September on Twitch was nothing short of spectacular. From record-breaking subathons by Kai Cenat and Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr to the electrifying hype around The International 2025, the platform saw massive viewership, star-studded events, and game releases that had the community buzzing. Let’s dive into the highlights that defined one of the busiest months of the year on Twitch.
According to our analysts, Twitch streams in September generated over 1.37 billion hours watched. The platform averaged 1.98 million viewers, just slightly below August’s figures.
Overall, recent trends show that Twitch viewership is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels. A variety of factors are driving this shift, including the increasing competition across the streaming industry.
In Twitch’s most-watched categories, Dota 2 saw a strong surge in popularity. The game climbed six spots in the hours-watched rankings, driven by broadcasts of The International 2025 — its biggest esports tournament of the year.
Read also: The International 2025 becomes the most co-streamed TI: How watch parties shape viewership
It’s rare for new releases to break into the monthly charts, which makes the success of Hollow Knight: Silksong especially noteworthy. The long-awaited indie platformer made waves with both gamers and streamers. In September, the game racked up nearly 21.4 million hours watched on Twitch, landing it in the platform’s top ten categories. If you take out non-gaming sections like Just Chatting and IRL, Silksong ranks even higher among games.
Looking at genre trends, the top 10 rankings remained unchanged. Action continues to dominate by a wide margin, while MMO sits at the bottom of the list. In September, only two genres showed growth compared to the previous month: IRL (+6%) and Strategy (+1%), fueled by show events and esports activity in League of Legends and Dota 2. All other genres declined in line with Twitch’s overall viewership trends.
Keep in mind that many games fall into multiple genres, so their stats may appear more than once across the rankings. For a deeper look at genre breakdowns, check out the dedicated section on Streams Charts.
Kai Cenat dominated Twitch in September, taking the top spot as the platform’s most-watched streamer. He spent the entire month running his Mafiathon 3.0 subathon, which featured star-studded guests like Linkin Park and NBA icon LeBron James. Along the way, Kai broke multiple records and became the most-followed streamer on Twitch — an incredible milestone for a creator who’s already considered a legend.
Read more: LeBron James helps Kai Cenat conclude record-breaking Mafiathon 3
French streamer Ilhan “byilhann” Coskun surprisingly claimed the second spot on the list. Some may recognize him from Z EVENT 2025, but he truly rose to fame during an IRL marathon, walking roughly 760 kilometers from Montpellier to Paris.
Read more: Byilhan's journey to becoming one of Twitch's fastest-growing creators
The rest of the top 5 was filled by channels that actively streamed The International 2025, Dota 2’s premier tournament of the year. Russian caster Aleksandr “Nix” Levin reaffirmed his status as the game’s most popular community streamer, drawing over 10.6 million hours watched during the event.
Read more: IShowSpeed’s America Tour attracted more new followers than Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 3
Notably, YouTuber IShowSpeed made his debut on the Twitch rankings, after recently beginning to stream across multiple platforms at once. Last month, he also completed an IRL marathon, traveling across the U.S. during his streams.
In September, Kai Cenat hit a peak of just over 1 million viewers, marking a new record for his channel. This milestone occurred on the final day of Mafiathon 3.0, when LeBron James gave him a live dreadlock haircut on stream. Nix also set a personal best, drawing 400,000 viewers during his coverage of The International 2025. Two other channels streaming the Dota 2 tournament rounded out the top spots.
In a surprising twist, AmazonMusic secured a spot in the top three, streaming the premiere of Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny’s No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí residency concert. The broadcast reached a peak audience of 342,000 viewers.
Read more: Bad Bunny's Puerto Rico residency concert creates Twitch livestreaming history
Twitch political commentator Hasan “HasaAbi” Piker drew 224,000 viewers during a stream covering the murder of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The easportsfc channel hosted a gameplay reveal of the football simulator EA Sports FC26, attracting 209,000 simultaneous viewers.
Meanwhile, Pierre-Alexis “Domingo” Bizot and Adrien “ZaratoR” Nougaret’s top broadcasts focused on Z EVENT 2025. Corentin “Gotaga” Houssein cracked the top 10 most-watched streamers in September thanks to his community casting of the FNCS 2025 Global Championship. Several players from Gentle Mates — the club Gotaga co-founded with streamers Lucas “Squeezie” Hauchard and Broky “Brawks” Brawks — ended up as prize winners in that tournament.
Emily “Emiru” Schunk retained her crown as Twitch’s most popular female streamer. Even though her average viewership dipped 16% from August, she remains well ahead of her nearest competitors. In second place was Wendy “wendolynortizz” Ortiz, though it’s worth noting she streamed just over 10 hours across three active days last month.
Other spots in the top 10 were claimed by Twitch’s regular “queens” who consistently appear in our charts: Emily “ExtraEmily” Zhang, ironmouse, Brittany “Cinna” Watts, and Shylily. Special mention goes to American VTuber OliviaMonroe, who spent much of the month streaming F.E.A.R. and Dishonored. Currently, only three VTubers appear in Twitch’s top 10 female rankings, highlighting a notable difference from YouTube Live.
