Livestreaming grew 45% in 2021; viewers watched nearly 30 billion hours

As television ratings continue to decline, livestreaming saw its best year ever in 2021.

Between Twitch and Facebook Gaming, viewers watched a combined 29.3 billion hours in 2021 — a 45% increase over 2020, according to a year-end report from Rainmaker and StreamElements.

Twitch — the largest livestreaming and gaming platform — reported that its viewers watch 24 billion hours this year versus 17 billion in 2020. Facebook Gaming, meanwhile, went from 3.6 billion hours last year to 5.3 billion this year.

YouTube Gaming’s year-end numbers haven’t been released, but its midyear figures included 800 billion gaming views and 90 million livestreamed hours.

While video games “Grand Theft Auto V,” “League of Legends,” and “Fortnite” all broke the 1-billion-hour mark on Twitch, the “Just Chatting” category — Twitch’s version of a chat room or a podcast — was No. 1 at 3.1 billion hours.

The top streamers on Twitch in 2021 range from Canadian gamer “xQc” to American political commentator “HasanAbi” to German gamer “MontanaBlack88.”