Five years of audience data reveal how esports and gaming livestreaming moved from a pandemic peak to a more competitive, multi-platform industry.
Between 2021 and 2025, esports and gaming livestreaming passed through three different phases: a pandemic-era boom, a sharp post-pandemic correction and a new period of more sustainable growth.
The numbers show an industry that did not simply return to its old model. Viewers are now distributed across more platforms, more languages and more types of broadcasts than they were five years ago.
Global live-streaming hours watched
Annual hours watched across tracked live-streaming platforms
Esports hours watched
Global esports watch time, excluding mainland China where specified
League of Legends Worlds peak viewers
Maximum concurrent audience for the World Championship
The five-year market cycle
Stream Hatchet measured approximately 37.1 billion hours watched in 2021. In 2022, the market contracted by 13.5%, equivalent to roughly 32.1 billion hours. The correction reflected the return to offline life, not the disappearance of the audience.
The market began recovering in 2024, when live streaming grew 12% to 32.5 billion hours. In 2025, it reached 36.4 billion hours — approximately 98% of the 2021 peak.
The 2023 value in the chart is a directional back-calculation from the 2024 report. Annual reports can use different platform coverage, so it should not be treated as an audited single-series total.
| Year | Global live streaming | Esports events | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 37.1B hours | Pandemic-era peak | Home viewing and record online activity |
| 2022 | ≈32.1B hours | Correction | Offline life returned; Facebook Gaming fell sharply |
| 2023 | ≈29.0B* | 2.5B hours | Kick entered the top-five platforms; co-streaming expanded |
| 2024 | 32.5B hours | 3.26B hours | Audience recovery and platform diversification |
| 2025 | 36.4B hours | 3.3B hours | Near-peak streaming; esports set another record |
Esports recovered while becoming more concentrated
Esports viewership reached approximately 2.5 billion hours in 2023, up 9% from 2022. In 2024, the tracked total reached 3.26 billion hours, followed by another record of 3.3 billion hours in 2025.
That growth was not evenly distributed across every tournament. A small number of international events now generate a very large share of annual attention. League of Legends Worlds 2024 reached almost 6.94 million peak viewers — approximately 73% above the 2021 final-year benchmark.
Mobile esports remained especially powerful in Southeast Asia. The Free Fire World Series 2021 reached approximately 5.41 million peak viewers, while Mobile Legends continued to produce some of the largest global esports audiences.
Platform competition changed the market
Twitch remained the largest gaming livestreaming platform, but its relative dominance weakened. In Q2 2023, Twitch represented approximately 61% of esports viewing. By Q2 2025, Twitch held approximately 54% of the wider livestreaming market.
YouTube Gaming reached a record 2.2 billion hours watched in Q2 2025 and held almost one quarter of the market. Kick was still smaller, but its rapid growth and creator-focused contracts forced every major platform to compete more aggressively for talent.
The audience is now distributed between Twitch, YouTube, Kick, TikTok Live and regional platforms such as SOOP, CHZZK and NimoTV.
| Platform | Position in 2025 | Main advantage |
|---|---|---|
| Twitch | ≈54% market share in Q2 | Live communities, subscriptions and esports habit |
| YouTube Gaming | 2.2B hours in Q2 | Search, VOD, Shorts and long-tail discovery |
| Kick | Fastest-growing challenger | Creator deals and aggressive monetization |
| TikTok Live | Discovery and short-form bridge | Mobile reach and rapid clip-to-live conversion |
| Regional platforms | Critical in Asia | Language, local stars and national-team loyalty |
Co-streaming became part of the broadcast
Five years ago, the official tournament channel was usually the centre of the viewing experience. Now, many fans choose to watch through a creator they already follow.
Co-streaming adds personality, live chat, humour and community context. For organizers, it creates additional distribution. For creators, it turns a tournament into a source of clips, reactions and repeat engagement.
The 2025 Game Awards illustrated the wider shift: the show reached an estimated 171 million global livestreams, compared with 154 million in 2024 — an increase of approximately 11%. YouTube alone recorded more than 2.4 million peak viewers and around 8,600 co-streams.
The new esports economy is creator-led
The most successful gaming broadcasts are no longer limited to traditional competitions. Creator boxing, gaming marathons, challenge events and hybrid entertainment shows can attract audiences comparable to major esports broadcasts.
The audience follows the story around the game: personalities, rivalries, national identity, community participation and unpredictable moments. This is why a unique format can be more valuable than simply playing the most popular title.
What this means for PUBG
PUBG: Battlegrounds operates in a crowded competitive market, but its viewing format has several advantages: long narratives, high tension, regional leagues and a constant supply of individual moments.
The future of PUBG broadcasts will depend on making the match easier to understand and more personal to follow: better live tables, richer player statistics, local-language broadcasts, co-streaming and player POV feeds.
The five-year data suggests that PUBG does not need to imitate League of Legends. It needs to maximize the strengths of battle royale viewing — simultaneous storylines, national teams, player identity and live data.
Methodology and limitations
The figures combine annual and quarterly reports from Stream Hatchet and Esports Charts. They are not one unified audited dataset. Some totals exclude mainland China, while others include different platform groups.
The 2022 and 2023 live-streaming values marked with an asterisk are calculated or directional values. Peak viewers, average viewers, hours watched and unique viewers are different measures and should not be substituted for one another.
The conclusion
The industry in 2025 was almost as large as it was during the 2021 peak, but structurally different. Twitch is still the biggest platform, yet no single service controls the entire audience. Esports is growing, but attention is increasingly concentrated around major events and creator-led distribution.
The next winners will be projects that combine live competition, recognizable personalities, community interaction, short-form clips and reliable data. Viewers are no longer watching only a match. They are following a complete media ecosystem built around it.