While Twitch is still the preferred streaming website for viewers, Mixer has surpassed YouTube Gaming for the first time to become the second-most popular platform for streamers, according to a report by Streamlabs and Newzoo.
The report found that Mixer’s streaming growth in quarter three of 2019 correlated to Tyler “Ninja” Blevins’ migration from Twitch. Since the start of Q2, which encompasses Ninja’s move, Mixer has benefited from a 188 percent increase in total hours streamed, rising from 11.3 million to 32.6 million. The growth is attributed partially to the large increase in unique channels broadcasting on the platform, which nearly doubled from 1.95 million to 3.9 million.
A side effect of such rapid growth was a decrease in average concurrent viewers (CCV) on the platform and per individual stream. Mixer’s average CCV was measured at 40,800, with average CCV per stream at 2.7, a drop from 8.9 in Q2.
Even though it appears Mixer pulled streamers away from Twitch and YouTube Gaming, the platform experienced shrunken viewership numbers, placing it at the bottom of the pack yet again.
In Q3, total hours watched dropped 10.6 percent from 100.9 million to 90.2 million. Compared to viewership at the same time last year, however, Mixer has more than doubled its watch time.
Twitch’s viewership has roared back following a noticeable dip in Q2, experiencing a 4.5 percent increase to 2.55 billion total hours watched—its highest measurement since the quarterly report began in Q1 2018.
Total hours streamed on Twitch did drop slightly by about 2.5 percent, going from 89.6 million to 87.3 million. On a positive note for the platform, that’s a significantly smaller decrease than the more than 10 percent hit Twitch saw between Q1 and Q2 of this year.
The statistic that Twitch may be most concerned about is the two-quarter trend of a steady and surging drought of unique channels broadcasting on the service. Since Q1, that amount has dropped by almost 33 percent. What started as 5.6 million unique broadcasters in a three-month span has bottomed out to 3.7 million—fewer than Mixer.
There’s several possible variables that could explain the thinning of Twitch’s streamer base. Ninja’s Mixer deal could’ve been the push that some creators needed to try out a competing platform in search of less saturation. The rise of additional streaming services like DLive, Caffeine, Facebook Gaming, and others could also be taking a toll on Twitch.
To a lesser extent, the constant trend of controversy connected to Twitch’s Terms of Service could also be intimidating creators from committing to staying on the platform and instead be more open to exploring competitors.
Twitch’s recent decreased streaming statistics are nowhere near an event horizon, but they certainly shouldn’t be overlooked.
YouTube Gaming held firm at second place in viewership with 675.9 million hours watched in Q3. Similar to Twitch, total hours streamed shrunk from 12.6 million to 11.1 million, as well as unique channels broadcasting, which ducked 25 percent from 1.17 million to nearly 885,000.
Although raw streaming data from Facebook Gaming wasn’t available to Streamlabs and Newzoo, Streamlabs’ public relations manager Ethan May wrote in the quarterly report that Facebook Gaming shouldn’t be scoffed at, especially with its international popularity.
“Quarterly active streamers using Streamlabs OBS on Facebook Gaming has increased 236 percent since Q1 ‘18, reaching an all-time high of 153,000 acive streamers in Q2 ‘19,” May said. “In addition, Facebook Gaming has been busy attracting new streamers to the platform in Q2 across global regions. Just last week, NexxuxHD, one of YouTube’s most popular Spanish-speaking gaming creators announced that he’s now streaming on Facebook Gaming.”
Fortnite and League of Legends continue to reign supreme on Twitch, followed by World of Warcraft (thanks to the launch of Classic), Grand Theft Auto V, and Dota 2.
Despite being the most-watched game on Twitch in Q3, Fortnite’s quarterly viewership saw yet another aggressive dip. A 24-percent decrease brought the battle royale phenomenon to 223.4 million hours watched, down from 294.2 million in Q2.
Fortnite is 42 percent less popular on Twitch than it was in quarter two of 2018 when it notched its highest measurement with 391.6 million hours watched, according to the report.
Readers can view the full Streamlabs and Newzoo report with more details on Twitch’s most popular game genres and publishers here.
