Esports Drives More Than One Fifth Of Views On Twitch

The rise of esports has been inextricably linked to the growth of streaming and live broadcasts. But just how much is esports, or content about esports, part of the day-to-day Twitch calendar?

According to market researchers Newzoo, the amount of esports or esports-related content accounted for 21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December last year. The analysis was conducted with Newzoo’s Twitch Tracker, which features regularly in their insights into the gaming market and esports.

The firm went to say that around 475.5 million of hours of esports content was viewed over Twitch in the six month period, with 58% of that relating to MOBAs (predominantly Dota 2 and League of Legends).

Viewers spent 2,230 million hours watching the top 100 games on Twitch in the last half of 2015, with the top five being League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone and StarCraft 2.

Out of those, a high proportion of content for CSGO, Dota and SC2 is esports focused. “These three games have a dedicated esports community, whereas the League of Legends and Hearthstone communities have a relatively larger group of non-esports viewers,” Newzoo reports.

Another interesting observation is the impact esports material has on regular content. The below graph shows what happened when the spring season of North America’s League Championship Series begun, and the reduction it had on the amount of consumer hours (people just watching a stream for the game and not necessarily for a tournament or specific event).

You can read the rest of the findings on Newzoo’s site.


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