StreamElements has just released its February 2023 State of the Stream which highlights key trends on Twitch.
According to data partner Rainmaker.gg, Twitch viewers watched a total of 1.654 billion hours in February 2023. While Twitch remains the dominant live streaming platform for games, this represents a 12.4% compared to February last year. While the platform is mostly consistent, viewership continues to contract from pandemic era highs.
Top Streamers and Games on Twitch
KaiCenat set a new viewership record for a streamer in a single month. His 30 day Subathon brought in 43 million hours watched. This is higher than xQc’s peak in May 2021 with 39 million hours watched. StreamElements points to KaiCenat’s broadcast hours — 650-plus vs. xQc’s 250 — as the key to setting this record. Additionally, KaiCenat now holds the record for most active Twitch subscribers in a month with 306,000.
The top games on Twitch remained relatively consistent, albeit with changes in rank. Valorant, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Apex Legends benefitted from major esports events.
Meanwhile, Hogwarts Legacy performed well with 71 million hours watched. In its launch week, the game earned 50 million hours watched. This makes it the third best launch week of a game on Twitch, only behind Lost Ark (72 million) and Elden Ring (71 million). This could be a result of the controversy surrounding the game. Hasan Abi argued that streamers avoided playing Hogwarts Legacy due to potential backlash.
February also marked the last full month of Emmett Shear’s tenure as Twitch CEO. His departure could signal a change in strategy and ethos for the platform.
“Under the leadership of Emmett Shear for the past 16 years, Twitch has grown into the dominant platform in the gaming livestreaming space,” said Gil Hirsh, CEO and co-founder of StreamElements. “While Twitch remains steady and consistent with enticing viewership numbers, it will be interesting to see if they can generate more upward momentum with the reins now handed off to a new CEO.”