With the end of the measures against the Corona pandemic, viewer numbers in gaming on Twitch and Facebook Live decreased: From January 2022 to April 2022, both streaming services, specialized in gaming, consistently lost viewer hours. In May 2022, the services are growing again for the first time: but with ancient games like League of Legends, CS:GO, and DOTA 2. Twitch also has a new king: The 38-year-old CS:GO streamer Gaules has pushed xQc (26) off the throne.
Where does the data come from? The data is from StreamElements: They analyze the viewed viewer hours on Twitch and Facebook Gaming.
Twitch shrinks from January to April 2022 – Now it’s growing again
Here’s how the numbers looked: From January 2022 to April 2022 the viewer hours on both services fell continuously. Especially on the much smaller Facebook Gaming, the statistic hit hard when suddenly 300 million hours less were viewed.
However, in May 2022, there was for the first time an increase, albeit at a low level:
- Twitch rose from 1.78 billion hours to 1.81 billion
- On Facebook, the number rose from 335 million hours to 350 million hours
E-Sports with live audiences boosts LoL, CS:GO, and DOTA 2
What brought the turnaround? Now in May 2022 no huge new games have been released that get people excited and watch on Twitch for hours. Instead, especially 3 old games have made significant gains in the top on Twitch:
- League of Legends (2009) grew significantly by another 24%
- Counter Strike: Global Offensive (2012) grew by 60%
- DOTA 2 (2013) grew by 31%
These are all e-sport titles that benefit from the global easing of Corona restrictions. Because for the first time in two years, large live events can be held in person and in front of an audience, which also draws a lot of attention on Twitch.
Gambling is now more popular than CoD: Warzone on Twitch
What else is growing? Somewhat concerning is the news that “slots”, meaning gambling, has also grown significantly and now surpasses CoD Warzone.
Some of the biggest streamers in the USA are fueling this trend, which is apparently being driven by sponsorship from major online casinos. The trend is viewed critically: It is suspected that streamers like xQc or Trainwreck could serve as bad examples and lead their viewers to gamble.
Viewers cheer when their streamers win incredible amounts on Twitch – or lose their fortunes over hours:
Apex Legends continues to work well for EA, here they can apparently offset the flop Battlefield 2042, which plays no role on Twitch.
Losers include Valorant, GTA5, and Fortnite. Additionally, Just Chatting is losing slightly, but at a very high level.
The success of Twitch lies behind Prime Gaming:
xQc loses top spot on Twitch to Gaules – Despite “Johnny Depp”
Who is the big winner? In the so-called “poor gaming May 2022,” streamers who had bet on the trial of “Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard” like xQc or Asmongold benefited. They landed in 2nd and 3rd place among the most-watched streamers worldwide.
Both streamers were criticized for being biased and siding with actor Johnny Depp while they commented disparagingly on Amber Heard’s statements.
“Trainwreck” (5th place), who gambles millions of US dollars on Twitch, is likely to benefit from the resurgence of slots, while Tyler1 (4th place) had a Korea trip in LoL during this time. Although the trip was disappointing for the macho streamer, he was still seen with long streams and gathered massive viewer hours.
On 9th place is Eliasn97, a German streamer among the top 10 most-watched Twitch streamers worldwide: We will report separately about him on MeinMMO.
However, despite “Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp” and a lot of drama, xQc lost his top position on Twitch to the Brazilian Gaules.
The 38-year-old Brazilian has benefited the most from the e-sport hype. He is known for broadcasting major tournaments in CS:GO, which apparently is very popular in South America.
