Twitch, the goliath of game streaming, is getting even more gigantic.
Amazon’s streaming service registered more than 5 billion total hours watched in the second quarter, up 63% from the first quarter — further distancing itself from its closest competitors at a pivotal moment for the industry, a new report says.
That compares to more 1.5 billion hours watched for YouTube’s live game streams (up 40%), 822 million hours for Facebook Gaming (up 49%), and 106 million hours for Microsoft Mixer (up 31%), according to the report from live streaming software company Streamlabs, using data from analytics company Stream Hatchet.
Twitch’s continued growth comes as Microsoft prepares to close its game-streaming service Mixer later this month, joining forces with Facebook Gaming.
In a recent interview with GeekWire, Mixer co-founder Matt Salsamendi said the closure risks giving Twitch even more market power than it has today.
“I think we had always wished, starting Mixer, that we would be able to do something that offset how one-sided the decision-making process for streamers was,” Salsamendi said. “You know, if you want to stream, you go to Twitch. That is the default answer. Anything else today is kind of a second thought. I’m hopeful that YouTube can do a little bit to offset that.”
Hours watched measures consumption. In terms of production, total hours streamed by gamers and others, Twitch rose to 192.7 million hours for the quarter, up 58.7% — setting another new record and further extending its lead.
Mixer was in second place for the quarter by that metric, at more than 36 million hours streamed, up 28.5% from the first quarter, but slightly below its peak in the first quarter of 2019, the report says.
“Once Mixer shuts down, there will be a vast ecosystem of potential live streamers searching for a new platform,” Streamlabs says in the report. “Whichever platform can attract those users will have a serious advantage and may help in eventually competing with Twitch.”
Streaming services have seen a spike in usage across-the-board as the pandemic keeps people around the world in their homes, and growing social activism and racial unrest prompts people to look for new ways to have their voices heard.
At the same time, streaming services have been facing growing pressure to respond to incidents of sexism and harassment on their platforms. Twitch has begun permanently banning some streamers from its service.
