LogInThis article examines how streaming charts have changed from 2015 to 2025, pointing out the main differences and what's developed over the last ten years.
A decade ago, live streaming was a nascent field, a niche within the broader gaming culture; today, it's a major entertainment force influencing game development, marketing, and communities.
We are moving forward with our special series celebrating 10 years of 80 Level! This time, we want to take a closer look at streaming and gaming content creation, from Twitch's single-handed leadership in 2015 to today's competitive streaming landscape.
The Streaming Arena in 2015: Twitch's Ascendancy and YouTube's Entry
In 2015, Twitch was the dominant live game streaming platform after spinning off from Justin.tv (2011) and being acquired by Amazon (2014). It had 100 million monthly viewers, surpassing HBO Go's traffic by 2014. Twitch's gaming focus built a strong community. Partnered streamers earn via ad revenue sharing, subscriptions (typically $4.99 a month), and donations.
Launched in August 2015 to compete with Twitch, Google's YouTube Gaming app and web portal consolidated gaming VODs (video on demand) and live streams. Utilizing YouTube's infrastructure and features like 60fps streaming, the app didn't gain traction, leading to its discontinuation in May 2019, with features integrated into YouTube's main platform. While Hitbox, DouYu, and Huya Live emerged, Twitch dominated Western game streaming. Valve's 2015 Steam Broadcast enabled in-client streaming but lacked Twitch's wider scope.
Moving forward to 2025
As of Q1 2025, the live streaming landscape is fragmented and competitive, with Twitch leading in gaming. By 2025, Twitch maintains its leading position in the dedicated gaming live stream space. It remains the primary platform for gaming streams and esports, capturing 16.3% of total watch hours across all live streaming platforms in Q1 2025, with its gaming streams generating over 3.74 billion watch hours. YouTube, with integrated gaming, is a major force for VOD and live gaming. YouTube Live leads overall with 15 billion hours watched (mostly non-gaming). TikTok Live has surpassed Twitch in overall watch hours (over 8 billion, ~27% of total), driven by IRL content.
In Q1 2025, Twitch led gaming streams with 16.3% of total watch hours (3.74 billion hours). Although its overall watch hour market share has decreased from a peak of ~70% in Q2 2023 to ~60.3% in Q2 2024, Twitch still dominates dedicated gaming live streaming, averaging 2.37 million concurrent viewers in 2024.
Launched in late 2022, Kick is a creator-friendly platform challenging established streaming services. It offers a 95/5 subscription revenue split and more lenient content moderation, attracting creators, particularly those focused on gambling streams. Kick has experienced rapid growth, adding 15-20% to its watch hours quarterly in 2024 and generating over 863 million watch hours in Q1 2025.
Other regional platforms also command significant viewership. SOOP (formerly AfreecaTV) is prominent in South Korea, particularly for League of Legends esports, though it saw a decline in Q1 2025 due to reduced esports activity in that period.
Key trends:
- Live streaming viewership is massive, with 8.5 billion hours consumed in Q2 2024. Twitch and YouTube Gaming average 3 to 3.6 million daily concurrent viewers.
- The audience remains majority male, but the gap has narrowed. Current estimates place the male viewership at around 63-65%, with females comprising 35-37%.
- YouTube leads in gaming content consumption with VODs and live streams. Twitch is key for live gaming, but TikTok has become a major live streaming platform, especially for younger audiences like Gen Z.
Over the past decade, streaming has undergone a significant transformation: from Twitch's near-monopoly position to a diversified market with platforms like YouTube Gaming, TikTok Live, and Kick. Despite rising competition, Twitch remains a key platform for live gaming, while YouTube and TikTok expand their influence through more diverse content.
This is just the first part of the analysis of the changes in the past 10 years in streaming and content creation. Stay with us to get more insights in our next article!