Twitch, the leading streaming platform of our time, is growing in popularity every year, and one of the main reasons for this is the popularity of video games.

As we close out another year, it’s timely to look at the data of games and companies, and Twitch is no exception. The popular streaming platform had a great year in 2021, with viewership up 45% compared to 2020. Although it is used in other areas, video games significantly contribute to the platform’s growing popularity.

In 2021, Twitch reached 24 billion hourly views.

The information has been made public thanks to GamesIndustry (via Rainmaker.gg), a site is known for collecting data and information from a wide range of internet platforms. According to the site, the 2021 cumulative viewership is equivalent to 24 billion cumulative hours.

Three of the platform’s most popular games have exceeded 1 billion hours viewed within their own channels.

Remarkably, Twitch’s 45% viewership growth was not only achieved through video games. Other streams such as TV shows, events and even replay streams helped the platform accomplish this year’s outstanding result.

This streaming platform allows for much more than just watching, as viewers can interact with the streamer in many different ways, as evidenced by a chat that finished Pokémon Crystal in 36 hours. Once-a-year events like Worlds 2021 also contribute to site’s continued year-on-year growth in popularity.

Source: GamesIndustry