“Everything is politics”, once said the German writer Thomas Mann, a quote that has taken on renewed relevance in recent years marked by unsettling instability. Indeed, wherever you look, politics, whether visible or hidden, seems to envelop us all, while the ordinary people are always ready to gossip about disliked MPs or government ministers.
Wars, elections, natural disasters, and space launches: major events unfold every moment, shaping the world we live in. For decades, audiences have consumed news about them with curiosity and urgency. Now, with the rise of livestreaming, politics has found a powerful new communication channel. From news networks and journalistic podcasts to direct broadcasts by politicians, even spontaneous rants from those less versed in policy, political content has carved out a substantial space in the global livestreaming ecosystem.
In recent years, interest in political livestreams has surged. In Q1 2025, political content nearly matched the volume of gaming streams on Twitch, a platform known for its gaming roots. In absolute terms, politics accounted for over 11% of all content watched across the industry. And that share is still rising.
Streams Charts has compiled in-depth statistics on political livestreaming: we break down how fast it’s growing, where it’s being streamed and how audiences engage with it, which channels serve as key opinion leaders, and how regional trends are shaping the space, including the case study of a major political content creator.
Political content consumption in livestreaming is growing rapidly
Politics has always had a presence in livestreaming, just look at news channels like Al Jazeera or India’s Aaj Tak, which alone can draw tens of thousands of viewers at any given time. But the real explosion of political content came in 2024, driven by what was arguably the most significant global political event of the year: the U.S. presidential election.
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While political streams averaged around 1.7 billion Hours Watched (HW) per quarter in 2022-2023, that figure jumped to approximately 2.9 billion hours in 2024 and early 2025. Unsurprisingly, the peak came in Q4 2024, when Donald Trump and Kamala Harris faced off in the presidential race. During that single quarter, political content reached a staggering 3.5 billion Hours Watched, a 112% increase over the last two years.
On a yearly basis, political content consumption grew by 56% in 2024 compared to the previous year. But where exactly is the audience watching all this content? The platform breakdown reveals an interesting dynamic: while one service leads in the number of content sources (in this case, streaming channels), nearly all of the viewership is concentrated on an entirely different platform.
Twitch leads in political channels, lags in viewership
According to statistics from 2022 through early 2025, nearly 98% of all political content viewership occurred on YouTube, and there’s little surprise in that. The Google-backed platform hosts media outlets from major countries across Europe, the Americas, and parts of Asia, including heavyweight news organizations like Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, ABC News, and dozens more.
Since the second half of 2023, Rumble has emerged as a notable player in the political content space. Often described as the home of “alternative” (or, as critics from opposing political camps put it, “alt-right”) content, the platform’s audience is overwhelmingly based in the United States. Today, Rumble ranks as the second-largest platform by political content viewership, surpassing Twitch.
YouTube Live is the undisputed leader in terms of political content viewership, yet it hosts only about a third of all channels involved in covering political news. Surprisingly, the platform with the largest number of such channels is Twitch: a service primarily known for gaming accounts for over half of all politically orientated livestreaming channels.
At first glance, this imbalance might seem odd, but it actually makes sense. The vast majority of political content on YouTube is produced by major news outlets that often broadcast 24/7 and regularly attract thousands (sometimes even hundreds of thousands) of viewers.
Twitch, on the other hand, lacks these heavyweight viewership drivers. Instead, it’s home to hundreds of passionate creators who occasionally dive into political discussions, more like passerby commentators than deeply engaged political voices, but active nonetheless.
A similar pattern can be seen on Kick: while the platform actually hosts more politically affiliated channels than Rumble, its overall viewership remains minimal by comparison.
A quarter of political streams come from the United States
Political livestreaming content is produced and distributed by countries across the globe, but two nations stand out as clear leaders when it comes to the number of content sources: the United States and India. The U.S. is the dominant force, with roughly a quarter of all political channels representing the country, a number that is steadily approaching 5,000. Meanwhile, in India, the largest country in South Asia, around 2,200 channels produce political content, accounting for approximately 10% of the global total.
The second tier includes countries with between 500 and 1,000 political channels each, roughly 2.5% to 4.7% of the total. This cluster features European nations like France and Germany, American countries such as Mexico and Brazil, leading Asian markets including Japan and South Korea, as well as Turkey, which spans both Europe and Asia.
Another interesting observation is that, in terms of the number of political livestreaming sources, Ukraine ranks ahead of Russia. Similarly, relatively smaller countries like Poland and Spain surpass larger nations such as Canada, Indonesia, Argentina, and even the United Kingdom.
News agencies choose YouTube, political bloggers flock to Twitch and Rumble
As we’ve already noted, political coverage in livestreaming is highly diverse: YouTube hosts a vast number of global news channels (from government-funded outlets to independent opposition media), while Rumble serves as the home for American alternative political bloggers and media like Russia Today, often banned in many Western countries. Meanwhile, Twitch has a large segment of left-leaning political streamers. As a result, both the content and viewership numbers of even the top channels vary significantly across these platforms.
According to statistics, since April 2022, only one livestreaming channel has amassed an astounding 1 billion hours of political content viewing: the perpetually streaming Qatari state-funded YouTube channel, Al Jazeera. Notably, the channel saw a dramatic rise in audience during the tragic events surrounding the Hamas-led attack on Israel. On the day of the attack, the channel's average daily audience skyrocketed more than tenfold (from about 11,000 to 121,000). While the numbers have since dipped, they remain significantly higher, with the channel regularly attracting 30,000 to 45,000 viewers today.
In addition to Al Jazeera, two other channels have accumulated over 500,000,000 hours of political content viewing over the past three years: Argentina’s pay and streaming news television channel TN (Todo Noticias) and the Hindi-language news channel Aaj Tak, owned by the TV Today Network. Following them are various state-funded broadcasters from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, and even Kenya.
While the top YouTube channel amassed over a billion hours of viewing, the top political Twitch channel garnered 13 times fewer hours. The leading political content creator on the Amazon-backed platform is Hasan Doğan Piker, also known as HasanAbi, an influencer and left-wing political commentator.
Although the Turkish-American content creator occasionally participates in more typical Twitch streams (such as gaming with other platform stars or attending events like TwitchCon), the core of his content remains political. Among other political commentators on the platform, he stands out significantly. For example, Zack "Asmongold" Hiyt, who also occasionally shares his thoughts on politics (though not as frequently or in-depth as Piker), has accumulated 9.5 times fewer hours of political content.
On the other hand, Rumble serves as a platform primarily for opponents of creators like Hasan Piker. The audience here most eagerly consumes content from the Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN), an American conservative media company founded in 2015 in Auburn, Alabama. Over three years, the channel accumulated more than 44 million hours of watch time, with a key audience boost occurring in the fall of 2024 during the height of the presidential race.
Case Study: Audience demographics of a left-liberal American streamer
While YouTube remains the clear leader in political viewership, Twitch presents a unique case where individual creators and not institutional media drive engagement. Using Stream Charts’ Audience Location tool, we can break down the viewer base of top political channels and uncover patterns behind their reach.
To illustrate this, we analyzed Twitch’s most-watched political streamer, Hasan Piker. Though deeply rooted in the U.S. political discourse, his content resonates globally, attracting English-speaking viewers from across the world, a reminder that influence often extends well beyond national borders in livestreaming.
According to data from Q1 2025, less than half of Hasan Piker’s (HasanAbi) audience comes from the United States. While his content primarily focuses on American politics, it resonates strongly with a broader English-speaking audience. Viewers from countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and several European nations with high English proficiency (such as Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) tune in regularly.
He also draws a notable following from countries like India, Brazil, and Russia. Interestingly, around 2.4% of his viewers are based in Turkey, the country of his family origin.
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As global tensions rise and political discourse becomes increasingly polarized, the demand for real-time information and commentary has never been higher. Livestreaming platforms have emerged as crucial spaces for audiences seeking not only news but also interpretation, debate, and a sense of connection. Whether through traditional media channels or independent creators, political content now spans continents, ideologies, and languages, reflecting the complexity of the world it aims to cover.
Looking ahead, it’s likely that interest in political livestreaming will continue to grow. Ideally, this growth will be driven by heightened civic engagement and the global exchange of ideas, not by conflict, crisis, or catastrophe.
