The number of active Twitch channels continued to decline in May 2026. According to Streams Charts, the platform had just over 2.8 million active channels during the month, down another 2% compared to April.
Twitch streamer activity was lower across the board in May. All key metrics related to broadcasting activity declined month-over-month, with drops ranging from 1% to 4%. The trend is especially clear in Average Channels, which has now decreased for four consecutive months, pointing to a steady slowdown in creator-side activity on the platform.
The decline was also visible in the diversity of content being streamed on Twitch. The number of categories with at least one broadcast fell by just 1% month-over-month, but the total still marked the platform’s lowest result of 2026 so far.
At the same time, viewer-side activity moved in the opposite direction. Despite fewer active channels and weaker broadcasting metrics, Twitch’s average number of concurrent live viewers increased by 4% in May, reaching 2.1 million — the platform’s best result since January. This growth also helped Twitch surpass 1.5 billion Hours Watched for the month, up 7% compared to April and again the platform’s highest total since January.
The genre ranking remained largely stable in May, with only a few notable shifts among the leading categories. One of the main changes was the absence of MMO games from the top 10. This was a natural correction after April, when the genre benefited from a temporary spike around World of Warcraft.
In terms of viewership dynamics, tactical games recorded the strongest growth among the top 10 genres, increasing by 10% month-over-month. The category, which includes titles such as Counter-Strike and Valorant, was boosted by stronger esports activity in May, including the final stages of Valorant’s regional spring leagues.
IRL content also posted a notable increase, with the non-gaming genre growing by 8% compared to April. Meanwhile, Open World games saw the sharpest decline among the leading genres, falling by 8%. Shooter and Adventure games also declined by 2–5%, although both genres still retained their positions near the top of the ranking, finishing second and third, respectively.
The ranking of individual games also remained fairly stable in May. The top five titles all retained their positions from April, although the gaps between them started to widen. League of Legends continued to pull away from Counter-Strike, while Counter-Strike itself increased its lead over Grand Theft Auto V.
One of the biggest movers of the month was the IRL category. As warmer weather arrived, live, non-gaming streams gained significant momentum: IRL climbed from tenth to sixth place in the category ranking, while its total Hours Watched increased by almost 56% compared to April.
As noted earlier, World of Warcraft dropped out of the top 10 after the end of the Race to World First hype cycle. Its place among the leading categories was effectively taken by Minecraft, one of Twitch’s classic gaming heavyweights, which returned to the upper tier in May.
Nicholas “Jynxzi” Stewart was the most-watched Twitch streamer in May, which should come as little surprise to anyone following the platform closely. The creator was highly active throughout the month, producing a wide range of both solo and collaborative content. His streamer tournaments were particularly successful, with his League of Legends event standing out as one of the biggest highlights and reaching viewership comparable to some of the platform’s top esports broadcasts.
The rest of the ranking was largely made up of Twitch’s regular leading names, although there were a few notable exceptions. One of the most interesting newcomers was German ultramarathon runner Arda Saatçi, who completed a 600 km ultrarun from Death Valley to Santa Monica in a Red Bull-sponsored event. The broadcast became the company’s most successful live streaming activation to date.
Jeffrey "AsianJeff" Chong’s appearance in the ranking also deserves separate mention. Before May, the creator typically averaged only a few hundred viewers per stream, but according to him, his channel became the target of large-scale viewbotting, which temporarily pushed his numbers far above their usual level. By the end of the month, the abnormal activity had stopped, and his viewership returned to its previous range.
In terms of peak concurrent viewership, the top spot in May went to Mohamed "AmineMaTue" Mahmoud. The French creator hosted the third edition of Eleven All-Stars, a creator football event built around matches between teams from different countries. This time, the French side faced off against English creators, turning the broadcast into one of the month’s biggest Twitch events.
Arda Saatçi came extremely close to taking first place. The finale of his ultrarun was just 9,000 live viewers short of surpassing AmineMaTue’s peak, underlining how much attention the Red Bull-backed endurance event managed to generate.
Jynxzi ranked third by Peak Viewers thanks to his League of Legends streamer tournament, further reinforcing his position as one of Twitch’s strongest event-driven creators in May.
Among organizational channels, PGL was the only one to break into the top 10. The esports tournament organizer reached just under 150,000 live viewers during the final of PGL Astana 2026, making it one of the company’s most successful Counter-Strike events by live audience.
The ranking of female Twitch streamers was also fairly stable in May. Emily "Emiru" Schunk remained the leading female creator on the platform, although Wendolyn Ortiz and Anissa "AnniTheDuck" Baddour came close to matching her by Average Viewers.
Most of the other streamers in the top ranking averaged between 5,000 and 8,000 concurrent live viewers. The list was dominated by American creators, but it also featured several notable VTubers from outside the United States, including vedal987 from the United Kingdom and ironmouse from Puerto Rico.
