Ultra abonnement.
2025 has come to a close but live streaming continues to evolve.
This Streamlabs x Stream Hatchet Q4 2025 Live Streaming Report takes a closer look at Q4 2025 performance across major platforms, exploring how viewers and creators showed up and where momentum shifted.
Jump Ahead:
- Key Takeaways
- Live Streaming Overview
- Kick
- Twitch
- YouTube Gaming
- Q4 2025 Top Esports Watched
- Q4 2025 Top Games by Hours Streamed
- Q4 2025 Top Games by Hours Watched
Key Takeaways
- Platform dynamics shifted further in Q4 2025, as Twitch faced continued declines in viewership and active channels, while YouTube Gaming maintained relative year-over-year stability and Kick stamped its position in the space following rapid growth earlier in the year.
- Conversational and personality-driven content continued to dominate, with Just Chatting leading hours watched across multiple platforms—proof of an ongoing shift from game-centric streaming toward other formats.
Total Hours Watched Across All Platforms
Total hours watched across all platforms increased slightly quarter-over-quarter, rising from 20.74 billion in Q3 2025 to 20.90 billion in Q4 2025, representing an overall growth of 0.76%.
Total Hours Streamed
Total hours streamed across all platforms declined modestly from 321.9 million in Q3 2025 to 318.8 million in Q4 2025, reflecting a 0.97% quarter-over-quarter decrease.
Q4 2025 Unique Channels
The number of unique channels declined both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, decreasing by 5.43% and 2.84%, respectively.
Kick
Key Takeaway
Kick’s rapid expansion in Q3 2025 was driven not just by viewers, but by a sharp increase in creator streaming activity.
Kick Total Hours Watched
- In Q4 2025, total hours watched on Kick reached 1.22 billion, down from 1.53 billion in Q3 2025, representing a 20.5% quarter-over-quarter decline.
- Year-over-year, total hours watched increased by approximately 106%, rising from 591.2 million in Q4 2024 to 1.22 billion in Q4 2025—an increase of 624.9 million hours.
- The strongest growth occurred between Q2 and Q3 2025, when total hours watched increased by nearly 547 million hours.
- Overall, Kick added 415.4 million hours watched from Q2 2023 to Q4 2025, highlighting the platform’s rapid growth over the past two years.
Kick Total Hours Streamed
- In Q4 2025, total hours streamed on Kick declined slightly by 1.41% quarter-over-quarter, decreasing from 14.85 million to 14.64 million hours, a reduction of 208,754 hours.
- Compared to Q4 2024, total hours streamed increased by approximately 97.5%, rising from 7.42 million to 14.64 million hours, representing a gain of 7.23 million hours year-over-year.
- Q3 2025 marked a breakout quarter for creator activity on Kick, with hours streamed jumping more than 60% from the previous quarter.
- While Q4 2025 saw a modest decline from the previous quarter, total hours streamed remained significantly higher than earlier periods, reinforcing Kick’s continued growth trajectory.
Kick Unique Channels
The number of unique Kick channels declined from 807,009 in Q3 2025 to 743,101 in Q4 2025, representing a 7.92% quarter-over-quarter decrease.
Despite the decline, the overall level of active channels remained elevated compared to earlier periods, suggesting signs of stabilization following rapid platform growth earlier in the year.
Twitch
Key Takeaway
In Q4 2025, Twitch’s creator activity remained relatively stable, while viewership and active channels declined, reflecting continued shifts on the platform.
Twitch Total Hours Watched
- In Q4 2025, Twitch’s total hours watched declined by approximately 5.05% quarter-over-quarter, falling from 4.61 billion to 4.38 billion hours, a decrease of 232.7 million hours.
- Year-over-year, viewership dropped 14.94%, declining from 5.15 billion hours in Q4 2024 to 4.38 billion in Q4 2025, representing a loss of 769.1 million hours.
Twitch Total Hours Streamed
- In Q4 2025, Twitch’s total hours streamed declined by approximately 0.78% quarter-over-quarter, decreasing from 209.1 million to 207.4 million hours, a reduction of 1.62 million hours.
- Compared to Q4 2024, hours streamed fell by 0.57%, representing a decline of 1.18 million hours year-over-year.
- This relative stability suggests that creators continue to stream at similar volumes despite declining viewership.
Twitch Unique Channels
Twitch’s number of unique channels declined in Q4 2025, falling 4.64% quarter-over-quarter from 8.79 million to 8.38 million, a loss of 408,054 active channels. Year-over-year, unique channels dropped 6.18%, decreasing by 552,041 creators compared to Q4 2024.
YouTube Gaming
Key Takeaway
In Q4 2025, YouTube Gaming experienced short-term softening following strong mid-year performance, while maintaining relative stability year-over-year across viewership, creator activity, and active channels.
YouTube Gaming Total Hours Watched
- In Q4 2025, YouTube Gaming’s total hours watched declined by approximately 12.43% quarter-over-quarter, falling from 2.5 billion to 2.19 billion hours, a decrease of 310.5 million hours.
- Year-over-year, viewership remained relatively stable, decreasing 0.39% compared to Q4 2024.
YouTube Gaming Total Hours Streamed
- YouTube Gaming’s total hours streamed declined by 5.50% quarter-over-quarter in Q4 2025, decreasing from 31.1 million to 29.4 million hours.
- Compared to Q4 2024, hours streamed increased 11.30%, reflecting continued year-over-year creator growth.
YouTube Gaming Unique Channels
The number of unique YouTube Gaming channels declined 4.70% quarter-over-quarter in Q4 2025, falling from 1.25 million to 1.19 million, a loss of approximately 58,700 active channels.
Year-over-year, unique channels increased 1.42%, indicating modest creator growth despite short-term contraction.
Q4 2025 Top Esports by Hours Watched
Q4 2025 Top Games by Hours Streamed
Q4 2025 Top Games by Hours Watched
Q4 2025 Top Publishers by Hours Watched
Q4 2025 makes it clear that live streaming isn’t slowing down—it’s changing, with platforms, creators, and viewers all redefining what success looks like moving forward.
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