Twitch viewership up 5%, 1.8 billion hours watched

Despite Twitch being embroiled in controversies (seemingly on a constant basis), it’s still the number one choice when it comes to streaming or watching streamers. This is evidenced by the fact that viewership seems to be on the up and up, with millions still tuning in each month.

Cold hard data seems to back this up, as a report from Gamesindustry.biz states that Twitch has recorded 1.8 billion hours for July 2023. This represents a 5% increase over June, with daily viewership having gone up since March of this year. The figures come from StreamElements and Rainmaker.gg.

On top of that, GTA 5 is still the number one game to watch, with 139 million hours logged. Other top titles for the Amazon-owned platform include League of Legends, Minecraft, CS:GO, and Dota 2. Basically, a lot of PvP and/or otherwise multiplayer games.

Recent Twitch backlashes

However, it’s not all peachy for Twitch. The site came under fire from streamers recently when its new Partner Plus program was announced. Many felt that qualifying for the better revenue split was unobtainable for a lot of people who rely on the service for income.

Maintaining a recurring subscription count of 350 for three months already sounds like a lofty ask. Add to that the fact that Amazon Prime subs and gifted subs don’t count, and it’s easy to see why a lot of streamers find this target difficult.

That said, from a viewer’s perspective, things seem to be going pretty well. With close to two billion hours in total watched for July alone, gamers are evidently finding plenty to watch on Twitch. It’s just a shame the company continues to disappoint many of its broadcasters.