Since 2018, MontanaBlack has been the most-watched Twitch streamer from Germany. In 2022, this gradually changed: Now the Berlin streamer Elias “EliasN97” Nerlich is leading in important dynamic categories such as “Watched Hours”. He has also just surpassed MontanaBlack in terms of average viewers over the last 90 days.
For 4 years, Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris was the most-watched German Twitch streamer. In 2018, he first placed ahead of Gronkh, who had been the most-watched German single streamer in 2016 and 2017.
Since MontanaBlack took the throne in 2018, he has not let it go.
The key “dynamic categories” for the most-watched streamer on Twitch are:
- the average number of viewers
- the number of hours a streamer is live
- the result of these two factors: the watched viewer hours
MontanaBlack continued to grow strongly in 2020 and 2021
Here’s how well MontanaBlack did during the pandemic: During the two pandemic years, the Twitch streamer MontanaBlack continued to grow strongly:
- In 2020, he increased by 18% in average viewers and 25% in watched viewer hours. He also streamed more than in 2019.
- In 2021, MontanaBlack packed in an impressive 36.5% more average viewers and increased his “watched hours” by 77%: He streamed even more than in 2020, while Twitch continued to grow during the pandemic.
We see that MontanaBlack was relatively close to Trymacs in 2021 – while MontanaBlack had almost 20,000 average viewers more, he also streamed 760 hours less: Still, MontanaBlack was number one in watched hours over the year:
MontanaBlack has always streamed “relatively little” but has many viewers
This is how MontanaBlack stayed ahead: In 2021, MontanaBlack primarily showcased role-playing in GTA 5, in addition to sharing his wisdom in Just Chatting, played Call of Duty: Warzone or FIFA.
Meanwhile, the streamer, who went from “junkie to millionaire”, has always streamed relatively little compared to other streamers:
- Professional Twitch streamers often work a “40-hour” week and are therefore about 200 hours live on Twitch each month.
- MontanaBlack is not a “9to5” streamer. His number of hours live varied greatly in 2021: sometimes he streamed his 200 hours, sometimes “only” 140 hours in a month. In the summer of 2021, it even dropped to 30 to 80 hours monthly.
Despite this, MontanaBlack had an average of 50,000 viewers (2021), giving him such a high viewer count and such a large lead over all other German streamers that he could maintain the first place in Germany even with the relatively few hours streaming.
These numbers should be taken with caution: The Twitch system encourages “self-exploitation”. No one should take this as a model when some people stream 200 hours or more on Twitch. Many streamers who are on air so much have professional help and a support system that takes some of the work off of them.
A young Berliner overtakes MontanaBlack in 2022
Who became his competitor now? When you think of the largest German Twitch streamers, names like Knossi, Trymacs, or Gronkh immediately come to mind. But they were not in this league in 2022.
The real competitors for MontanaBlack in 2022 are the LoL streamer “NoWay4u_Sir” and the former FIFA pro EliasN97. Both have spent over 1000 hours on Twitch in the year 2022, in the last 180 days:
- EliasN97 streamed 1,111 hours – that’s 6.17 hours a day
- NoWay4u_Sir streamed even 1,528 hours – that’s 8.5 hours a day
- MontanaBlack streamed 512 hours, which means he was live 2.8 hours daily
Particularly Elias “EliasN97” Nerlich was able to continue growing on Twitch at a high level in 2022 and got closer to MontanaBlack:
- The 24-year-old worked for a long time at Hertha BSC in the esports team for FIFA
- He gradually built a career as a content creator on Twitch, moving away from FIFA
- In 2021, his channel exploded with FIFA 21 and the Steam hit Among Us
MontanaBlack gradually loses viewers while EliasN97 continues to grow
When was MontanaBlack overtaken? It took quite a while.
- Even though MontanaBlack was only seen on Twitch for 35 hours in June 2021, he achieved an average of 30,270 viewers
- EliasN97, on the other hand, was live for 64 hours in June 2021, but had “only” 14,905 viewers
MontanaBlack was still ahead.
- In December 2021, MontanaBlack turned it up: He was live for 110 hours and had 44,368 viewers
- EliasN97 was actually a bit more seen with 133 hours, but had “only” 25,000 viewers, so he was still far behind MontanaBlack.
At that point, MontanaBlack seemed barely reachable. But in January 2022, it changed:
- While MontanaBlack streamed 132 hours, he lost significantly in viewers, reaching only 34,000
- EliasN97, on the other hand, streamed 60% more, hitting 212 hours, and now also reached 30,000 viewers. This allowed him to overtake MontanaBlack in watched hours.
EliasN97 grew by 123% in 2022 – MontanaBlack lost 62% viewer hours
This is how things have developed since then: Since January 2022, EliasN97 has consistently been ahead of MontanaBlack.
In the last 90 days:
- MontanaBlack has streamed 245 hours and had 29,498 viewers. In the meantime, MontanaBlack also had to deal with several problems. He struggled with NFT monkeys and even considered a longer break. MontanaBlack lost 9% viewers in the last 90 days and was 13% less live than in the previous 90 days.
- However, EliasN97 has streamed 583 hours and gathered 29,878 viewers. He has grown by 3% in the last 90 days and was 7% more live.
If you extrapolate the numbers to the “last 180” days and thus over the whole year 2020, the discrepancy reveals itself even more:
- In the last 180 days, the channel EliasN97 grew by 123% in watched hours
- MontanaBlack, however, fell by 62% in viewer hours in the first half of 2022 compared to the second half of 2021
Thus, the Berliner secured the first place among German Twitch streamers in 2022.
For EliasN97, this jump even led to him being among the most-watched streamers worldwide on Twitch in May 2022: With 5.8 million watched hours, he was almost twice as big as MontanaBlack in May 2022.
Among the best German streamers, EliasN97 was actually the only streamer who could grow in the last 90 days: All others lost some viewer numbers during the “meager gaming spring 2022”.
One reason MontanaBlack may have lost viewers could be that he can no longer dedicate himself to gambling as he once did. He is even considering thoughts of emigration:
MontanaBlack wants to leave Germany: “That’s 400,000€ more in my account”
