The livestreaming industry ended Q2 2025 with remarkable stability, generating over 29.6 billion Hours Watched across major platforms worldwide. While YouTube Live continues to dominate with more than half of the total watch time, growing platforms like Kick are shaking up the scene, reaching new milestones and expanding their market share. Meanwhile, Twitch faced some challenges, and niche platforms experienced significant shifts, both gains and losses. In this report, Streams Charts breaks down the latest trends, top performers, and key developments shaping the livestreaming landscape today.
Main takeaways:
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YouTube Live continues to dominate the livestreaming market, accounting for over 50% of total Hours Watched (HW).
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TikTok Live remains steady, but Twitch has seen a slight dip in market share. This could indicate a sustained downward trend, particularly as rival platforms continue to gain ground.
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Kick has just crossed a major milestone, racking up over 1 billion Hours Watched in a single quarter for the first time. With that, it now stands alongside Twitch, YouTube Live, and TikTok as a major streaming platform: The Big Three just became the Big Four.
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Rumble’s viewership gradually declined as the hype around Trump’s inauguration and other hot-button topics in U.S. politics earlier in the year began to fade.
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NimoTV’s reliance on a single top streamer backfired, as his reduced airtime led to a sharp drop in the platform’s overall viewership.
In Q2 2025, livestreams across all major platforms generated over 29.61 billion Hours Watched, down just 0.6% from Q1. Overall, the livestreaming industry remains highly stable, with no major spikes or downturns.
Just as in the last quarter, YouTube Live remains the leader among all streaming services in audience reach. Its market share remains steady, still accounting for just over 50% of total watch time across the entire industry.
TikTok Live maintained its performance from the previous quarter, retaining the #2 spot with just over 8 billion HW. Twitch, on the other hand, took a slight hit: Amazon’s platform saw a drop of more than 4% in total Hours Watched compared to Q1. The decline affected both its IRL and Gaming categories.
Kick deserves a spotlight in this report: for the first time, the green platform has surpassed 1 billion Hours Watched in a single quarter. Since the start of the year, its viewership has grown by an impressive 28.1%. This surge was driven by a mix of factors: the rise of new breakout streamers, increased demand for gaming content, and a packed season of entertainment football leagues.
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YouTube Live streams totaled 14.83 billion HW in Q2 2025, nearly matching the platform’s performance from the previous quarter. While the IRL segment saw a slight dip, gaming streams grew by approximately 1.2% as a share of total platform viewership. This increase was largely driven by the peak of the esports seasons in League of Legends and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang — fans closely followed matches from regional leagues like MPL and LCK, both of which received extensive coverage on YouTube. Both titles boosted their Hours Watched by an impressive 43% and ranked among the platform’s most-watched games for the quarter.
TikTok Live showed only a slight increase of 0.06% from the previous quarter. Most of that growth came from the platform’s gaming segment, which benefited from active coverage of the latest MPL seasons.
Twitch is currently going through a rough patch — its metrics have been declining for three consecutive quarters, and over the past few months, the platform’s market share has dropped by another 0.9%. Notably, Q2 performed worse than Q1 in key areas like Average Channels and Average Viewers, which ultimately led to a drop in total Hours Watched.
After Twitch allowed multistreaming, many content creators began broadcasting on multiple platforms simultaneously. Take Brazilian streamer Alexandre ‘’Gaules’’ Chiqueta, for example. Once exclusive to Twitch, he began simulcasting on YouTube in mid-2024. During the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, his YouTube streams drew nearly twice as many viewers as his Twitch ones. His total audience didn’t grow much, it simply split across platforms. And Gaules isn’t alone in making that shift.
Kick continues its steady growth, gradually reclaiming market share from rival platforms — 3.74% in Q2. The service hit a major milestone last quarter, delivering its strongest performance since launch. Much of that success came from gaming content, which now makes up the majority of Kick’s total viewership.
With Kick’s growth, SOOP Korea has taken the lead among the smaller streaming platforms. In Q2 2025, the Korean platform generated 345.8 million HW, making up about 1.17% of total industry Hours Watched, slightly down from its share in Q1.
CHZZK saw a modest boost in performance thanks to growth of Minecraft and Overwatch 2 viewership. Plus, at the end of May and early June, CHZZK hosted a major entertainment event featuring the launch of a special Grand Theft Auto RP server, where nearly all the platform’s top streamers played for several days.
Rumble and NimoTV saw major declines: Rumble dropped around 10.8% in HW from Q1, while NimoTV plummeted 38%. Rumble is gradually returning to its previous levels after a surge related the U.S. presidential inauguration & other hot topics. As for NimoTV, its decline stems from the sharp drop in stream time by the platform’s most popular creator, a shift that significantly impacted the overall performance.
SteamTV’s Hours Watched jumped 93% from the previous quarter, and BLAST.tv Austin Major played a major role in this surge. Bigo Live and SOOP Global also saw solid growth, but their numbers remain relatively small compared to the bigger platforms.
YouTube Live viewership statistics for Q2 2025
May stood out as YouTube Live’s best month ever, with 5.15 billion HW. Peak concurrent viewers hit 18.94 million PV during that time, the second-highest count in YouTube Live’s history. That same month, the platform also broke records for both Peak Channels and Average Channels.
There wasn’t a single event driving this surge; YouTube is available in nearly every country, which has long made it a go-to platform for covering global headlines, from international politics and military conflicts to major entertainment events. In Q2, the platform was flooded with high-profile topics: the election of the new Pope, the ongoing wars, and much more. Add to that major football tournaments, gaming expos, the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, and plenty of esports action.
YouTube Live’s rankings remained stable, with CazéTV once again leading the platform. Originally launched by Brazilian streamer Casimiro Miguel, the channel now operates as a full-fledged sports broadcaster, covering football, the Olympics, and other major events with a team of hosts and experts. On June 29, CazéTV channel drew over 5.56 million Peak Viewers during the Flamengo vs. Bayern Munich match in the FIFA Club World Cup. This currently stands as the most-popular livestream of the year.
YouTube Gaming streams grew by 7.6%, driven by esports activity. Fans in South Korea followed the LCK matches, while regional MPL leagues set new viewership records in Indonesia and the Philippines. Meanwhile, in Europe, Brazil, and the U.S., all eyes were on the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025.
The only non-esports channel in YouTube Gaming’s top five was American streamer Darren ‘’IShowSpeed’’ Watkins Jr. After topping the charts in Q1, he has since slipped to fourth place, though he continued to entertain fans with a mix of IRL antics and extended gaming marathons.
TikTok Live viewership statistics for Q2 2025
TikTok Live generated just over 8 billion HW in Q2. The platform continues its steady growth, largely fueled by rising activity in the esports scene.
Gaming content, including esports tournament streams, made up about 13% of that total. TikTok Live’s most popular categories continue to be IRL sections like Chats, Fashion, and Outdoors. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang remains the leading game on the platform.
Twitch viewership statistics for Q2 2025
In Q2 2025 Twitch totaled 4.64 billion HW, with gaming content making up 76.1% of that. Twitch remains the leading platform for gaming and esports streams — even if that’s not immediately obvious from its list of top channels. Unlike YouTube Gaming, where nearly all top spots are held by esports-related channels, Twitch’s leaderboard is far more diverse: it features popular community caster Marc ‘’Caedrel’’ Lamont, event organizer Elias ‘’eliasn97’’ Nerlich, gaming streamer Zack ‘’zackrawrr’’ Hoyt, and political commentator Hasan ‘’HasanAbi’’ Piker.
Twitch’s most-watched categories remained unchanged, with every Q1 leader holding onto a top-five spot. Unlike YouTube Gaming, where esports dominates, Twitch continues to showcase a more balanced mix of top creators. The platform’s top channels span competitive gaming, IRL streams, talk shows (including political content), and variety gaming.
Kick viewership statistics for Q2 2025
Kick steadily increased its Hours Watched each month throughout Q2. The green platform set this upward trend back in March and shows no signs of slowing down. With over 1.1 billion HW this quarter, Kick set a new watch time record.
The list of Kick’s most-watched categories stayed the same, viewers still favor live interactions with streamers, and GTA V remains the most popular game. However, the streamer rankings saw some fresh faces. Leading the pack is maherco, who climbed from third place in Q1 to the top spot this quarter.
Japanese streamer korekore_ch has quickly emerged as one of Kick’s fastest-growing creators. Known for his unique “dark news” format, he covers real-time social media controversies, offers live advice, and even mediates online disputes during his streams. Early in his career, he faced platform restrictions and backlash due to the sensitive nature of his content. But on Kick, greater creative freedom has only amplified his appeal, establishing him as one of the most unfiltered and influential voices in Japanese livestreaming.
SOOP Korea (ex-AfreecaTV) viewership statistics for Q2 2025
Following strong growth in March, SOOP Korea saw a clear decline in Q2, with Hours Watched dropping for three months in a row. Over that time, the platform’s streams totaled roughly 345.8 million HW.
Korean audience tastes remained fairly consistent with Q1. Local streamers are most active in the Social category, while League of Legends and StarCraft remain the preferred games. The platform leans more toward IRL trends, but esports fans still have plenty of content to enjoy.
Naver’s CHZZK viewership statistics for Q2 2025
In Q2 2025, streams on CHZZK saw a 5.9% increase in Hours Watched compared to Q1. Unlike SOOP Korea, CHZZK’s streamers and viewers tend to focus more on traditional gaming content and esports. This rivalry is especially clear when looking at coverage of Korea’s League of Legends scene.
While SOOP Korea led in Hours Watched during several seasons of LCK 2024, the tables have turned this year: currently, CHZZK accounts for roughly 12.3% of total HW for the LCK Season 2025, ranking third behind YouTube and Twitch.
Rumble viewership statistics for Q2 2025
Rumble lost around 10.8% of its total Hours Watched compared to the previous quarter. The main reason was a noticeable drop in the platform’s average viewership. Audience interest surged during the U.S. presidential race and the months following President Donald Trump’s inauguration: but that momentum has now cooled, leading to a gradual decline in viewership.
NimoTV viewership statistics for Q2 2025
NimoTV has experienced a steep and unexpected decline. Its Hours Watched plummeted 38% compared to Q1 — the biggest drop among all platforms covered here. A major factor behind this was the slump of Phùng ‘’MixiGaming’’ Thanh Độ, NimoTV’s top gaming channel, whose HW fell sharply from 52 million HW to just 13 million HW over three months, a fourfold decrease due to a sharp reduction in airtime.
Despite MixiGaming’s steep drop, the channel remains second in Hours Watched on the platform, behind only Thầy Giáo Ba. When it comes to the most popular categories, things stayed largely the same, Vietnamese viewers still prefer GTA V, League of Legends, and PUBG.
SteamTV viewership statistics for Q2 2025
In Q2 2025, SteamTV generated 108.9 million Hours Watched, nearly double its Q1 total. While that suggests rapid growth, the platform’s unique setup skews the numbers: streams launch automatically, and “viewers” often include users browsing a game’s store page rather than actively watching.
Much of SteamTV’s growth came from the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, whose broadcasts made up about 17.4% of the platform’s total watch time. SteamTV also ran automated streams of major recent game releases, from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to Elden Ring: Nightreign.
Trovo viewership statistics for Q2 2025
In Q2 2025, Trovo streams totaled 14.8 million HW, about 1.5% less than in Q1. Overall, Trovo remains a niche platform primarily catering to Russian-speaking World of Tanks and Lineage II fans. La2 streamers prefer it because they can broadcast from unofficial servers, while other platforms often block these streams at developers’ requests.
Bigo Live viewership statistics for Q2 2025
Bigo Live saw a modest increase in Q2, racking up 18.6% more Hours Watched than at the start of the year. However, its month-to-month performance remains very volatile. After a strong May, June brought a significant drop. While the platform still attracts viewers in the MENA region and some CIS countries, competition there is intense, making steady growth unlikely. Right now, the numbers are so small that a single viral stream can dramatically shift the platform’s trajectory in a short time.
SOOP Global viewership statistics for Q2 2025
SOOP Global closes out our quarterly ranking of the most popular streaming platforms. In Q2, its hours watched jumped 38.1% to 4.2 million HW. However, like Bigo Live, the platform’s overall stats can be dramatically affected by just a handful of streams and streamers.
The global livestreaming industry remained remarkably stable in Q2 2025, generating over 29.6 billion Hours Watched across all major platforms, just 0.57% less than in Q1. While YouTube Live continues to dominate the market, the rapid rise of Kick has officially reshaped the industry's hierarchy, earning it a place alongside Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok as one of the new “Big Four” streaming platforms.
