Counter-Strike is a game anyone can understand, making it appealing to millions of players and hundreds of thousands of viewers across the livestreaming industry. It regularly ranks among the top titles on Twitch, YouTube, and Kick, with its top creators enjoying both wide recognition and steady success. At the same time, the game inspires a wide range of content: some fans tune in for top-tier esports action, others enjoy emotional case-opening streams, while many follow the rollercoaster journey of players climbing the ranked ladder.
In Q3 2025, the top 10 Counter-Strike creators featured influencers covering all three content types and beyond. Multistreaming played a key role in shaping the rankings: while each platform has its own stars, those who embrace broadcasting across several platforms (sometimes more than two) are the ones who climb highest in the overall standings.
Although a wide range of Counter-Strike content was streamed throughout Q3, esports remained the dominant force. Most of the top 10 channels focused on co-streaming efforts of premier tier-S events held between July and September, especially IEM Cologne 2025 and the Esports World Cup 2025.
For four of the ten creators, their most popular streams of the quarter were of matches played inside the iconic “Cathedral of Counter-Strike” in Cologne. Alexandre "Gaules" Borba drew massive Brazilian audiences during FURIA’s games, while Russian-speaking streamers capitalized on the popularity of NAVI, Team Spirit and Team Falcons.
Gaules finished the quarter as the #1 streamer by total watch time, hosting both solo broadcasts and full-scale studio shows. He was the only creator to exceed 10 million Hours Watched, a milestone driven largely by his multistreaming strategy that spans Twitch, YouTube and Kick.
When it comes to another crucial metric, peak concurrent viewership, the leader on a single platform was Vyacheslav 'Buster' Leontiev, a Twitch-exclusive streamer. He was the only creator to surpass 200,000 live viewers, reaching that mark during the IEM Cologne final featuring Team Spirit.
For three of the top ten creators, Mark 'ohnePixel' Zimmermann, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag, and Timothy "TimTheTatman" Betar, their most-watched broadcasts were high-stakes case-opening streams. Ohnepixel and Nadeshot hit their peaks during what was reportedly the most expensive unboxing in Counter-Strike history, allegedly worth over $500,000, which they co-hosted alongside Tim. Timthetatman, meanwhile, reached a personal peak during his own separate unboxing session.
An interesting outlier is Ivan 'StRoGo' Shurpatov, likely the only creator whose content centers on solo ladder climbs and participation in both competitive and entertainment events, rather than the prevalent trend of esports co-streaming. As a result, his global peak viewership placed him only at #38, reached during his 4000 Elo FACEIT grind, but he still ranked third in total watch time, all while streaming on a single platform.
Top-10 Counter-Strike Streamers of 2025 Q3
| Rank | Streamer | Watch time (hours)
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gaules | 12 429 066
|
| 2 | ohNepixel | 9 172 992
|
| 3 | StRoGo | 4 737 554
|
| 4 | SL4M | 3 406 486
|
| 5 | Evelone | 3 130 063
|
| 6 | Nadeshot | 3 117 165
|
| 7 | TimTheTatman | 3 072 283
|
| 8 | shadowkekw | 2 483 818
|
| 9 | buster | 2 404 967
|
| 10 | Dmitry_Lixxx | 2 280 133
|
