GTA V and WoW surge as Twitch cools down in September 2026

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Twitch streams generated more than 1.47 billion Hours Watched in September, down around 5.89% from August, the platform’s strongest month of the year so far. The decline is unsurprising: summer featured numerous major esports events, and viewer activity is typically higher than in autumn, when the academic year begins in many countries.

Twitch watch time dips after August’s yearly high

The number of Active Channels on Twitch fell by 11% in September to just over 2.9 million. After several consecutive months of steady growth over the summer, the metric returned to its spring level. Average Viewers and Average Channels both declined by around 2%, while Peak Channels and Peak Viewers rose by 3–4%. Overall, Twitch remains stable, with minor fluctuations in some metrics reflecting seasonal trends.

Open World climbs to fourth as Survival exits the top 10 

Open World overtook RPG to claim fourth place among the most-watched genres, generating 381.4 million Hours Watched. Hype around the new shooter WARDOGS and the launch of the World of Warcraft: Forever beta played a major role in this rise.

Another notable change was Survival dropping out of the top 10. The genre lost around 30% of its Hours Watched in September, falling from 10th to 12th place, with Indie taking its spot. Almost all other categories recorded slight declines compared with August, but their ranking positions remained largely unchanged.

GTA V takes the lead, WoW rebounds, and WARDOGS breaks through 

Grand Theft Auto V was Twitch’s most-watched game in September, generating 76.7 million Hours Watched, up 59% from August. A quieter esports calendar and the launch of a new NoPixel V RP server helped drive this growth, with Félix “xQc” Lengyel, Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, Buddha, and many other popular streamers joining the server.

World of Warcraft generated 53.4 million Hours Watched in September, nearly doubling its August total. BlizzCon 2026 played a major role, featuring the announcement of a new World of Warcraft expansion and the launch of the WoW Forever server beta. The game is enjoying a resurgence, with some streamers even launching WoW streaming marathons.

September’s biggest breakout was WARDOGS, which quickly established itself as one of Twitch’s leading games. The new shooter attracted considerable attention from popular streamers specializing in tactical team shooters, with TheBurntPeanut, Michael “shroud” Grzesiek, and Bryce “HutchMF” Hutchinson among the most active.

Following a busy summer esports season, most esports categories on Twitch saw their Hours Watched decline in September. League of Legends fell by 15%, Counter-Strike by 26%, and Dota 2 by a substantial 46%.

Asmongold leads in watch time as charity streams draw huge crowds 

American streamer Zack “zackrawrr” Hoyt (aka Asmongold) was Twitch’s most-watched streamer in September, streaming World of Warcraft extensively throughout the month. His Hours Watched climbed to nearly 10 million, up 189% from August. His broadcasts were a major contributor to the game’s rise in Twitch’s rankings.

Canadian streamer xQc took second place with 9.1 million Hours Watched, a 130% increase over the previous month. GTA V was his main focus.

German streamer Elias “eliasn97” Nerlich ranked sixth with 6.4 million Hours Watched, up 76% from August. His EA Sports FC 27 streams helped draw viewers to his channel.

Ironmouse, arguably Twitch’s leading VTuber, also deserves special mention. She entered the platform’s top five most-watched streamers in September thanks to MOUSEATHON, her round-the-clock charity marathon, which has been running for around a month. Raising money for the Immune Deficiency Foundation, these broadcasts helped her Hours Watched surge by 538% compared with August.

Z Event 2026 participants topped Twitch’s September ranking by Peak Viewers. We previously published a detailed report on the charity marathon, but one highlight deserves another mention: Mastu peaked at 495,000 viewers while giving away a jersey signed by Lionel Messi on stream.

Z Event 2026 broadcasts also helped Adrien “ZeratoR” Nougaret, Pierre-Alexis “Domingo” Bizot, Maxence “Anyme023” Turlot, and Ilhan “byilhann” Coskun enter the month’s top 10 streamers by Peak Viewers.

NoPixel helps Vanillamace lead Twitch’s female streamers 

Emily “Vanillamace” topped Twitch’s female streamer ranking in September, averaging around 14,000 viewers. She spent most of her airtime playing GTA V on the NoPixel RP server alongside other popular streamers.

American singer and model Madison Beer did not qualify for the ranking. Her only September stream recorded high Average Viewers but lasted just around two hours, falling short of the minimum airtime requirement.