Twitch viewership declines almost 10% in the past year as rivals circle - Dexerto
Twitch's overall viewership and streamers on the platform has decline by almost 10% this year, but what has caused it?
www.dexerto.com
Twitch’s popularity peaked in 2021, when many of us were still stuck indoors, and streamers were there to keep us company. A predictable decline followed as the world opened up, but the slow but sure slide continued into 2023.
Twitch declined by almost 10% in the past year and about 7% the year before, marking two years of decline, should people worry?
Average viewership peaked in April 2021 at 3.1 million. The decline has been steady since, dropping to as low as 2.2 million in December 2022.
The drop also lines up with a decline in hours streamed, which was 9.8% down – as was the average number of channels streaming.
There are a number of factors that could influence this. One is out Twitch’s control – the popularity of new game releases, and the seemingly decreasing interest in esports titles like League of Legends, Dota2 and CS:GO.
But the elephant in the room is streamers leaving Twitch to stream on YouTube, Facebook Gaming, or Kick. YouTube has signed a number of Twitch’s biggest stars to exclusive deals, and the new kid on the block, Kick, is offering 95% revenue splits.
Meanwhile, Twitch has been reluctant to fend off competition with exorbitant deals or increased revenue splits. In fact, the platform is instead reducing subscription revenue for those previously on the 70/30 split, making 50/50 the standard. This is also lower than YouTube’s 70/30 split.
In the past 12 months, the number of “active” partnered streamers has dropped 5.4%, to 50,702. Active affiliate streamers have declined by 9.3%, to 2.06 million.
Is this good or bad for gaming? What are your opinions on Twitch and its future? Have you experience of streaming on Twitch or other platforms?
