2020 was a year of streaming records being shattered and then broken again, as Twitch saw a major boost in engagement and active streamers thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both games and streamers reached new heights with the help of an increased use of viewer incentives and several new major game releases.
Twitch’s Top Channel – xQc
For the third year in a row, Twitch has a new leader in its year-end rankings. Félix “xQc” Lengyel was overwhelmingly the platform’s most popular streamer, reaching nearly 150M hours watched, and being one of only three channels to surpass 100M for the year.
What sets Lengyel apart from other platform leaders like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was his role this year as a trendsetter. From the sudden explosion of Among Us to the rise of chess, Lengyel played a pivotal role in shaping trends across Twitch and influencing the activity of other popular streamers. While Blevins was extremely popular on his own channel, and was arguably a more impactful face for Twitch in reaching out into the mainstream, his impact on the platform at large was generally more restricted to those he collaborated with rather than giving rise to new trends that created opportunities for other streamers.
Twitch’s Top Content – Just Chatting
Emblematic of a year that saw Twitch expand well beyond its role as a pure gaming platform, the Just Chatting category dominated 2020, with nearly 2B hours watched. What makes Just Chatting so popular compared to the other non-gaming categories on Twitch is its applicability to all streamers. Every streamer, whether they play video games or not, sees strong returns from engaging directly with their audience through Just Chatting content. The category is so ubiquitous that it takes a massive new release or platform-wide new trend to overtake it on any given week.
Also of note is the continued staying power of League of Legends. Whatever other trends are ebbing and flowing on the platform, the decade-old esports juggernaut remains consistent. This year, LoL was the only other category to surpass 1B hours watched.
