A lot has been said about the Chinese esports and streaming scenes, but there is no doubt that it remains one of the busiest and most lucrative markets for both industries. The former, especially, will not be the same without the quality of players and teams that emerge from this Asian giant every year, with its love for all things gaming well-known.
However, while China continues to bask in the adoration that its population has for video games and its competitive market, its live-streaming scenario is pretty healthy as well. That might not be common knowledge because of the difficulties in procuring data for these sites and streams, but Streams Charts has worked hard to bridge that gap.
Its fledgling analytical service, DoHuya.com, offers statistics on viewer activity on two of the largest streaming sites in China, DouYu and Huya. Using this first-of-a-kind project in the Western segment of the live-streaming and esports industries, we have compiled a few end-of-the-year lists that readers can find below.
Most popular channels on Huya in 2023
For unaware readers, these rankings are based on metrics called Peak Heat Index and Average Heat Index, which is not the number of viewers but a special indicator of the popularity of the channel/broadcast. It is influenced by various factors like the stream duration, the total number of people who visited the broadcast, the number of videos on the channel, etc.
Huya is popular among esports fans for its live video game broadcasts, with many official competition broadcasts being aired. Of course, it also has live streams in genres like cooking, traditional sports, and IRL.
Atop this list is 张大仙, the most popular Honor of Kings streamer in the country. It is one of the most followed games in the country and regularly attracts viewers numbering in the millions, with content creators on the game playing an important part in its success. A measure of HoK's popularity can be seen in the fact that it is atop the games list on both Huya and DouYu by PHI.
Next is 卡尔, a gaming creator who uploads videos with live game strategies, gameplays, interactions with chat, and lots more, giving him a special place among Huya audiences. Third is Uzi, the League of Legends pro who represents EDward Gaming and has also played for Bilibili Gaming and Royal Never Give Up.
狂鸟丶楚河-90327 is fourth, who plays different games while on air and is known for his Grand Theft Auto V broadcasts on Nimo TV, where he gas an account with a similar name. Rounding off the top five is 华创-吕德华, another top Honor of Kings streamer and the last name to hit over 4M Average Hit Index among the top Chinese influencers for the year.
The bottom five also contain names that are related to esports and video games, with streamers, anchors, and pro players from HoK and LoL. It is clear from this leaderboard what the two most favorite games are for live broadcasters and audiences in China, and that doesn't look to be changing anytime soon.
Top streams on Huya in 2023
Most of this ranking is dominated by video games and esports broadcasts, with the top one being 虎牙英雄联盟赛事's League of Legends World Championship 2023 Grand Final live coverage between South Korea's T1 and China's Weibo Gaming. The best-of-five encounter was dominantly won 3:0 by T1 and made history by notching the highest concurrent viewership in esports ever: 6.4M Peak Viewers.
Second is 英雄联盟赛事副舞台's live stream of the June 17 clash between LNG Esports and EDward Gaming from Group Stage Week 3 of the LPL Summer 2023. The rest of the table is also mostly from games and events in the MOBA genre, with pros like Uzi and Zz1tai姿态 seeing their streams make the top ten as well.
Most popular channels on DouYu in 2023
DouYu, one of the biggest live-streaming services in China, caters to audiences looking for entertainment and video game-related videos. Labeled Twitch of China, it wholly runs on the model of user tips and virtual gifts (streamers receive between 30 and 40 percent of this amount) to make revenue.
The most popular channel on this platform by AHI is 旭旭宝宝, who is known for his boisterous streams that involve multiple people appearing on camera. These other guests could either be fellow broadcasters or from his close circle of friends and family who bring their own bits to the live streams and help make them more watchable.
Next is 一条小团团OvO known for her live broadcast of games like Goose Goose Duck and also her IRL uploads that have gotten her a solid fanbase across the Central Asian nation. She is also a renowned anchor and singer, which has added to her status and made her a famous female internet celebrity across mainland China.
即将拥有人鱼线的PDD is third, with the retired LoL pro who founded and head coached Young Miracles streaming a lot of games like PUBG and WoW Classic, apart from IRL content. He has also played top lane for Invictus Gaming and at one point was touted as being the highest-paid content creator on DouYu.
The rest of the influencers on this leaderboard are also known to play a variety of games and upload lots of IRL clips for their fans. They also post many reaction videos to other broadcasters' clips and indulge in interactions with fans to keep the content diverse and interesting.
Top streams on DouYu in 2023
Most of the most popular broadcasts on this streaming service have come from female influencers. Only three of them were able to cross the 50M PHI mark, with the topper, 紫薇同学, going as far as hitting 153M PHI, beating every other name on the list handily and the second-best entry by a huge 92.4%.
These two platforms have managed to capture a large share of the lucrative live-streaming business in China. An earlier merger may not have worked out, but both have done exceedingly well to become as big as they have despite the complex rules and regulations that the government follows. Most importantly, they help unearth homegrown content creators to become stars and ensure the industry continues to evolve and thrive.