Who will be the most viewed streamer in 2020 on Twitch? In the first half of the year, it looked like the 33-year-old Jaryd “summit1g” Lazard would clearly win the title as he was still playing Valorant and GTA 5. He is among the streamers who have been established for many years. But now he has turned to MMORPGs and the younger streamer Félix “xQc” Lengyel has overtaken him.
Who has won Twitch in recent years? It concerns the category of “most watched hours on Twitch.” This mainly benefits streamers who regularly go live, stream many hours, and entertain a large number of loyal viewers.
In 2017, the world of Twitch was still in order. That was before the big hype around Fortnite. At that time, the old Twitch elite ruled. summit1g claimed the title ahead of LIRIK, imaqtpie, and shroud.
summit1g needed 74 million hours for the victory. In 2017, viewers primarily watched former professionals known for their calm demeanor and strong gameplay.
In 2018, everything changed on Twitch. Ninja rode the Fortnite hype like no other. He finished ahead of shroud and sodapoppin.
Ninja set the viewer record extremely high in 2018: 234 million hours. Fortnite and Ninja primarily opened Twitch to a younger audience and to people who had previously had no interest in gaming.
In 2019, Fortnite was still trending, but not Ninja anymore; instead, the younger, more aggressive Tfue took the lead ahead of summit1g and once again shroud. Tfue was viewed for 92 million hours on Twitch.
He displayed a different attitude than Ninja: Tfue swears and gets angry loudly and often. With fervor, especially when he loses. But particularly when he wins.
In 2020, there is a duel for the Twitch crown
Here are the two favorites for the title in 2020: Among the “normal” streamers, summit1g and xQc are relatively close in the last 180 days. Both stream about 10 hours a day.
There is also the channel of a constant broadcaster, the Brazilian Gaules, in between, but we’ll leave him out. The former CS:GO professional has only about half as many viewers as summit1g and xQc but streams more than twice as much as the others.
| Name | Hours on air | Watched hours | Average viewers |
| summit1g | 1846 | 70,075,534 | 33,729 |
| xQc | 1800 | 63,642,261 | 33,425 |
It shows that summit1g was a bit more diligent than his competitor. The 46 hours he streamed more tipped the scale.
Everything was going well for summit1g, then he played MMORPGs
This is summit1g: The 33-year-old former CS:GO professional has long been a constant on Twitch. He was already the most viewed streamer on the platform in 2017, before the Fortnite hype.
At the beginning of 2020, it looked for a long time as if summit1g would confidently win the year without Ninja and shroud. Especially since Fortnite did not perform as strongly as in previous years – summit1g can hardly relate to the shooter.
Summit1g’s channel was watched the most in January, February, and March. There, the hardcore shooter Escape from Tarkov was trending, exactly summit1g’s thing. The former CS:GO professional also benefits strongly from the Valorant hype.
However, in June 2020, shroud suddenly turned away from Valorant, Escape from Tarkov, and GTA 5 and began playing something completely different: Remnants from the Ashes, Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls Online, and currently Guild Wars 2. This is niche food on Twitch.
His channel has not been as popular since then. Apparently, it affects summit1g, playing MMORPGs like ESO. He complains, swears, and gets upset – and viewers do not like that.
Although summit1g is known for playing and establishing games outside the mainstream, he experiences the most success when he shows what is expected of him.
xQc: Failed as a professional, a star as a streamer
This is xQc: The 24-year-old xQc is a former Overwatch professional, but he was too unruly to be a professional esports player and repeatedly got in trouble with his team and the league, as he couldn’t control his impulses. On Twitch, however, he shines and is especially popular with young viewers.
xQc is a variety streamer like summit1g, and hardly plays any game for long. Instead, he tries out many titles. Often he doesn’t even play, but watches other videos and reacts to them in Just Chatting.
His style, with reactions to short clips and constant jumping from topic to topic, resembles the TikTok platform. However, xQc is excellent at interacting with his chat and maintains a style that fits well with the new viewing habits.
Currently, xQc is producing impressive numbers. He benefits from the fact that hardly any new games are being released. xQc won June and July. He has now found a game with Fall Guys that fits perfectly with his anarchic charm.
xQc is on the rise – summit1g loses viewers
Who will win Twitch? At the moment, everything points to xQc actually overtaking summit1g. Because summit1g’s viewer numbers have noticeably dropped since his MMORPG trip while xQc’s continue to rise.
| Name | Hours on air | Watched hours | Average viewers |
| xQc | 314 | 11,900,004 | 37,678 |
| summit1g | 333 | 4,423,891 | 13,428 |
How it ends at the end of the year and who will be the biggest streamer on Twitch in 2020 will likely depend on which new games come out and which better fit their style.
In the current gaming drought, viewers apparently clearly prefer xQc and his show over watching summit1g getting upset in Guild Wars 2.
What might still play a role in the competition for the Twitch crown are bans. Because xQc’s reckless nature and his fans, who like to let him stumble, have gotten him into trouble before and cost him some broadcasting days.
He even managed to get a Twitch ban for beating a virtual school friend in “Connect Four” and then pressing the wrong button:
Twitch bans xQc, one of the most popular streamers in the world
