eSports & Streaming·Updated Mar 17, 2026 by Stream Hatchet
Twitch maintains a dominant market position, accounting for approximately 75% of all streamed hours and 80% of esports viewership.
Total hours watched in Q1 2022 declined 6% from the previous quarter, yet remains 66% higher than Q1 2020 and 140% above Q1 2019 levels.
A small segment of core viewers, representing only 7.8% of the total audience, generates two-thirds of all watch time and is 24 times more receptive to repeated advertising than casual viewers.
While YouTube and Facebook combined contribute less than 10% of total streaming hours, emerging platforms like AfreecaTV, Trovo, and NaverTV are experiencing double-digit growth.
New releases such as Elden Ring and Lost Ark successfully captured core-viewer engagement, with both titles deriving over 50% of their streaming hours from this demographic.
Mobile game streaming is heavily driven by core fans, who account for 78% of total hours despite the broader market's casual-heavy download volume.
Monetization strategies diverge between content formats, as VOD-first creators generate twice as many video-on-demand views per concurrent viewer compared to live-stream-focused creators.
Twitch maintains a dominant market position, accounting for approximately 75% of all streamed hours and 80% of esports viewership.
Total hours watched in Q1 2022 declined 6% from the previous quarter, yet remains 66% higher than Q1 2020 and 140% above Q1 2019 levels.
A small segment of core viewers, representing only 7.8% of the total audience, generates two-thirds of all watch time and is 24 times more receptive to repeated advertising than casual viewers.
While YouTube and Facebook combined contribute less than 10% of total streaming hours, emerging platforms like AfreecaTV, Trovo, and NaverTV are experiencing double-digit growth.
New releases such as Elden Ring and Lost Ark successfully captured core-viewer engagement, with both titles deriving over 50% of their streaming hours from this demographic.
Mobile game streaming is heavily driven by core fans, who account for 78% of total hours despite the broader market's casual-heavy download volume.
Monetization strategies diverge between content formats, as VOD-first creators generate twice as many video-on-demand views per concurrent viewer compared to live-stream-focused creators.