Facebook Gaming sees 238% growth in April, Twitch leads viewership

San Francisco, May 17 (IANS): Facebook Gaming saw a massive 238 per cent growth in hours watched in the month of April (year-over-year) when people stayed home owing to Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the live game streaming platform Twitch that saw 101 per cent growth in hours watched while YouTube gaming logged 65 per cent rise in viewership globally.

At the top when it comes to hours watched, Twitch saw a record 1.65 billion watch hours of gaming while YouTube saw 461 million hours watched and Facebook Gaming saw 291 hours watched (from just 86 million in April 2019), according to the data provided by live-streaming data analytics platforms StreamElements and Arsenal.gg.

While Microsoft Mixer had the least amount of growth (just 0.2 per cent in gaming hours watched), it still has a potential ace in its pocket depending on “how they marry Ninja with Xbox Series X and Halo Infinite”.

Facebook saw the most significant leap in terms of personal growth, benefiting greatly from the release of their standalone gaming app and hosting several successful celebrity tournaments.

In the first quarter (January-March period) this year, Facebook’s game streaming platform received almost 554 million hours of viewing time, compared to 1.1 billion for YouTube and 3.1 billion for Twitch, according to the latest data from live-streaming software service Streamlabs.

Facebook last month launched its own gaming app on Google Play Store for Android. Facebook Gaming app is free and will allow millions of users to watch and stream live games from their smartphones.

“There is no question that live streaming has been on the rise for a while, but the pandemic-driven shelter-in-place mandates have supersized the industry. In addition to more people watching and playing games, there’s been a huge influx of non-gaming context,” the companies in a statement.

This has ranged from big music events to dance classes and fitness streams as individuals and organizations look for new means to generate revenue for themselves or others.

From March to April, every major live streaming platform experienced growth with 45 per cent more hours being collectively watched.

“Riot’s closed beta launch of Valorant was a thing of beauty when they leveraged select members of the streaming community to be primary destinations for others to visit in order to get their own beta keys via drops,” said StreamElements and Arsenal.gg.

“Fortnite also continues to impress this year. It has grown month-over-month since January which is usually not the case for titles of its size that have been out for over a year,” they added.

While gaming categories rise and fall depending on new updates and events, Just Chatting, which boasted a whopping 138 per cent year-over-year increase in hours watched, has turned our infographics into steps that keep on ascending.

While many have turned to Twitch as a way to make money in lieu of being able to tour and perform, others have used Twitch as a vehicle to raise money for those in need.

Twitch even hosted their own celebrity-packed Stream Aid charity event that showcased the power of their platform.