YouTube Gaming has steadily been catching up with Twitch regarding the quality of streamers and their content. It has also been broadcasting more different esports tournaments as the year has gone by, with the stats showing that it has been constantly pulling in a certain number of viewers over the first six months of 2023.
Streams Charts has prepared some of these stats for its readers so they can understand how the dynamics continue to evolve and shift, with the same top names — mostly VTubers — helping the Gooogle-owned site continue on its upward trend.
When it comes to the overall platform stats month on month, June was a better month in terms of the Hours Watched count by a slim 1.29% for YouTube Gaming. Regarding Peak Viewers, Google’s site had a similar time, doing slightly better via a 1% rise in numbers. Most importantly, there were 3% more games being broadcast last month compared to May, which should read as good news for video game developers, publishers, and studios ahead of a crucial second half of the year.
Most watched and popular YouTube Gaming streamers in June 2023
Topping this ranking is the Brazilian megastar, NOBRU, with 3.58M Hours Watched last month after improving by 44.3% from May, where he finished third. A lot of this audience came from his trusted Free Fire market, as he streamed a few of its events in June, including the Copa General Season 1.
Second is Jonathan Liandi, the Indonesian former Mobile Legends: Bang Bang pro who enjoys quite the following back home. He was another beneficiary of streaming his favorite game, broadcasting a lot of live action, especially the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023 which became the most popular tournament in the history of this series and set a new record for Cambodia’s esports audience.
Pekora Ch, a regular on this list, including topping it multiple times this year alone, rounded off the podium. The popular VTuber for hololive had to, however, relinquish her top spot from last month and settle for third after seeing her watch hours count fall by 10.8%.
Coming in fourth is ilyas elmaliki, the fast-rising Moroccan who continues to make his climb toward the upper echelons of the red platforms’ popularity charts on the back of his love for music and football. Next is YouTube royalty in the form of TimTheTatman, the American pioneer who was one of the earliest to get on the streaming bandwagon and continues to enjoy great support.
The last five names on this list represent a familiar trend with such monthly YouTube rankings, ie, it's made up of a few more VTubers, a popular Hispanic name, and another sought-after Asian broadcaster. Of particular interest is Nexxuz World, who fell from second in May to ninth this time after his HW stats fell by 35.4% despite higher airtime.
This list is populated by a lot of the online personalities already mentioned above, with IShowSpeed bursting into the picture at the second spot. The American has slowly worked his way up the ranks and with accolades like the most-watched YouTube Gaming streamer in the US in Q1 2023, he has become one of the organization’s biggest streaming names.
Indonesian R7 Tatsumaki is another to break into the top five on this list thanks to his regular following of the action in the MLBB esports scene. Another platform regular, and someone who can be considered a star, is fifth. DjMaRiiO benefitted immensely from his celebrity football match — Partidazo de Youtubers 4 — which made him one of the most popular YouTube channels of the year.
A few other names to make this leaderboard include DrDisRespect — one of the biggest names in the content creation sphere today — and MixiGaming, known for his FIFA Online 4 gameplay videos. There is also Gundo Mirei, the Japanese VTuber who is a member of NIJISANJI, the famous VTuber agency.
Most watched and popular channels of gaming organizations in June 2023 on YouTube
Atop this list is the official MPL Indonesia account, thanks to its broadcast of the above-mentioned record-breaking MSC 2023. This Asian country is the biggest market for the game worldwide, so it is not surprising that it would top the list of such MLBB events and help this channel go to the top of such leaderboards.
Second is the official LCK channel that hit 4.27M HW thanks to the ongoing LCK Summer 2023 that will run till the end of next month. In third comes Fumikiri World, which uploads friendly videos related to all things trains and includes content that people of all generations can enjoy.
Thanks to the myriad of MLBB esports events happening across the world, it is the official MLBB eSports handle that comes in fourth after just missing out on the top three by 3.1%. Rounding off the top five is the official Mobile Legends: Bang Bang handle, making it a month to remember for the discipline as it took up three of the top five spots on this standings.
The bottom five on this list consist of two more accounts related to MLBB, from Indonesia and the Philippines (arguably the second-biggest market for the esport). Sensa Gaming (last month’s topper and the only non-tournament channel here), LCK Tiếng Việt, and PUBG MOBILE Indonesia are the other names to fill out this table.
June was the month for a lot of big-name studios, publishers, and developers to showcase what they had in store for fans in 2023 and beyond, and that was reflected in the popularity charts. Two Nintendo channels — America and Japan — are in the first and third spots for the most popular YouTube Gaming organizations.
Sandwiched between the above two entries is the official MPL Indonesia handle, with thegameawards channel coming in fourth thanks to the broadcast of The Game Awards’ 10-year celebration that saw video game music at the Hollywood Bowl backed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In the fifth position is the official Xbox channel that streamed the Xbox Games Showcase & Starfield Direct 2023, an event that became the most popular in the series in terms of Average Viewers.
The next five entries consist of accounts from two disciplines that have already been discussed above — MLBB and LCK, with the League of Legends series seeing jeopardy in that the allocation of quotas for the World Championship will be at stake. Brawl Stars and IGN take up the seventh and ninth positions, with the former benefitting from the Brawl Stars Championship 2023: June EMEA Monthly Finals’ success, while the American gaming media hit its high stats during the successful Summer Game Fest 2023.
Most watched and popular female YouTube Gaming streamers in June 2023
Not surprisingly, this leaderboard is pretty much full of VTubers, with Pekora Ch leading the charge. In fact, until platform superstar Valkyrae’s appearance in 17th, all the entries have been taken up by Japanese streamers from this genre, showing just how in-demand these names and their content has become.
The top seven is, in fact, a clean sweep for hololive, as Koyori ch, Miko Ch, Korone Ch, Subaru Ch, Fubuki Ch, and Aqua Ch fill out the next six slots. Nine of the ten names are from this agency, with Luna Ch (ninth) and Okayu Ch (tenth) completing the table after the eighth spot is taken up by Virtual eSports Project's Tosaki Mimi.
Similar to the most viewed leaderboard, this one is also dominated by VTubers and hololive. However, NIJISANJI’s Gundo Mirei comes out on top here, backing up her top-ten finish in the top ten overall YouTube Gaming streamer list and showing that she remains an eminent force in his genre. Hololive also missed out on the second position, with Tosaki Mimi inching past Pekora Ch by 4.2%.
However, the most popular VTuber organization does fill up the rest of the standing, with Korone Ch, Aqua Ch, Miko Ch, Shion Ch, Gawr Gura Ch, Marine Ch, and Kanata Ch finding places for themselves. Gawr Gura Ch is the only one from here to be part of hololive's English ensemble, although she is French by birth.