Ultra.
Last quarter, the live streaming industry experienced a significant turning point. On August 1, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins signed an exclusive deal to leave Twitch, and stream exclusively on the Microsoft owned live streaming platform, Mixer.
This quarter we’ll take a look at the data behind each platform and uncover how Ninja’s move may have spurred a significant migration of users to Mixer.
Things to consider: The number of hours streamed on Mixer has tripled, and the number of unique channels streaming on the platform has doubled quarter over quarter. More hours of gaming content has been streamed on Mixer than YouTube Gaming Live for the first time ever. Continue to read below for additional data, insights, and learnings.
Thanks to Newzoo for providing the data for Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube Gaming Live.
*Please note: Data for YouTube Gaming Live only includes gaming live streams. In order to create a more accurate comparison between platforms, we have excluded non-gaming content for Twitch and Mixer from this report. For this reason, you will see differences in data from our previous report.
Twitch
As we mentioned above, Ninja switched from Twitch to stream exclusively on Mixer. While this hasn’t affected the amount of time people spend watching content on the platform, the number of unique channels and total hours being streamed is declining.
- Total Hours Watched — Twitch is experiencing a slight uptick in gaming hours watched after a brief decline last quarter.
- Total Hours Streamed — This number seems to be stabilizing after experiencing a 10% decline from Q1 to Q2. Currently, Twitch is sitting at 87.3M hours in Q3 compared to 89.6M hours in Q2.
- Unique Channels — The unique number of channels streaming on Twitch is trending downwards. This number has declined by 32% since its peak in Q1'19, and 19% since Q2, finishing Q3 at 3.77M.
- Average CCV — CCV has increased by 3.5% from the previous quarter to 1.16M concurrent viewers, the highest average CCV since we started collecting data in Q1'18.
- Average Viewers Per Channel — The average viewer per channel currently sits at 28.2 in Q3, a 14% increase since the Q1'19, and a 3.6% increase since last quarter.
Mixer
Now that Ninja is officially a part of the Mixer family, we are seeing a notable influx of users streaming to the platform. However, it seems Ninja’s move alone isn’t enough to keep people watching as Average CCV and Total Hours Watched is down from last quarter.
- Total Hours Watched — After experiencing the highest amount of watch time the platform has ever seen in Q2, Mixer has since undergone a 10.6% decrease in the total gaming hours watched on the platform. However, it’s important to note that yearly growth has more than doubled.
- Total Hours Streamed — Total gaming hours streamed on the platform has increased by 188% this quarter, nearly tripling the number from 11.3M in Q2 to 32.6M in Q3. This large increase in hours streamed can likely be attributed to Ninja’s move to Mixer, perhaps giving others the courage to stream to other platforms as well.
- Unique Channels — The number of unique channels streaming on Mixer has doubled quarter over quarter from 1.95M in Q2 to 3.9M channels in Q3.
- Average CCV — Mixer experienced a 40.8K average CCV this quarter, a decrease of 11.7% since Q2. This can likely be attributed to the significant increase in unique channels on the platform.
- Average Viewers Per Channel — The average viewer per channel has decreased from 8.9 in Q2 to 2.7 in Q3. This can likely be attributed to the significant increase in unique channels on the platform.
YouTube Gaming Live
While YouTube Gaming Live remains relatively stable from last quarter it’s important to note the sheer amount of gaming content YouTube, in general, helps produce. According to Ryan Wyatt, Global Head of Gaming at YouTube, total gaming industry watch time amounted to 61B hours, 50B of which came from YouTube (both Live and VOD).
- Total Hours Watched — There was a slight decrease in hours watched but overall remain relatively the same, from 677.2M hours in Q2 to 675.9M hours in Q3.
- Total Hours Streamed — Hours streamed has decreased slightly from 12.6M in Q2 to 11.1M in Q3
- Unique Channels — The number of unique channels has reduced by 25% quarter over quarter, from 1.177M in Q2 to 884K in Q3
- Average CCV — Average CCV remains relatively the same, from 312,499 in Q2 to 313,702 in Q3.
- Average Viewers Per Channel — Average viewers per channel has increased 13% quarter over quarter, from 53.7 in Q2 to 61 in Q3.
Facebook Gaming
In the wake of Ninja’s decision to switch streaming platforms, many people are asking themselves if they should stream to other platforms. Our data from this report seems to indicate that many streamers are beginning to recognize the value in streaming to less saturated platforms. Facebook Gaming live streaming data was not available based on our report methodology. However, quarterly active streamers using Streamlabs Desktop on Facebook Gaming has increased 236% since Q1'18, reaching an all-time high of 153,000 active streamers in Q2'19. It’s important to underscore Facebook Gaming’s popularity outside of North America, with APAC, Latin America and Europe accounting for growth in its base of streamers. In addition, Facebook Gaming has been busy attracting new streamers to the platform in Q3 across global regions. Just last week, NexxuzHD, one of YouTube’s most popular Spanish-speaking gaming creators announced that he’s now streaming on Facebook Gaming.
Top Titles Watched on Twitch
Perhaps the most notable change here is the sharp increase in the number of hours watched for World of Warcraft. With the release of WoW classic, users have watched 189.9M hours of WoW content in Q3, nearly 100M more hours than last quarter.
New entries include Super Mario Maker 2, Remnant: From the Ashes, Slots, and Monster Hunter World.
Games that have left the list include Magic: The Gathering Arena, Path of Exile, Auto Chess, and FIFA 19.
Fortnite Hours Watched on Twitch
While Fortnite remains the most-watched game on Twitch, it continues to see a steady decline in the number of hours people spend watching it.
Fortnite isn’t the only game experiencing a slowdown. Since its peak in Q1'19 at 298.2M hours, League of Legends finished Q3 in second place with 218.4M hours of watched content.
Top Publishers Watched in Q3’19 on Twitch
Last quarter we saw Epic games lose its top spot as the most-watched publisher on Twitch for the first time since Q2'18. This quarter, we see Epic Games continue to fall behind as Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games, and Valve overtake the publisher of Fortnite.
Top Genres
As the popularity of games like Fortnite continues to decline will aslo see the Battle Royale genre steadily decrease as well. Since Q1'19 the Battle Royale genre has decreased from 563.5M hours watched to 351.2M hours in Q3.
Thanks to games like WoW classic, Role Playing Games have made a resurgence. The popularity of RPG’s increased from 163.8M hours in Q1'19 to 319.8M hours in Q3'19. Whether WoW classic can retain its popularity and give RPG’s as one of the top genres remains to be seen.
Overall, this quarter for the live streaming industry is one for the books. As more live streamers branch out and stream to other platforms, it will be interesting to see how Twitch reacts, and if Mixer can encourage users to stay on the platform long-term. Only time will tell, so make sure you follow Streamlabs to stay up-to-date on the next quarterly report.
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