Twitch esports viewership exceeds 79 million hours monthly

Twitch viewership from esports clocks in with 21.3% of all hours watched in a six month span. The data shows the significant size and importance of the industry in growth and development of the live streaming video platform. Valve takes two of the top five spots of hours viewed with Dota 2 and CS:GO.

According to Newzoo Twitch Tracker 21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was derived from Esports.

That figures to a staggering 475.5 million hours of esports content watched across all sectors of esports with an average of over 79 million hours a month.

The trend points to the esports industry being a compelling and pronounced share of the audience and viewership and it is no surprise as Twitch continues to create partnerships in the field as well as investments. Recently, Super Evil MegaCorp’s mobile MOBA Vainglory received a multi-million dollar investment from Twitch itself.

Within the esports division, 58% of the hours watched come from MOBA (multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games with Dota 2 and League of Legends being the top two contributors. The next closest genre of esports is derived from shooter games with Valve’s CS:GO being the primary driving force. Newzoo Twitch Tracker reports between the two divisions, thats “406.7 million hours of watched esports content in the second half of last year” – totaling 85% of esports hours watched.

Twitch Top 5 games

League of Legends generates the highest amount of hours watched with a staggering 451.3 million hours total in the six month span. Dota 2 saw less than half of that with 241.6 million hours for the same time period. Counter Strike: Global Offensive edged out Dota 2 with a total of 309.4 million hours.

According to the figures, Dota 2, CS:GO and Starcraft II generate large percentages of viewership from within the esports community. LOL generates 72% of their viewership from non-esports viewers with Hearthstone taking a whopping 87% of its audience from outside the industry.

Featured image courtesy of engadget