The first half of 2023 was a good time for content creation and the entertainment industry in general. More streamers were able to enjoy success, with many doing well thanks to sponsored content, including the likes of Nix, LarryLurr, and summit1g. One positive for YouTube is that the watch time was higher for the top five in July than in June, getting the second half of the year off to a good start. Twitch’s topper, meanwhile, had a higher number than the previous month, although the remaining entries could not really match up to their corresponding peers.
Most watched sponsored Twitch streams in July 2023
Leading the charge this month is Nix, whose stream from July 6 in association with Kitfort (a Russian company that produces and sells household appliances) and Yota (a Russian mobile phone brand and mobile broadband manufacturer) attracted 732K Hours Watched. It helped that the Russian was streaming Dota 2's Bali Major 2023 series between BetBoom Team and Azure Ray, which the latter won 1:2, as he outperformed the next-best entry by 193.1%.
Second is RocketBaguette, a collective of commentators who broadcast French Rocket League esports officially, which had a broadcast on July 9 in partnership with SteelSeries — a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories — that notched 250K HW. The Frenchman also live-streamed the RLCS 2022-23 - Spring Split Major Grand Final between Team Vitality and Team BDS, which was an all-French affair.
Ironmouse comes in third thanks to her stream sponsored by Advanced.gg — which makes gaming supplements, including gamer powders and drink supplements — on July 7. It was also Day 33 of the VShojo VTuber's record-breaking subathon that saw her break her own all-time female subscriber record on Twitch, hitting the 172K active subs mark.
Another prominent Twitch name, summit1g, is fourth for his July 6 broadcast of the AT&T Annihilator Cup, where he finished ninth after four rounds. AT&T is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It was Week 1 of the event, and Apex Legends kicked off proceedings, with Fortnite, Steet Fighter 6, and CS:GO following over the next three weeks.
Last but not least is Kamet0, who had a sponsored stream with Logitech on July 9, again, during the RLCS 2022-23 - Spring Split Major. He streamed the Rocket League events Lower Bracket Final between Karmine Corp (the side he owns) and Team Vitality, which the latter edged 3:4. That he was on air for just four hours (least on this list) and still managed to also pull in 109K Peak Viewers (second highest here) speaks strongly to how important content creators have become to the success of esports tournaments today.
Most watched sponsored YouTube Gaming streams in July 2023
Atop this leaderboard is YouTube superstar Ludwig, who tied up with Toyota Prius for this July 8 stream. Of course, it was part of the presentation for his Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 5 event registered 99K HW. It was a 16-player invitational from July 7 to July 9 in Los Angeles, California, the series' first offline iteration.
Next is LarryLurr with 41K HW for his sponsored stream alongside Manscaped, a male grooming company based in San Diego, California, that sells products like body care, hair care, and skin care products, on July 30. The American was also live-streaming the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament Smash Factor X, held in Mexico City between July 28 and July 30.
Third is FAV gaming, the official YouTube channel of the Japanese esports organization, which teamed up with Acom, one of Japan's largest consumer loan companies, during a July 8 live broadcast of the FAV CUP Online: Road to EVO 2023. This Street Fighter 6 competition was won by Creative Gaming's Torimeshi, who also qualified for the Evolution Championship Series 2023 to be held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas from August 4 to August 6.
DrLupo was fourth, with his placing also coming thanks to the AT&T Annihilator Cup, where he participated across the four weeks and games. The famous content creator's July 21 stream was from Week 3 of the event, with participants battling it out in Street Fighter 6. At the end of it all, the American finished fifth with 48 points.
The final name on this standing is another renowned streamer, Sykkuno, who partnered with, Night School, A Netflix Games Studio, for a live broadcast on July 16 of its recently-release game, OXENFREE II: Lost Signals. Released four days before this stream, it is a supernatural mystery/horror graphic adventure title that is a follow-up to 2016's OXENFREE.
When it comes to Twitch, it is clear that there was a lot of esports that happened last month and that both organizers and streamers took advantage of this to tie up and present streams of various kinds. Also, the list had representatives from three languages, indicative of the diversity found on the purple platform.
Meanwhile, YouTube had three names from June also make the list this month (Ludwig, DrLupo, Sykkuno), and they were able to pull in more online watchers compared to the previous month. However, once again, English was the only language to be represented, which is indicative of where the power center lies on the red platform when it comes to brands and the names they choose for sponsored streams.
