Live streamers and viewers are faced with a lot of choices in 2024. There are platforms for seemingly every niche, from hardcore gaming to political discourse.

So what distinguishes these platforms, and what do streamers consider when they choose where to go live? How much have these platforms grown? What is going to happen in the market next? Let’s dive into the state of streaming in 2024.

Twitch

According to Stream Hatchet, Twitch is the most-watched streaming platform in the world, clocking in 31M visitors daily. The platform demonstrates the importance of being a first mover in live streaming, being leaps and bounds ahead of its competitors in its infrastructure and user experience.

Its business model relies on revenue sharing from ads, subscriptions, and virtual currency donations called Bits. The revenue split for a subscription, which is $6 monthly in the U.S., is between 50%-70%, depending on the type of partnership. The top streamers have millions of followers and subscribers, with metrics like viewer engagement through chat crucial for marketing and sponsorships.

Twitch does not take a cut from these privately negotiated sponsorships, though it did introduce a bounty board program in 2019 to act as the middleman for these deals and get a piece of the action. Smaller streamers rely on the bounty boards more than bigger ones, who have their own agencies.

In addition to direct earnings from streamers, Twitch partners with major esports organizations, game developers, and brands to create sponsored events, promotions, and campaigns. Twitch's ecosystem allows for a wide range of promotional opportunities, from sponsoring esports tournaments to in-platform giveaways that help brands engage with the community.

Another popular tool is Twitch Drops, where viewers can earn in-game rewards by watching participating streamers, which drives significant viewership boosts for games and events. Drops are one of the most effective promotional tools on the platform, and it is not uncommon to see a newly launched game garner hundreds of thousands of viewers across multiple channels from gamers wanting to obtain in-game items or currency. For example, the Worlds update to No Man’s Sky had a highly successful Twitch Drops campaign that kept interest going in an eight-year-old title.

Twitch started as a pure-play game streaming site, but today the platform looks very different. Its most watched category is Just Chatting, which, as of October 24, comprised 3B of the 21B watched hours on the platform, or about 14% of the total. For reference, second place was GTA V with 1.5B hours, and League of Legends was third with 1.3B.

Twitch lost about 10% of its market share between 2Q 2023 and 2Q‘24 to competitors like Kick and YouTube Gaming. This contextualizes the massive layoffs in January, which affected 35% of its staff. Many employees fear another wave of layoffs amid slowing growth and profit concerns.

Dan Clancy was named Twitch's CEO in March 2023 after working four years in senior roles at the company. He has painted himself as an everyman, streaming alongside fellow content creators and offering more transparency than his predecessors. Moving forward, Clancy will have to grapple with the evolving streaming landscape while maintaining a rapport with the creators who have remained loyal to the platform.

YouTube Gaming

Widely thought of as the No. 2 to Twitch, YouTube Gaming is integrated with its parent platform as a separate page within YouTube. Viewership is about a third of Twitch’s, with 576M monthly hours watched, but it’s more concentrated. The platform has only 1.3M unique channels versus Twitch’s 20.9M.

There were two creator-onboarding phases for YouTube Gaming. The first was in 2021, when Twitch still banned its partnered streamers from multistreaming, allowing YouTube to lure them to its nascent platform with eye-watering contracts. Top streamers made their way to YouTube in three-year exclusivity deals that saw them paid many millions of dollars per year in exchange for foregoing their lucrative sponsor deals, high subscribers, and ad revenues on Twitch.

Unlike Twitch, the YouTube Gaming vertical is solely focused on video game live streaming. Being integrated with YouTube, it also has the benefit of featuring videos on demand (VODs) and edited content from its streamers in line with the live content. The platform also has better discoverability, whereas on Twitch, viewers usually flock to the most watched streamers.

The platform is also popular with the Southeast Asian audience, which prefers mobile gaming and mobile esports. PUBG Mobile, Garena Free Fire, and Battlegrounds Mobile India are three of the top six games currently being streamed on YouTube Gaming.

Many VTubers — who use digital avatars, animated in real-time using motion capture technology, to represent themselves — also call YouTube Gaming their home.

Exclusivity deals have been expiring this year, and today, there are few streamers who are contractually exclusive to YouTube, though some remain on the platform. Both Google and Twitch have been reluctant to offer new exclusivity contracts due to challenges with segment profitability amid large layoffs. Twitch, for its part, lifted its ban on simulcasting in October 2023.

Simulcasting makes it easier for content creators to reach audiences across platforms without choosing just one, and Twitch and YouTube Gaming appear complementary. YouTube’s VODs are robust and allow creators to monetize their "back catalog" of streams, while Twitch’s options in that area are not nearly as fleshed out.

By focusing on integrations with Google’s ecosystem, such as superior SEO and integration with Google Ads, combined with its strength in discoverability, YouTube appeals to creators who want their streams to have lasting viewership.

Kick

Newer streaming service Kick clocks in at a distant third with 136M monthly hours watched. Founded in December 2022, the platform is backed by the founders of gigantic online casino Stake.com, which made $2.6B in revenue in 2022.

The platform has grown rapidly, surpassing Facebook Gaming in less than two years by signing top streamers like xQc and Adin Ross with massive contracts rumored to be in the $100M range. Stake’s founders have extremely deep pockets and do not answer to shareholders like Amazon and Google do, allowing it to spend money with impunity.

Kick launched in response to Twitch’s ban of unregulated slots, roulette, and dice gambling sites. Stake was making millions of dollars by sponsoring Twitch streamers to stream gambling content on the platform, and Twitch's ban on unregulated sites like Stake in October 2022 would prove ruinous to its model. As a result, Kick launched two months later with an extremely lucrative 95-5 streamer-site split for creators.

Kick has been described as a loss leader for Stake, doling out huge contracts and lucrative payouts to creators in exchange for them streaming Stake’s gaming content to the masses. There is not much video game content on the site, and the three top streaming categories are almost always Slots & Casino, IRL, and Just Chatting.

Kick has spent even more money signing sponsorships with sporting teams around the world. In January 2023, it signed a multiyear deal with the Alfa Romeo F1 Team, and last August, it signed a shirt sleeve partnership agreement with Premier League team Everton.

Kick is known for its looser approach to community moderation than its peers — the platform houses several streamers who have been banned from Twitch. While Kick has significantly higher payouts that allow creators to retain almost all of their earnings, viewership is a fraction of Twitch and YouTube Gaming's, with much concentrated toward the top streamers who are under contract.

The platform has spent so much money on contracting streamers that it’s hard to imagine them sticking around once the well runs dry. If Kick only relies on creators who have been banned elsewhere, it is not enough to turn the site into a profitable enterprise. Still, Stake could run Kick as a loss leader for years, and it’s hard to know just how much its slots and casino streaming is translating to gambling revenue.

SOOP

Known as AfreecaTV until its recent name change, SOOP is the largest South Korean streaming service. It is known for esports content, and sponsors numerous leagues including the AfreecaTV StarCraft League, Global StarCraft II League, LoL Challengers Korea, and AfreecaTV Valorant League.

Unlike its Western peers, third-party donation systems like PayPal and StreamElements are not allowed. Everything is directed through its in-house donation system in a currency called "Balloons." The split between streamers and the platform is 60-40.

SOOP’s rebranding is aimed at expanding the platform to a global audience, and a non-Korean global site is currently in beta. Twitch pulled out of Korea in February due to issues with network fees, paving the way for SOOP to cement its position as regional leader. Before Twitch left, it occupied a 52% share of the South Korean market, while runner-up SOOP had 45%.

While SOOP may find a niche with Western audiences interested in Korean content, the company faces an uphill battle penetrating a saturated market. Its app is available on the Google Play Store but looks suspiciously derivative to Twitch, and it is not differentiated enough to make inroads globally.

Chzzk

Twitch’s abrupt exit from South Korea paved the way for further challengers. Chzzk is a streaming service by South Korean tech giant Naver, launched in April 2024. Chzzk’s UI is similar to Twitch and has the benefit of starting from scratch versus AfreecaTV’s legacy infrastructure.

Chzzk also relies on a currency system. Its answer to Twitch’s Bits is "Cheese,", which can be bought with Naver Pay or accumulated Naver Pay reward points.

Its app holds a paltry 2.3-star rating on the Google Play Store, with reviewers highlighting a buggy experience. Notably, there is a lack of English support, and Naver seems content keeping the service localized to Korea to capture churn from Twitch.

The service has already begun to pose a threat to Korean competitor AfreecaTV. According to StreamsCharts, the last 30 days have seen a peak of 296K viewers fro Chzzk and 5.9K live channels, compared to a peak viewership of 557K over the same period for AfreecaTV. This is very impressive for such a new platform and points to Naver’s huge tech budget and marketing muscle.

Huya & Douyu

Huya and Douyu operate a duopoly in Chinese video game live streaming. Tencent, which owns sizable minority stakes in both sites, tried merging the platforms in 2021 before being rebuffed by the Chinese State Administration of Market Regulation. Douyu most recently reported average mobile MAUs of 45.3M, while Huya reported 82.6M.

Both Huya and Douyu launched in 2014 with a focus on gaming and esports, and both have expanded to other types of live content. They have very similar monetization systems across donations, ads, and sponsorships.

Douyu is more localized to the Chinese market compared to Huya’s broader global efforts, which is reflected in its higher mobile MAU count. Douyu remains more tightly focused on competitive gaming and esports, with less diversification into nongaming content compared to Huya. Other than Tencent partnerships for League of Legends, the platform has streamed other esports tournaments like The International and CS Majors, and it has a longstanding partnership with NetEase covering games like Fantasy Westward Journey and Identity V.

Both companies’ stocks trade on U.S. exchanges. Needless to say, an abundance of scrutiny in China coupled with a weakening domestic consumer base has not been kind to the stocks, with both down 77% over the trailing five-year period.

This scrutiny is worth mentioning as it caused significant losses for tech-focused investors in the Chinese market. Huya and Douyu’s merger would have been one of equals, aimed at cutting costs. Instead, regulatory measures aimed at curbing excessive gaming, limiting young people's screen time, and reducing what the government views as "undesirable" content, have negatively impacted the companies. For example, in 2021, the government imposed restrictions on gaming and stream-watching time for minors to just one hour per weekend-day and holiday.

There has also been a push to regulate content to align with government standards, which has impacted how these platforms operate. This has increased compliance costs for the platforms during a time when they were hoping to consolidate and merge operations.

A significant portion of Huya and Douyu's revenues comes from virtual gifts, where users purchase and send digital items to their favorite streamers. However, regulatory crackdowns on excessive spending by minors and changes in user behavior have caused a reduction in virtual gift spending. Additionally, increased competition from platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou, which also feature live-streaming and virtual gift systems, has eaten into their market share.

The Chinese government axed any hopes of Huya and Douyu ever becoming larger players, and for now, the Chinese market is fiercely competitive with little hopes of consolidation.

TikTok

It’s been about two years since TikTok launched its gaming platform, marked by the creation of the site’s gaming marketing team in January 2023. It has seen tremendous engagement following the debuts of anticipated games in 2024, such as GTA VI, whose hashtag #gta6 generated over 10B views a day after the trailer dropped. This is despite regulatory scrutiny in the US — even if TikTok was to get banned in the country, the international audience for games on the site is sizable.

So far, the platform has proven popular for MOBA content, including videos of PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, and Garena Free Fire. There is also a sizable audience for its IRL "Chatting" section.

If TikTok can continue to leverage its massive short-form video audience, the platform can turn into the third-largest streaming player globally.

Conclusion

The streaming landscape has evolved into a highly competitive and diverse ecosystem, where platforms like Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Kick cater to different audiences with distinct monetization models and levels of exposure.

While Twitch remains the dominant player due to its first-mover advantage and robust infrastructure, platforms like YouTube Gaming have carved out their own niche with strong discoverability and mobile gaming content. New entrants like Kick have disrupted the space with aggressive spending on streamers and a relaxed approach to content moderation, while also appealing to creators seeking higher payouts.

The U.S. market is pretty consolidated already, with Twitch and YouTube Gaming having sizable market share. However, the market is not yet a duopoly, with services like Kick and Facebook Live occupying niches catering to different audiences. Kick is unlikely to be bought out by a Magnificent 7 tech name and instead will continue operating independently, or eventually close if Stake finds it to be an unsatisfactory loss leader.

Sponsors are happy to stick to Twitch and YouTube for now, and both platforms have the scale to accommodate large advertising deals, though the days of exclusivity contracts appear to be behind us.

Outside Western markets, platforms such as SOOP and Chzzk in South Korea, and Huya and Douyu in China, reflect the unique regulatory, cultural, and consumer landscapes shaping regional markets. As platforms balance maintaining user engagement and navigating regulatory pressures, the future of live streaming will likely continue to be shaped by how well these companies adapt to shifting trends in content consumption and creator economics.

The streaming market will remain geographically fragmented. The Korean platforms are happy hosting Korean-language content, with high penetration in their gaming-savvy market. China won’t even allow its own platforms to consolidate, let alone have them branch out into Western markets. And in the U.S., Twitch is the market leader while YouTube Gaming has carved out its own identity as a platform fostering discoverability.

The next region to watch is India. There are two major gaming-focused streaming platforms in the country, Loco and Rooter, which have announced plans to take on Twitch and YouTube in foreign territories. The country, with its 1.5B residents and rapidly improving standard of living, seems ripe for a major streaming service. Loco sold to a UAE-based investment firm for $65M in September, down from a peak valuation of $150M in 2022. The platform is still focused on expansion and with the wealth of its UAE backers, it is worth keeping an eye on Loco to see just how far it can go.

A Word from Our Sponsor: Heroic Labs

The Heroic Game Stack — Powering the World's Best Games

Heroic Labs builds the Heroic Game Stack, an integrated platform consisting of Nakama, Hiro, Satori, and Heroic Cloud.  

Heroic Labs is always happy to chat to game teams, so don't hesitate to reach out.

Content Worth Consuming

How Video Games Conquered Hollywood (gamesindustry.biz Microcast): “This time, we're joined at MCM x EGX by Big Fan Games' Amanda Kruse to talk about the evolving ways in which video games adapt IP from other forms of entertainment – and vice versa.”

Drake Star Global Gaming Report Q3 2024: Steady M&A Growth for the 4th Straight Quarter (drakestar.com): “Gaming M&A deal activities continued to increase for the 4^th straight quarter with $2.5B in disclosed deal value and over a billion raised in private financings. Public markets continue to recover with the Drake Star Gaming Index growing 10.2% for the first 9 months of the year, and a bumper IPO of Tencent-backed Shift Up that surged almost 50% on its trading debut.”

EXPOSING Mobile Performance Marketing Secrets! UA in 2024 and Beyond with Warren Woodward (GameMakers Podcast): “Warren Woodward, co-founder and CMO at Upptic, provides real, no-nonsense advice about the current state of mobile performance marketing. What are the current problems and issues in the market and how can studios grow their player base through mobile user acquisition today?”

Global Gaming Deals Report Q3’24 (investgame.net):“The InvestGame team proudly presents the Q3’24 Global Gaming Deals Report. In Q3’24, the gaming industry witnessed 176 closed deals totaling over $3.2B, a decline in deal value compared to $4.3B in the previous quarter. ”

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney’s Path to the Open Metaverse is via Enlightened Self-Interest (venturebeat.com): “Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney still believes that the path to the open metaverse will yield bring together the entertainment, games and technology industries together in a bright future. But to get there, Sweeney believes the monopolistic platform owners need to embrace enlightened self-interest.”

We Analyzed Web Store Adoption Across Top Grossing Mobile Games – Here’s What We Learned (AppCharge): “Direct-to-consumer (DTC) monetization has been embraced by publishers everywhere, amidst a tide of antitrust regulatory changes which have shifted the market wide open and paved the way for more choices for publishers and users alike. From a personal perspective, we’ve grown our partnerships considerably, now counting ⅓ of the top grossing mobile games as partners and building the market’s most robust DTC platform. But despite our own growth and the general hype surrounding web stores in the mobile games industry, there is little data that gives concrete evidence of this overall trend. We wanted to change that.”

Our Customized Research Reports

Today, we’re highlighting our newest service — Customized Research Reports. It offers highly tailored, recurring or bespoke research reports that targets the needs of product, marketing, business, or investment teams in gaming. It is ideal for those regularly analyzing the strategies and tactics behind gaming markets, trends, companies, genres, competitors, creatives, and more. We’ve successfully driven KPIs and ROI through this service, and here is what one of our recent clients had to say:

We’re actively seeking mobile F2P customers and are also keen to connect with those in PC/Console, Web3, UGC, VC, Public Markets, and other emerging verticals. To learn more, check out our information deck. For sample reports and pricing inquiries, please contact us, and we’ll respond promptly.