Despite recent trials and tribulations, leading to the exodus of lots of its top names to rival streaming companies, Twitch has continued to make merry when it comes to viewership numbers across the year. However, when looking at the monthly stats of September, there were highs and lows, which we will look at in detail below.
Valorant saw a big rise in August, overtaking its Riot Games cousin League of Legends in the watch hours segment thanks to tarik's success. The status quo was back last month, though, with the focus having shifted to the much-hyped Counter-Strike 2, which also helped the platform see a rise of 13% in its Peak Viewers stats.
There were several reasons for this increase in peak online viewers, not least Squeezie's broadcasts of his series, GP Explorer 2, which contributed a substantial 28.5% of the total PV numbers. Following him with smaller shares in this pool were tournaments from League of Legends and football (Kings League, Queens League), with their content creators pulling in large numbers of viewers.
For the first time this year, the Amazon-owned organization's HW numbers fell below 1.7B, breaking a solid monthly streak for the metric. Moreover, another newly released game has been turning heads among fans and content creators, and that has been reflected in the stats for September 2023.
Most watched Twitch categories in September 2023
As usual, Just Chatting tops this list, raking in 232M HW, a drop of 7% from the previous month. Following it in second is Grand Theft Auto V, the only other entry to cross the 100M HW mark having seen an increase of 10% in its statistics from August.
Third is League of Legends, which regained its position near the top of the table in September, easily riding the challenge of Valorant, which beat it to the last step on the podium the previous month. Rounding off the top five is Minecraft, a game that continues to boggle the mind not only with the way its players keep breaching the limits of imagination but how it has built fan and player bases who continue to pursue content about it on a humungous scale.
Such monthly lists tend to have a new release snuggled in somewhere in the top ten, and this time, it is the highly-anticipated EA Sports FC 24 that has fans salivating. The first game from Electronic Arts post the end of its deal with FIFA attracted the attention of quite a few prominent streamers, and with its release on September 29, readers can expect it to figure prominently in the October leaderboard as well.
Elsewhere, regular names like Dota 2, World of Warcraft, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike (CS:GO) take up the sixth to ninth spots on this top ten rankings for September. Valve's action MOBA saw a rise in all three essential metrics this time, while its legendary outgoing FPS saw a decline on all three counts thanks to its discontinuation and the introduction of Counter-Strike 2.
Also read: Meet & Greet participants at Twitch Con Las Vegas 2023
Most watched Twitch channels in September 2023
Most watched and popular channels on Twitch across September 2023
Gaules, the influential Brazilian streamer, is atop this list thanks to his dedication to playing the game he is most associated with, Counter-Strike. Like tarik last month, he was the only streamer to breach the 10M HW mark, with his airtime being a gigantic 707 hours and 35 minutes.
Second is 한동숙, with the South Korean content creator playing a lot of Lost Ark, helping him see increments in all the metrics across September. French star Squeezie is third, with his focus on the second edition of the GP Explorer 2, the racing festival he organizes. It helped him do tremendously well and set a record for concurrent peak viewership among all French-language broadcasts.
Coming in fourth is eliasn97, the FIFA esports pro who has been instrumental in the EA Sports FC 24 doing as well as it has so far. Following him is KaiCenat, the American Twitch megastar who continues to rake in millions of viewers after breaking out via a record-shattering subathon earlier this year.
ESLCS, the official handle for ESL's CS:GO esports activities, is sixth after a busy time covering the recently concluded ESL Pro League Season 18. Next is Jynxzi, the famous Rainbow Six Siege influencer covering the various leagues across the globe, is sixth.
Shroud, who has fully immersed himself in the Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077 experiences, takes up the seventh position. Cellbit, whose live interactive game of Paranormal Order: Quarantine set two viewership records, is ninth, followed by ibai, who has been busy with the new seasons of his Kings and Queens leagues.
Also read: Twitch chat trends: popularity of dating apps among Twitch users
Most watched Twitch streamers in September 2023
Most watched and popular streamers on Twitch across September 2023
Not considering the handles of organizations, the only change would be ファン太, the Japanese broadcaster known for his love of all things GTA V, coming in tenth. Rockstar Games' broadcasts took up more than 97% of his watch time in September, showing his and his fans' dedication to the game.
Most watched female Twitch streamers in September 2023
Most watched and popular female channels on Twitch across September 2023
Rivers_gg once again was number one here, hitting 1.4M HW last month, which was a huge 43% lesser than her August numbers, although it was enough for her to retain the top spot. As one of the owners in the popular Kings and Queens leagues, she will hope broadcasts of their matches help her make it four months in a row as the numero uno Twitch female streamer.
Second and third are the American JenFoxxx and South Korea's 서새봄냥, who posted almost exact same numbers in September and August but managed to climb up a place each this time. They used the hype around new titles like Lies of P, CS 2, Payday 3, and Starfield to accumulate healthy watch-hours stats.
Fourth is Bagi, a new entrant on this list for September on the back of her increasingly popular Portuguese Minecraft content. Rounding off the top five is Kyedae, who returned to this standings thanks to her frequent coverage of all things Valorant, including gameplay videos.
Taking the next five places here are 다주, mira, ironmouse, Jinnytty, and 赤見かるび. They were responsible for generating content on various popular games like Lost Ark, Street Fighter 6, and Alan Wake, apart from dabbling quite a lot in the Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches genre.
Also read: Viewer engagement on Twitch — what's the problem with the biggest channels
