The ultimate quarter of 2024 was marked by rather sudden changes for livestreaming. The global livestreaming landscape saw momentum in the South Korean market shift, with Naver’s CHZZK now catching up rapidly to SOOP Korea (ex-AfreecaTV). YouTube Gaming managed to once again overtake Twitch’s Gaming section, following a rapidly rising demographic fuelling viewership. Kick also closed the year out with a bang, as more and more LATAM streamers joined the green wave.
Main takeaways:
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YouTube Gaming enjoys sizable growth and continues to catch up to Twitch’s Games viewership. The red platform received a large portion of its watch time from Brazilian channels, which rapidly grew on YouTube Gaming to become some of its most popular content.
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Games viewership on Twitch fell slightly compared to the previous quarter. While the platform’s overall viewership is stable, this was powered by the growth of viewership for IRL streams and non-gaming content.
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Kick ended 2024 with another viewership record and rapid growth for the platform. Kick continues to develop and engage with international livestreaming demographics, especially those in the LATAM and MENA regions.
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Naver’s CHZZK has managed to turn its momentum around, now rapidly catching the current market leader SOOP Korea (ex-AfreecaTV). As CHZZK’s viewership statistics shot upwards through the quarter, SOOP Korea was slowly losing watch time.
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Rumble set a new viewership record in November thanks to the US presidential election. However, the platform suffered a significant drop in viewership for December. For 2025, it will be crucial for Rumble to try and maintain the sizeable viewer base it enjoyed throughout the election cycle.
For the final quarter of 2024, YouTube Live received 14.487B Hours Watched, thereby increasing its watch time by 10% compared to Q3. YouTube Gaming was largely the source of this growth, having expanded its viewership significantly thanks to a wave of Brazilian viewers. Many of the top channels from Brazil on YouTube Gaming broadcasted thousands of hours throughout the quarter, accumulating hundreds of millions of Hours Watched.
On the other hand, Twitch lost a slight amount of viewership compared to last quarter. While the platform overall remains stable, the viewership for Games content on Twitch fell by about 33,000,000 Hours Watched. IRL content grew enough to help stabilize the platform’s overall viewership, but YouTube Gaming finally overtook Twitch’s Games section.
Kick has continued its growth for the final quarter of the year, receiving over 20% more viewership than Q3: which already marked a 15.6% rise in watch time. The platform continues to grow among MENA and LATAM audiences, which are bringing new, fresh viewers to the site. For the future, Kick has eyes on regions in Asia as potential new markets to break into, and with a plan in place, the platform’s growth may not stop anytime soon.
In the previous quarter, SOOP Korea (ex-AfreecaTV) seemed to beat out the competition and crown itself as the leading livestreaming platform for South Korean audiences. However, the momentum quickly swung back around, with SOOP Korea’s place at the top no longer looking as secure. The previously-plateaued Naver’s CHZZK was able to rise rapidly up the rankings, earning over 41% more watch time in Q4.
The race for the top of the South Korean livestreaming market is not yet over. While SOOP Korea currently ranks as the country’s top platform, and the second-largest smaller platform globally, it seemed to have lost viewers to CHZZK in the latter stages of the quarter.
In total, the livestreaming industry received just over 21,000,000,000 Hours Watched for Q4 2024. Naturally, YouTube Gaming was a significant driving force for this growth, and the red platform’s gaming section almost doubled its share of the entire industry’s viewership. Twitch was close behind, with the platform still accounting for roughly a quarter of all watch time.
On the smaller platforms side, Kick once again proved it is the site that is the closest competitor to the pair of industry leaders. Accountable for 3.5% of the industry’s total watch time, Kick stands out ahead of the pack. SOOP Korea still leads the South Korean livestreaming scene, but 2025 will show if they are able to cement themselves as the definitive premiere platform for Korean audiences.
YouTube Live viewership statistics for Q4 2024
YouTube Live continued strong viewership throughout the entire quarter. October and December both fell just short of 5,000,000,000 Hours Watched, with this viewership driven by the usual top categories and channels for the website. News and political content is the platform’s most popular content, and top channels for this category broadcast for many, many hours each day as organization channels.
YouTube also represents one of the most international and diverse audiences in livestreaming. The top channels for the platform are spread across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and South America. The eclectic mix of massive global audiences are what sets YouTube apart from the rest as the world’s premiere video-hosting website.
On the Gaming side of YouTube’s live content, a wave of Brazilian flags assumed control of our most watched channels ranking. Portuguese-language content was the driving force behind much of YouTube’s growth, which saw the first and second months of the quarter double their viewership compared to the same months of Q3.
In terms of games, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang remains the most popular category. The mobile gaming MOBA’s esports scene is the world’s largest, and the viewership for its regular seasonal events are high enough to account for a significant portion of the site’s total watch time. Fortnite also significantly increased its viewership compared to the previous quarter; the battle royale game showed significant growth cross multiple platforms this quarter.
Twitch viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Overall, Twitch recorded similar viewership statistics compared to last quarter. While gaming viewership fell considerably on Twitch for Q4, other streamers were able to pick up the slack. American streamer Kai Cenat took the throne on the purple platform; the streamer hosted his special Mafiathon 2 subathon livestreaming event, which helped him to reach more than 80,000,000 Hours Watched.
Read also: Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 2 Full Viewership Report & Statistics
Other American streamers like Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker and Zack “Asmongold / zackrawrr” Hoyt also enjoyed sizeable growth thanks to their political content. During the US presidential election, these two enjoyed massive viewership for their political content, emerging as the premiere sources of political commentary for Twitch viewers.
Kick viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Over on Kick, Luis “WestCol” Villa remained the top streamer of the platform. The Colombian hosted Stream Fighters 3, the third iteration of his famed livestreaming event. Stream Fighters 3 was able to reach the series’ highest viewership ever, peaking at over 1.4M concurrent viewers. Not only was this massively successful for WestCol personally, but he also helped the platform to reach a new overall viewership record.
Read also: WestCol's Stream Fighters 3 helps Kick reach new viewership record
Other streamers among English, Spanish, and Arabic-speaking audiences also remained wildly popular, with a large portion of the platform’s total viewership coming from Slots & Casino streams this quarter. Minecraft also enjoyed a resurgence in viewership for this period, largely thanks to many of LATAM’s most famous streamers participating in special Minecraft events, and also streaming the game for a significant portion of their total broadcasting time.
SOOP Korea (ex-AfreecaTV) viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Following on from a dominant third quarter of the year, SOOP Korea (ex-AfreecaTV) opened Q4 with one of its strongest months ever. Despite the strong opening, viewership slowly slipped away from SOOP Korea, roughly coinciding with the rise in viewership for Naver’s CHZZK. These two platforms are competing for the lion’s share of Korean livestreaming audiences, with SOOP Korea on the defense as the country’s established option.
Our viewership data for SOOP Korea in Q4 was unfortunately corrupted. The platform’s change from AfreecaTV posed some technical issues, which have since been resolved. Streams Charts will continue tracking accurate viewership data for SOOP Korea in the future, but for Q4 2024, we must rely on approximations based on our historical results for the platform, and what data we were able to collate.
SOOP Global viewership statistics for Q4 2024
SOOP Global, one of the newest livestreaming platforms in the industry, continued to show minor but stable viewership among Thai audiences. While the platform was launched alongside SOOP Korea as an entry to the global market from the company, it has failed to appeal to global audiences outside of Thailand. Some English-language content contributes to the platform’s total, such as the English-language official broadcast for Valorant esports, but generally, Thai-speaking viewers are the beating heart of this platform.
SOOP Global was originally launched with support from Korean celebrities and viewers trying out the new option, however, the company may have spread its audience too thin. Now not only is SOOP Global not receiving any sizeable Korean viewership, but its Korean counterpart platform is also losing viewers. It’s unclear what could come next for SOOP Global, if they try to expand to other regions in Asia, or attempt to build a foothold in Thailand.
Naver’s CHZZK viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Over in South Korea, Naver’s CHZZK dominated the final quarter of last year, significantly increasing its viewership month-on-month. The top channels for the platform largely remain the same, but both League of Legends and a new star especially drove viewership for the site.
Grand Theft Auto V exploded in popularity throughout Q4 on CHZZK, with this collaborative game having often dominated viewership in many regions across the globe. Role-playing servers on GTA V have previously driven massive viewership for American, Japanese, and audiences across both LATAM and the MENA regions. Now, this livestreaming phenomenon is helping CHZZK to settle itself at the top of the Korean livestreaming industry. It will be crucial in 2025 to keep an eye on if this viewership wanes as the hype around GTA V wilts.
NimoTV viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Viewership on Nimo TV was slightly less than it enjoyed for Q3, but it still remains the staple livestreaming platform for Vietnamese viewers. However, as more and more Vietnamese-speaking viewers migrate to YouTube Live, the future of this platform could be at risk.
Throughout 2025, Nimo TV will continue to compete against YouTube Live, and especially YouTube Gaming for esports broadcasting, which is a significant source of viewership for Nimo TV. The platform will need to engage with its community, bring exciting ideas to fruition, and give their viewers a reason to stay if they want to stop the migration of fans to YouTube.
Rumble viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Rumble enjoyed a new monthly viewership record during November in 2024, thanks to the US presidential election. The platform is well-known for its North American political content, which dominates the top channels of Rumble, and it enjoyed a sizeable viewership spurt for the final moments of the election cycle.
However, viewership fell dramatically for the final month of the quarter, upsetting the overall Q4 result for Rumble. As it stands, December was the least-watched month of the year for Rumble, and the only month to record fewer than 40,000,000 Hours Watched. The dry period following the election cycle did not bring much newsworthy content for these political activists to cover, but perhaps during the early months of 2025 their coverage of President Trump’s office may bring some attention back.
Trovo viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Trovo maintained its viewership throughout the quarter, even recording a slight increase in viewership compared to Q3. The site’s top channels and platforms remained rather static, except non-gaming categories like Chill and ChitChat increasing their watch time slightly.
Trovo maintains a hold on its minor Russian-speaking audiences, although in the future it may face competition from a newer platform, such as Kick, expanding into its region. Nevertheless, Trovo remains as one of the few smaller livestreaming platforms to record a positive viewership dynamic for Q4 2024.
Bigo LIVE viewership statistics for Q4 2024
Bigo LIVE continued to suffer from the large viewership drop recorded in Q3 of 2024. The platform has not failed to reach 2,000,000 monthly hours of watch time for five months, following the platform’s primary LATAM audience having almost entirely migrated to Kick. A small MENA audience remains loyal to Bigo LIVE, but it is likely these streamers will soon follow suit in moving to the newer, profitable platform Kick.
