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Twitch Usage and Growth Statistics: How Many People Use Twitch?

Brian Dean

Written by Brian Dean

twitch-users-post-banner

Twitch launched in 2011 as a live streaming service focused on gaming and eSports. It hit 3.2 million users per month within its first year.

Three years later, Amazon parted with $970 million in cash to acquire Twitch. Today, Twitch has over 240 million monthly active users (MAUs).

Read on to find all of the essential Twitch statistics in 2024. Here’s a summary of what we’ll cover:

Twitch statistics (Top Picks)

  • Twitch currently gets more than 240 million unique visitors every month. That’s up from 55 million users in 2015
    Twitch currently gets more than 240 million unique visitors every month
  • 98,056 live Twitch broadcasts are going on at any given time
  • The US has the biggest share of Twitch viewers. It’s home to nearly a quarter of all users
  • 63% of Twitch users are men
  • 73% of Twitch users are aged 34 and under
  • The Twitch app has been downloaded over 100 million times
  • League of Legends is the most-watched title on Twitch, with streams of the video game accumulating 60.52 billion watch hours

Twitch Monthly Active Users

Monthly active users (MAUs) refers to the number of unique visitors Twitch receives in a given month. The statistics in this section give an indication of the size of the overall Twitch user base.

  • In November 2023, Twitch had 241.7 million unique visitors to the website
  • Each month, more than 7 million unique streamers publish content to Twitch
  • In November 2023, the number of streamers reached 7.36 million
  • Over 5.3 billion hours of video were watched on Twitch in Q3 2023
  • Twitch receives more than 1.8 billion hours of video views in its biggest months
  • Twitch recorded an all-time peak of 2.3 billion hours of watch time in May 2021
  • In the US alone, there are more than 35 million Twitch monthly active users

Sources: Semrush, TwitchTracker, Statista

Twitch Daily Active Users

Daily active users (DAUs) references the number of unique visitors Twitch receives on a daily basis. While monthly statistics give a more holistic picture, DAU figures show how Twitch has become part of the everyday routine for many people.

  • There are 35 million daily active users on Twitch
    There are 35 million daily active users on Twitch
  • On average, there are over 2.5 million people watching Twitch streams at any given time
  • In December 2023, the average number of concurrent broadcasting channels is 98,056

Sources: Twitch, Twitch Tracker

Twitch User Growth

Twitch grew rapidly following its launch in 2011. In its first year, the streaming platform was already receiving over 3 million unique visitors per month. Reporting on monthly user count has gone quiet in recent years.

Twitch User Growth

But by drawing a number of sources together, we have charted the growth of the Twitch user base over time:

Year Users (Per Month)
2011 3.2 million
2012 20 million
2013 45 million
2014 55 million
2015 100 million
2021 140 million
2023 240 million

Sources: CNBC, The Verge, ARSTechnica, HBS

Twitch as a Social Media Preference among Video Gamers

Twitch ranks 6th (after Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Discord, Twitter) as the most popular social media platform among video gamers in the US.

Twitch as a Social Media Preference among Video Gamers

Here’s the complete list of social media platforms that are most commonly used among video gamers:

Social media platform Percent
Youtube 60%
Facebook 58%
Instagram 42%
Discord 37%
TikTok 37%
Twitch 29%
Snapchat 26%
X (Twitter) 25%
Reddit 23%
Pinterest 20%
LinkedIn 11%
Tumblr 7%
Clubhouse 6%
Flickr 6%
Foursquare 5%
Yelp 4%
TeamSpeak 3%
WeChat 3%
Other 5%

Source: Statista

Twitch Users by Country

Given that Twitch is known for its eSports streams, there is a perception that the Asia Pacific market drives a lot of the viewing. After all, nearly half (46%) of consumer spending on games in 2023 came from the Asia-Pacific market, more than any other region.

In reality, however, services like DouYu, a Chinese streaming giant, make it hard for Twitch to break into non-Western markets. Plus, Twitch has been blocked in China since September 2018.

Here are the five countries that make up the greatest percentage of the Twitch viewership:

Country Twitch Unique Visitors
USA 29.08%
Brazil 6.03%
Germany 4.55%
Japan 4.43%
Russia 3.48%

The USA alone accounts for 35 million viewers. This is forecasted to grow to 36.7 million by 2025.

Sources: Statista, Semrush, BBC, Newzoo

Twitch User Demographics

Twitch doesn’t routinely release demographics data. But some independent studies have attempted to break down the Twitch user base. Here’s what we know about the cohort of 140 million plus Twitch viewers.

Gender demographics

As of September 2023, 63% of Twitch users aged 18-64 in the US were male, with the remaining 37% made up of female users.

63% of Twitch users aged 18-64 in the US are male

Sources: Statista

Age demographics

Twitch is dominated by younger viewers. In fact, nearly three-quarters of all total users are below the age of 35. Here is the complete age breakdown:

Age Percent
16-24 22.3%
25-34 49.7%
35-44 17.5%
45-54 7.4%
55-64 1.9%
65+ 1.3%

Source: Statista

Twitch Usage by Device

Worldwide, there are an estimated 5.6 billion users that access the internet via mobile devices.

Many of these people use their phones to watch video content. In fact, over on YouTube, more than 80% of visitors come from mobile devices.

But what about Twitch? 37% of Twitch visitors come from mobile devices.

We can also get an indication of the mobile scene on Twitch today by looking at app downloads. On the Play Store, the app has been installed over 100 million times.

In the first 2 quarters of 2023, Twitch was downloaded 25.61 million times across Google Play and Apple App Store.

Twitch App Downloads

As we can see, Twitch app downloads peaked during early months of pandemic.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of Twitch app downloads by quarter:

Date App downloads (in millions)
Q1 2018 9.1
Q2 2018 10.34
Q3 2018 10.18
Q4 2018 8.46
Q1 2019 10.12
Q2 2019 7.54
Q3 2019 7.91
Q4 2019 8.29
Q1 2020 13.06
Q2 2020 23.55
Q3 2020 21.33
Q4 2020 21.6
Q1 2021 20.74
Q2 2021 17.03
Q3 2021 15.76
Q4 2021 13.38
Q1 2022 16.6
Q2 2022 12.65
Q3 2022 13.48
Q4 2022 12.11
Q1 2023 13.62
Q2 2023 11.99

Sources: Semrush 1, Semrush 2, Statista

Twitch has over 11 million unique streaming channels. But not all channels are equal. While the reality for a lot of streamers is battling to hit landmarks like 100 followers, the biggest channels can attract millions of subscribers.

Most Popular Twitch Channels

Here is the list of the top ten Twitch channels by followers:

Channel Followers
Ninja 18.98 million
auronplay 15.9 million
ibai 15.34 million
Rubius 14.74 million
xQC 11.95 million
TheGrefg 11.75 million
Tfue 11.41 million
juansguarnizo 11.14 million
shroud 10.7 million
pokimane 9.35 million

Sources: Statista, Twitchmetrics

Gaming is the bread and butter of Twitch. The site has its roots in eSports – while other categories of stream have sprung up, video games still account for the bulk of the content.

Most Popular Games on Twitch

With that in mind, here are the 10 most-watched games on Twitch, sorted by total hours watched:

Game Total Hours Watched
League of Legends 60.52 billion
Grand Theft Auto V 36.53 billion
Fortnite 32.97 billion
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 28.92 billion
DOTA 2 24.87 billion
Minecraft 16.76 billion
World of Warcraft 15.45 billion
Hearthstone 15.29 billion
Rust 5.88 billion
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege 5.3 billion

Source: Statista

Conclusion

You made it! That’s the end of my list of Twitch user base facts and figures.

Hopefully, you found these statistics interesting. Twitch doesn’t publish a ton of user data. But I’ve done my best to consolidate a selection of some of the best stats out there.

Now I want to hear from you:

Any questions? Or anything you’d like to see added to this Twitch stats roundup?

Whatever it is, just drop a note in the comments below.

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