Live Streaming Statistics: Is Live Streaming a Good Idea?

Live streaming is a growing market that is becoming more mainstream by the minute.

If you’re thinking about utilising live streams for your business, here are some live streaming statistics that you should know. 

Top 10 Fascinating Stats and Facts About Live Streaming

• Twitch is the leading live streaming platform worldwide, with over 6.13 billion hours watched in Q1 2022.
• In 2020 people spent approximately 482.5 billion hours watching live-streamed content.
• Live streaming accounted for 48.9% of all downstream internet traffic in 2021.
• 28% of consumers spend 1-5 hours watching paid video games live-streaming.
•  39% of video game streaming site users in the UK pay for a subscription. 
• The most-watched game of all time on Twitch is League of Legends, with more than 48.1 billion. 
• 60% of gamers on live streaming platforms in the UK are men.
• 63% of Millennials watch live streaming content.
• The US accounts for 21.18% of Twitch’s desktop traffic.
• More than half of the live stream viewers would rather watch ads than pay for subscriptions.

General Live Streaming Statistics

1. Twitch is the leading live streaming platform worldwide, with over 6.13 billion hours watched in Q1 of 2022.

(Statista) 

In the first quarter of 2022, a total of 6.13 billion hours were watched in Q1 of 2022. For comparison, Youtube Gaming, which is the second most popular platform, only recorded 1.1 billion hours of watched time, followed by Facebook Gaming, with 803 million hours watched in that same period.

2. Live streaming saw a growth of 99% in hours watched between 2019 and 2020.

(Forbes)

Due to the lockdowns during the pandemic, YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and all saw huge live stream growth from 2019 to 2020 –65% for YouTube, 101% for Twitch, and a staggering 238% for Facebook Gaming.

3. In 2020, people spent approximately 482.5 billion hours watching live-streamed content.

(Statista)

According to live streaming stats from 2020, users from around the world spent 35% more time watching live-streamed content than in 2019.

4. Live streaming accounted for 48.9% of all downstream internet traffic in 2021.

(Sandvine)

Live streaming had the highest traffic share in 2021, accounting for nearly half of all downstream internet traffic and 19.4% of all upstream Internet traffic, with Youtube being the category’s top channel. 

5. 28% of consumers spend 1-5 hours watching paid video games live-streaming.

(Statista)

Stream stats by Statista show that more than a quarter of the people spend 1-5 hours weekly on gaming live-streaming platforms. 15% said they spent 6-10 hours weekly watching video games on live streams and those who spent more than 15 hours weekly using those platforms accounted for 12%.

6. 73% of music fans said that they have watched a live stream concert.

(Statista)

Live-streamed concerts were a big hit during the pandemic. 

A whopping 73% of the respondents said that they have watched live streaming of a concert and 60% said they would continue to tune in to live-streamed concerts even after in-person events are given a green light.

7. 12% of people in the UK use video game live streaming sites for streaming.

(Statista)

29 % of people from the UK, who took part in a 2022 survey, said that they watch streams on live streaming gaming sites. More than 10% of all respondents said that they broadcast.

8. 39% of video game streaming site users in the UK pay for a subscription. 

(Statista)

39% of the people in the UK who watch content on streaming platforms said they’ve paid for a subscription on video game live streaming sites such as Twitch and Youtube Gaming. 23% paid for a donation at least once on a live stream site.

9. 55% of UK gamers use the Youtube Gaming platform.

(Statista)

Youtube Gaming is the most popular video game live streaming platform among Brits. Twitch ranked second with 51%, followed by Facebook Gaming, which has 29% of the users.

10. Wacken World Wide was the most viewed music live stream event in 2020, with 11 million views.

(Statista) (Reuters)

The four-day streaming music event was the number one live stream music event for 2020, followed by David Guetta’s United at Home, which recorded 7.73 million views. 

That same year, Andrea Bocelli’s Easter Concert, which was streamed exclusively on Youtube, had the most concurrent viewers on Youtube live (over 2.8 million).

11. In March 2021, 70% of the musicians said that they had live-streamed a performance.

(Statista)

More than half of musicians who took part in a March 2021 survey, said they live-streamed in the previous year. 85% said that they are likely to live-stream parts of their performances even after the world returns to normalcy.

12. 12.5 million hours of games were streamed on Facebook Gaming in Q1 of 2022.

(Statista)

The peak number of hours streamed on the Facebook Gaming platform was recorded in the second quarter of 2021, when 20.8 million hours of online games were streamed on the platform. In the first quarter of 2022, that number went down to 12.5 million hours streamed.

Live Streaming Demographic Statistics

13. 60% of gamers on live streaming platforms in the UK are men.

(Statista)

More than half of people who use live streaming gaming platforms are male, according to a study conducted between October 2020 to January 2021 survey. Women gamers accounted for 43%, which is up from 23% in 2018. 

According to Twitch demographics data from 2021, 74% of Twitch users were men and 26% were women.

14. 55% of Gen Z used video streaming services because of COVID-19 restrictions.

(Statista)

25 % of Gen Z said in 2021 that they used video streaming services because they offer exclusive content and live events. More than half of them also said they use those services mainly because they had to stay in due to the pandemic.

15. 63% of Millennials watch live streaming content.

(Statista) (Statista)

Stream statistics show that live streams are most popular among Millennials– more than 60% of people between the age of 18 and 34 regularly watch live-streamed content.

On Twitch, Millennials account for 32% of all Twitch users, second to people aged 16-24, who make up 41% of the users base.

16. 54% of sports fans in China prefer watching sport via live stream rather than live TV.

(Statista)

Live streaming stats show that more than half of the sports viewers in China are more likely to use online stream platforms to watch their game rather than turning to live TV. This number is significantly lower in the UK, where only 24% say they watch sporting events on live streams. Moreover, roughly 91% of TV viewers in the UK watch live television at least once a week.

17. Nearly 90% of UK consumers aged 18-34 are interested in shoppertainment.

(Statista)

The majority of people between the ages of 18 and 34 said in a 2020 survey that they’re interested in live streaming e-commerce platforms. 70% of the consumers that were interested in some form of shoppertainment were aged 35-54 and out of all UK respondents, almost 60% expressed interest in this live stream shopping trend.

18. More than half of the live stream viewers would rather watch ads than pay for subscriptions.

(IAB)

52% of live stream viewers said they’re willing to watch ads rather than pay for a subscription. 

19. 40% of people were interested in buying a product after watching a live stream. 

(Statista)

A survey conducted in the UK, Poland, Spain, and France on the effectiveness of live streaming marketing found that 40% of consumers were interested in buying electronics after watching a live stream, while 36% expressed interest in fashion shopping.

20. 80% of audiences would rather watch a live stream of a brand than read their blog.

(Livestream)

According to Instagram live stream statistics, most people prefer watching a live stream video from a brand to reading blog posts.

Twitch Live Streaming Statistics

21. Twitch viewership grew by 22% in 2021.

(Streamlabs) (Statista)

Twitch, which accounts for 70% of the market share, has seen a year-over-year jump of 22% in hours watched and an 8.5% increase in hours streamed. In March 2020, when most countries introduced lockdowns, Twitch’s viewership went up by 10%, while Youtube gaming’s viewership rose by 15%.

22. Twitch drew more than 2.5 billion concurrent viewers in April 2022.

(Statista)

In April 2022, there were an average of 2,590,519 concurrent viewers on Twitch, which is 15,000 less than in the previous month.

23. The US accounts for 21.18% of Twitch’s desktop traffic.

(Statista)

Between September 2021 and February 2022, the US made up more than 20% of the traffic on Twitch worldwide. Germany followed with 6.97% of the traffic and the Republic of Korea with 4.76%.

24. The UK accounted for 5.23% of all Twitch viewers in Q1 of 2021.

(Visuals by Impulse)

According to Twitch audience stats for the first quarter of 2021, 13.4 million of the total Twitch viewers (256 million) were British. The US, on the other hand, accounted for 35% of the global Twitch viewership, counting 93 million viewers. 

 25. In February 2021, Twitch had an average of almost 400,000 iOS daily active users in the UK.

(Statista)

In 2021, Twitch statistics show that the platform recorded the highest number of iOS daily active users in February when approximately 393,000 users tuned in. An additional 28, 000 were Android users.

26. The most-watched game of all time on Twitch is League of Legends, with more than 48.1 billion. 

(Statista) (GamesRadar+)

As of February 2022, the most-watched game on Twitch of all time, with over 48.1 billion all-time views, is League of Legends. 

On the other hand, Minecraft is the most-watched Youtube live stream game, which was viewed approximately 201 billion times in 2020. In 2021, the game passed 1 trillion views on the platform.

27. The most popular Twitch streamer is xQc, with a combined 22.3 million hours watched in January 2022.

(Statista)

The Canadian Twitch streamer is on the top of the list in terms of stream views, according to Twitch stream statistics for January 2022. The second most popular is TheGrefg with more than 21 million hours watched, followed by ibai, Prestily, and LVNDMARK who have recorded around 10 million hours in the same period.

28. PewDiePie is the highest-earning Twitch streamer with an estimated revenue of $40 million.

(Influencer Marketing Hub)

With an estimated revenue of $40 million, the popular YouTuber, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, is a top-earning streamer on the Twitch platform. Ninja, who is the most followed Twitch streamer, is the second on this list with an estimated revenue of $25 million.

29. Twitch streamer NICKMERCS amassed 265,000 watched hours during a sponsored stream in 2021.

(Statista)

According to live streaming info, the most-watched sponsored live stream in 2021 was a Twitch streamer NICKMERCS’s stream, who in partnership with SeatGeek, managed to draw in 265,000 watched hours.

30. Twitch streamer TheGrefg holds the record for the most viewers on a single live stream, with nearly 2.5 million viewers.

(TwitchTracker)

Fortnite player David “TheGrefg” Cánovas Martínez broke the record for concurrent Twitch views on January 11, 2021, when 2. 47 million concurrent viewers tuned in to watch his live stream. 

31. Pokimane is the highest-paid female Twitch streamer with an estimated revenue of $3 million.

(Statista) (Internet Marketing Hub)

Pokimane also led in revenue earned among female streamers in 2020, when she earned around $550,060 in 2020, according to Twitch stream stats. 

Live Streaming Market Statistics

32. The estimated value of the global live streaming market was $988 million in 2021.

(GlobeNewswire)

The surging popularity of esports and video games as one of the biggest live streaming trends in the past few years is driving the growth of the global live streaming market size. 

In 2021, the market raked in a little under a billion dollars, according to Vantage Market Research.

33. The global live streaming market is expected to reach $4,290 million by 2028.

(GlobeNewswire)

The global live streaming market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 23.50% and earn up to  $4,290 million in revenue by 2028.

34. Livestream accounts for 34.97% of the market share of live-streaming platforms.

(Datanyze)

Livestream is the most popular video streaming platform, which currently holds the biggest live streaming market share and 2993 domains. For comparison, live streaming stats show that Twitch has 2.34% and only 196 domains. 

Bottom Line

The latest live streaming statistics show that live streaming is slowly becoming one of the most popular forms of broadcasting. It has shown great results in the advertising sector and is expected to continue to grow in numbers in the next couple of years.