Top game streaming platforms of 2020
Although Twitch is the beast among game streaming platforms, newcomers like Mixer and Facebook Gaming are showing great potential
As the world is going stuck home due to Covid-19 lockdowns, the game streaming market is booming. Gamers now have more time to stream games on numerous streaming platforms.
Spending time on the gaming platforms is also a fun way to pass the quarantined days. Moreover, many invest a reasonable amount of time watching live streaming of gameplay while deciding which game to stream or buy.
Pro gamers tend to broadcast gameplays and on streaming platforms, visited by gaming enthusiasts for learning how to play a game or simply to watch. Here are some of the top ranking gaming platforms.
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Twitch
Twitch is currently the most extensive game streaming platform in terms of hours watched. Later, other activities such as music, traveling, chatting and cooking were added. Founded by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear in 2011, Twitch is currently owned by Amazon.
In 2019, the platform was watched for 9,340 million hours, encompassing 73 percent of the market. More than 1.5 million viewers are active on Twitch at any given time and the site has an average of 17.5 million site visitors daily. Each month, more than 4 million unique creators' stream on the site.
Twitch employs around 1500 employees around the world. VALORANT, Fortnite, League of Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone are some of the games by the top viewers on Twitch.
YouTube Gaming
YouTube gaming comes second in terms of hours watched. In 2019, YouTube Gaming was watched for around 2,681 million hours which totalled to 21 percent of the market.
In August 2015, YouTube launched its supplementary gaming app for gamers and content creators to live stream and create game-related content. However, the site created a colossal of confusion. As a result, in 2018, YouTube decided to discontinue the dedicated gaming app.
Currently, YouTube Gaming can be found on the "More from YouTube" category on the left hand sidebar of YouTube website.
The most viewed games on YouTube Gaming are, Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global-Offensive, Minecraft, Garena Free Fire and PUBG Mobile.
Facebook Gaming
Facebook Gaming was the fastest growing gaming-related streaming platform in 2019, with more than 200 percent watch hours growth.
However, Facebook Gaming is quite behind Twitch and YouTube Gaming. The same year, the platform had views amounting to around 356 million hours, which is only three percent of the streaming market share.
To boost the competition against top platforms, Facebook launched a dedicated app named 'Facebook Gaming: Watch, Play and Connect' on April 15.
Mixer
Mixer, owned by Microsoft, was founded in 2016 as Beam. Later that year, the site was acquired by Microsoft and renamed to Mixer in 2017.
Mixer has around 354 million hours of views as of 2019. This only encompasses three percent of the streaming market share. With 149 percent growth last year, Mixer ranks second after Facebook Gaming.
One of the major affiliations from Mixer was to team up with Ninja - one of the top gamers. Ninja had the most followers on Twitch, consisting around 14.6 million. After the affiliation, Ninja became inactive on Twitch and moved to Mixer. But Ninja still holds the most number of followers on Twitch.
Usually Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, Apex Legend, Valorant, Paladins: Champions of the Realm are the top games on Mixer.
Although Twitch is the beast among game streaming platforms, newcomers like Mixer and Facebook Gaming are showing great potential to outrun the market leader in the near future.
