Leb1ga hosted the most-watched Twitch broadcast among all Ukrainian-speaking content creators in 2023. Alongside Leb1ga's success, Ukrainian-speaking viewers were actively engaged in watching Dota 2 and Counter-Strike esports matches, making these games the leading disciplines in both total Hours Watched and the number of Unique Channels.
The most viewed Ukrainian-speaking channels and streamers on Twitch in 2023
| Place
|
Channel
|
Hours Watched
|
|---|---|---|
| #1
|
dota2mc_ua
|
5.73M
|
| #2
|
csgomc_ua
|
5.51M
|
| #3
|
Leb1ga
|
1.88M
|
| #4
|
MrLABR
|
1.49M
|
| #5
|
Ghostik
|
1.13M
|
| #6
|
thetremba
|
684.4K
|
| #7
|
ceh9
|
657.7K
|
| #8
|
csgomc_ua2
|
546.5K
|
| #9
|
Skevich_
|
529.7K
|
| #10
|
Pragen_UA
|
494.6K
|
The share of Ukrainian-language broadcasts on Twitch has grown by almost 200% over the year
The Ukrainian segment on Twitch significantly expanded its audience reach compared to the previous year. The count of active Ukrainian-speaking channels reached 52.6K, marking a 69.7% increase from 2022. Meanwhile, the overall Hours Watched soared from 13 million to 39.7 million, marking a 198.9% rise.
Primarily, this trend is attributed to the growing interest in esports broadcasts among Ukrainian-speakers. The demand for such content began escalating from 2022 when viewers, commentators, and community casters started favoring Ukrainian or English broadcasts over Russian ones.
Non-gaming streams on YouTube are also enjoying popularity among Ukrainian-speaking audiences. Online broadcasts of news television channels like 'Facts on ICTV,' 'TSN,' and Espreso.TV gather a substantial audience, along with streams of football matches and various sporting events. On other platforms, Ukrainian-speaking segments are prevalent on TikTok, Trovo, and Kick, but the metrics there are considerably lower compared to Twitch and YouTube.
The most viewed Ukrainian-speaking channels and streamers on Twitch in 2023
The most-watched Ukrainian-speaking channels on Twitch in 2023 were the Maincast studio channels, which cover esports tournaments for Dota 2 and Counter-Strike. Interestingly, both of these channels amassed nearly equal Hours Watched, with 5.7M and 5.5M collected, respectively.
Among Ukrainian-speaking Twitch streamers, Leb1ga emerged as the most popular in 2023, having generated 1.8M Hours Watched. Rounding out the top 5 by this metric were MrLABR, a World of Tanks streamer, and Ghostik, a community caster for Dota 2 tournaments.
A special mention goes to ceh9's channel, a former player for Natus Vincere and now a popular Counter-Strike streamer. In 2023, his Ukrainian-language broadcasts experienced tremendous audience growth, largely due to ceh9 previously streaming in Russian.
Among Ukrainian female streamers, Solodana emerged as the most viewed Twitch streamer in 2023. Her channel generated 111.4K Hours Watched, primarily due to her Valorant broadcasts. Securing the second spot with 100.9K Hours Watched was Dobra_Divka, who dedicated a significant portion of her streams to PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS. Also making it into the top 5 in terms of viewing time were luma_rum, PotatooElf, and KoshenyaUA. It's noteworthy that all these women specialize mostly on gaming content.
The most popular Ukrainian-language Twitch broadcasts in 2023
The most popular Ukrainian-language Twitch stream in 2023 was the broadcast of the Natus Vincere and Monte match at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 tournament, gathering 51.6K Peak Viewers on the csgomc_ua channel. This marked the highest peak viewership among all Ukrainian-language channels on Twitch in 2023. Other matches from this tournament, such as Natus Vincere against FaZe and Monte against GamerLegion, also made it into the top 5 most popular broadcasts from studios.
When it comes to the most popular streams from Ukrainian-speaking streamers, Leb1ga dominated the entire top list. His charity stream aimed at raising funds for the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine gathered 34.8K viewers concurrently. Other popular broadcasts from Leb1ga also made it into our rankings, such as a 24-hour stream from the forest and a gift unboxing for his birthday.
The most popular Twitch categories among Ukrainian-speaking viewers
The most popular categories on Twitch among Ukrainian-speaking viewers saw Dota 2 reign supreme as the top game. In 2023, its section generated over 10.4M Hours Watched, accounting for roughly 26% of the entire language's total watch time. Counter-Strike secured the second spot with 7.8M HW or 19.7% of the total. Ukrainian-speaking viewers also spent considerable time in the Just Chatting and World of Tanks categories, comprising 12.2% and 7.3% of the total, respectively. Among other games and categories, Valorant, Poker, Casino Jackpot, and others were notable, but they accounted for approximately 1-2% of the total.
In 2023, within the Counter-Strike category on Twitch, there were 9,424 unique Ukrainian-speaking channels — the highest among all sections for the language (showing a growth of +94% compared to 2022). The Just Chatting category recorded a similar amount of unique channels, while Dota 2 only secured the third position with a considerable gap to the leaders. This indicates that Ukrainian-speaking gamers watch Dota 2 tournaments much more actively than they broadcast this game themselves. Among other popular titles with Ukrainian-speaking streamers, some notable ones are Minecraft, Fortnite, Valorant, and World of Tanks.
In 2023, Ukrainian streaming not only saw significant growth but also became an important contributor to Ukraine's defense. Charity streams by Leb1ga, show matches by the Maincast studio, campaigns, and giveaways by Ghostik, ceh9, Olsior, Petr1k, and other Ukrainian content creators helped raise a lot of money for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This financial aid is crucial, but more importantly, it sets a great example for the younger generation. Hopefully, 2024 will be even more eventful and productive for Ukrainian streaming.
