Streaming platforms continued to grow across the board through 2021, and 2022 started with another leap in numbers for Twitch and Facebook Gaming, the latter of which set a new platform milestone with 617 million hours watched in January.
Twitch also rebounded, surpassing two billion hours watched for the first time since dipping below the threshold last June, according to Rainmaker, StreamElements’ analytics partner.
The top games chart also saw changes for the first month of the year, with Rust making its first appearance in Twitch’s top 10 since February 2021. The title saw an 842 percent increase in viewership and 63 million hours watched in January. Escape From Tarkov also broke into the top five titles on Twitch at 91 million hours watched.
Just Chatting, League of Legends, and Grand Theft Auto V remain at the top of the platform at 279, 179, and 149 million hours watched respectively.
As for individual creators, Rainmaker and StreamElements note that Twitch Rivals: Squidcraft Games event helped propel even more Spanish streamers into the top 10 as Twitch continues to grow in other viewing languages.
“Based on the diverse language evident on Twitch’s top 10 chart, language is no longer a barrier to entry in the streaming scene,” CBO of StreamElements Jason Krebs said. “What is now most important is knowing the audience that creators and marketers can speak to when it comes to participating in this ecosystem.”
XQc did continue to dominate the charts overall, bringing in nearly 25 million hours watched, but the rest of the top 10 was dominated by Spanish streamers like exodus, auronplay, TheGrefg, ibai, IlloJuan, and Juansguarnizo.