Twitch in Q1 2021. 

(Streamlabs)

In a bid to diversify its offering, Twitch is unveiling a variety of unique channels that cover much more than gaming and include everything from sports and fitness to talk shows and podcasts. One of the categories credited with fuelling the platform’s recent growth is Just Chatting, which accounts for 12% of all the content watched on the site during Q1 2021.    

Just Chatting, which lacks any gameplay, exploded on Twitch, overtaking the most popular games in Q3 2020 when it had more than 520 million hours watched. During the first few months of 2021, that number rose to 754 million hours watched.   

21. League of Legends gets an average of 215,000+ daily views on Twitch.

(Streams Charts)

League of Legends is the main game attraction on Twitch, regularly drawing in hundreds of thousands of viewers. The data on Twitch viewer demographics shows that over 215,000 people watch LoL streamers on average.

Around 5,300 Twitch channels center their content around League of Legends. On average, they all get between 45 and 55 viewers.

22. During the Device event on June 15, Fortnite had a peak of 2,277,171 viewers.

(TwitchTracker)

In June 2020, Fortnite was already a highly popular game. But that month, the game recorded a new peak viewership record and solidified its place among the top streaming games on Twitch. 

This pivotal moment was marked by more than 2.2 million people tuning in to watch Twitch streamers drop onto a cartoonish island and try to eliminate one another. 

23. The peak number of players for Among Us in 2020 was 438,524.

(Dot Esports)

The online multiplayer social deduction game Among Us came into the spotlight in the summer of 2020, eventually landing in fourth place on the list of trending games that year. 

Though still far from the most streamed games on Twitch, it saw a sharp rise in the number of players, which reached 438,524 by September. It would eventually land on the top ten list of the most-watched games in 2020.

24. Non-gaming content accounted for 11% of total hours watched in December 2019.

(StreamElements)

A growing number of online users are starting to realize that there’s more to Twitch than just gaming. It hosts anything from makeup channels to political debate panels. 

These non-gaming categories aren’t exactly irrelevant. Twitch stream statistics reveal they account for 11% of all hours watched in December 2019. In the same month the previous year, it was 8% of all hours watched.

25. WoW had an average of 121,000 concurrent viewers in December 2020.

(TwitchTracker)

World of Warcraft has been a prominent feature in the MMORPG genre for over a decade now. According to Twitch game statistics, WoW had 121,000 concurrent viewers in December 2020. 

The game hasn’t been able to replicate those numbers thus far. The number of hours watched in December was 90.1 million. The following month, it dropped by more than 50% to just 44.6 million hours. But the numbers from January 2021 are still an improvement when compared with earlier data. For instance, WoW had around 12 million view hours in December 2016.

Twitch Demographics: Wrapup

These statistics offer valuable information about Twitch streamers, viewers, and the most popular content on the streaming site. The data reveals that the platform’s viewer base is fairly diverse. Still, a significant portion of the users are young, and males account for more than half the core demographic.  

The gender disparities aren’t the only intriguing Twitch trend these days. We’ve also noticed that the platform is diversifying its offering as categories that have nothing to do with gameplay gain popularity. That’s also translated into changes in Twitch audience demographics, which originally consisted of those interested in gaming. For instance, Just Chatting emerged as the most-watched category in the first quarter of 2021.  

But above anything else, these stats show that this streaming service is only getting more popular. The coronavirus pandemic has only accelerated this growth as global lockdowns and restrictions on movement confined people to their homes - many of whom turned to Twitch to kill time. In the first half of 2020, the number of viewers increased at a greater rate than ever before. The data suggests that Twitch will continue to enjoy further expansion in the coming months and years.