The German Twitch is changing in 2022. The streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris, who has been the most-watched for over 4 years, has lost his place at the top. In the last 180 days, he lost 43% of his average viewers. Because he streamed less, his watch time even dropped by 70%. It is striking that MontanaBlack still talks as much on Twitch as he did in 2021, but he no longer plays as much.
Who are the big losers among the top German streamers on Twitch? If you look at which of the major German Twitch channels have lost the most average viewers in the last 180 days, you’ll see:
- MontanaBlack lost 43.3% of his average viewers
- Jens “Knossi” Knossala lost 46.3% of his average viewers
- The streamer xRohat lost 51.9% of his average viewers over the last six months
What is the reason for the drastic loss of viewers? It is noticeable that all three streamers have been significantly less visible on Twitch in the last six months than before:
- MontanaBlack was on air 45% less than in the previous half year
- Knossi has 36.5% fewer hours on Twitch
- xRohat was seen 40% less
It seems reasonable to assume that if popular Twitch streamers are less frequently on air, if streams are canceled or shorter, the average viewer count will also decline.
This seems to align with the old Twitch rule: If you want to grow, be on air as often as possible. A piece of advice that has driven many streamers into burnout.
2021 was also marked by the coronavirus and lockdowns, which generally pushed Twitch numbers up. It is therefore normal for channels to have lower viewer counts now.
However, not all German channels fell in the last 180 days:
- Streamers like eliasn97 (+18.6%), NoWay4u_Sir (+5%) or Amar (+22.6%) managed to increase their viewer counts.
- Other major streamers like Trymacs (-5.8%) or Gronkh (-11.6%) only lost slightly.
- With abugok9999 (+92.2%), there is even a major winner who almost doubled his average viewer count.
MontanaBlack talks as much as 2021 – but plays much less
What is different about MontanaBlack now? It seems that in addition to the end of the corona effect, MontanaBlack has not found a game in the last six months that fits him well:
In 2021, he was most active in GTA Online for 484 hours, where there was a hype around role-playing servers. He also played Call of Duty: Warzone, FIFA 22, and Mario Kart.
The focus was still clearly on games in 2021: He spent 484 hours alone on GTA and “only” 400 hours in Just Chatting.
In the last six months, MontanaBlack’s focus has shifted: He is still as active as before in Just Chatting and has already completed 202 hours there in half a year. However, MontanaBlack has significantly reduced his gaming time on Twitch and has “only” spent 55 hours in GTA 5.
MontanaBlack apparently can’t find a game he likes right now. This matches the criticism that his “regular games” like FIFA or Call of Duty didn’t work as well in 2022 as they used to. Gambling on Twitch, from which MontanaBlack once profited greatly, is no longer allowed in Germany. His once love for Fortnite has largely faded.
In addition, there was a chronic shortage of “new games for Twitch” in the last six months, aside from Elden Ring and Lost Ark, which every Twitch streamer worldwide has suffered from.
It seems viewers want to see this from MontanaBlack again:
Nostalgia tournament in Call of Duty is the highlight of 2022 so far
What was the highlight of the last months? That MontanaBlack can still reach many viewers was proven on June 26: On that day, he was able to break the mark of 100,000 simultaneous viewers on Twitch again with a tournament for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Viewers had been waiting a long time for the tournament, it had to be canceled a month earlier.
Gaming and especially GTA 5 are the keys to success in German Twitch
Could it be that GTA 5 no longer attracts viewers? In fact, GTA is still a key to success for German streamers. The streamer abugok9999 had the largest growth in the last six months. He streamed almost 1000 hours of GTA V and was able to increase his average viewer numbers by 92%.
The most successful German streamer, elian97, achieves his viewer numbers with a mix of Just Chatting and various typical Twitch games like Fortnite, Valorant, Fall Guys, and FIFA, with which he once became famous.
The second most successful streamer in Germany, Noway4u_Sir is a relentless League of Legends player and spends a large part of his Twitch time there.
Thus, the key to success on Twitch in Germany still seems to be gaming. While the “Just Chatting” clips perform excellently in compilations on YouTube, they apparently cannot keep viewer numbers up on Twitch for long.
The weak phase on Twitch also coincides with a personal crisis for MontanaBlack:
The biggest German streamer is taking a break from Twitch: ‘At the lowest point of my life.’
