Fortnite Twitch Viewership Made Significant Contribution to Streaming

Twitch Gaming Viewership Increased Significantly in 2018 With Fortnite Player Ninja in the Lead

December 30, 2018

Video game channels on Twitch have seen a significant increase in viewership this year compared to 2017, according to statistics compiled by Esports Observer. Unsurprisingly, Fortnite player Tyler “Ninja” Blevins took the lead with over 226 million hours watched between January 1 and December 27.

League of Legends developer Riot Games claimed second position with 99 million hours watched, followed by Canadian player Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, who is known for streaming shooters including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Despite being in its first year, Overwatch League took fourth position with almost 75 million hours watched. Rounding up the top five is World of Warcraft player Chance “Sodapoppin” Morris, with approximately 52 million hours watched.

In comparison, Jaryd “Summit1g” Lazar was the most-watched streamer in 2017 with over 72 million hours watched.

Esports Observer noted that Fortnite made a significant contribution to the aforementioned numbers. At least three streamers in the top ten almost exclusively play Epic’s take on the battle royale genre, and the game shows no sign of slowing down.

The most-watched games on Twitch in 2018 are as follows:

Fortnite
League of Legends
Dota 2
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Hearthstone
IRL
Overwatch
World of Warcraft
Grand Theft Auto V

There’s also been a shift in the type of gaming channels viewers prefer watching. Last year, half of the top ten channels were dedicated to esports, and charity marathon channel Games Done Quick made it into the top five. In 2018, only two esports channels – Overwatch League and Riot Games – appeared in the top chart. The remaining top channels all belonged to streaming personalities.

Share your thoughts on these figures with us below.

[Source: Esports Observer]