Twitch viewers spent over 8.6 billion hours watching gaming content between January 1 and September 1, <a href="https://comicvibe.com/neca-2026-con-exclusive/” title=”NECA 2026 Con Exclusive”>2026, according to the platform’s inaugural State of Gaming report released on September 9, 2026. The figures highlight total viewership across global markets, even as competing streaming services like Kick and YouTube Gaming record steady growth.
The eight-month report shows that the top five most-watched titles on Twitch—League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Grand Theft Auto V, Valorant, and World of Warcraft—generated nearly 1.7 billion hours watched combined. Genre-specific engagement also saw gains, with horror titles yielding 287 million hours and sandbox games generating 831 million hours. High traffic surrounding Grand Theft Auto VI temporarily disrupted site operations during the period, an event platform leadership cited to demonstrate community scale.
Chief Product Officer Mike Minton addressed the milestone in an official announcement following the report’s release.
“8.6 billion hours of gaming content watched in just eight months — and the GTA VI community showing up so big it broke the site — are powerful testaments to the strength of Twitch’s gaming community,” said Mike Minton, Chief Product Officer at Twitch.
Minton further emphasized the long-term positioning of the service during the same announcement.
“Since our earliest days, Twitch has always been a place for people to come together around their shared love of gaming,” said Mike Minton, Chief Product Officer at Twitch.
Despite Twitch maintaining its position as the largest gaming livestreaming platform, third-party market data indicates shifts in market share. Industry tracking figures show Kick’s hours watched increased 36.7% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026 to 1.34 billion hours, alongside a 45.5% increase in unique channels. Kick’s revenue model offers creators a 95% subscription split compared to Twitch’s standard 50% baseline, driving channel growth since its 2022 launch.
Concurrently, YouTube Gaming reached 8.8 billion gaming hours watched across full-year 2025, capturing roughly 24% of the gaming livestreaming market in the second quarter of 2025. During the same period, Twitch held approximately 54% of the market, reflecting an evolving competitive landscape across live video platforms.
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