During the third quarter of 2024, live streaming recorded an audience reach of 28.4 percent among internet users worldwide, which represents a marginal decrease compared to the previous quarter. In recent years, live streaming video content has become one of the most popular types of video content consumed online, both for entertainment and functional purposes.

Live streaming has taken China by storm, changing the online entertainment and shopping scene. With a user base of 833 million in China, the sector has become a lucrative business for many. Popular live streamers can earn a decent amount of money from advertising, virtual gifts and tips, as well as product endorsements. A convenient way to relax In China, live streaming has become the go-to platform for mobile entertainment. Two-thirds of internet users reported to have watched live streams on smartphones. The targeted audience were usually between 27 and 39 years old. E-commerce, food shows, and news were the most streamed content types. Fusing with social events and e-commerce But live streaming is more than just a way to pass time in China; it is also a social experience. From online shopping, gaming, to watching sports and concerts, viewers can connect with other internet users in real-time. Among all market segments, livestreaming e-commerce registered the highest penetration rate, raking in almost five trillion yuan of gross merchandise value in 2023.

In 2020, live streaming took off as a popular online entertainment option as the global COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay at home and look at new ways to occupy their time. Live streams had already been a mainstay in online gaming, and the heightened output of new and pre-existing streamers saw the medium rise to new popularity in 2020. In total, 916 million hours of content were streamed across all major platforms in 2020, representing a 45.4 percent increase from the 629 million hours of content broadcast in 2019.

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According to the 2024 Global Streaming Study, over half of respondents globally preferred live programming, such as sporting events or concerts, to be available on video streaming services. Consumers in China, in particular, would like to watch this kind of content on streaming platforms, while only 35 percent of Dutch respondents showed in interest in live-streaming content.

According to a survey conducted in March 2024, 12 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 34 reported that they watched live stream videos several times a day. However, 17 percent of U.S. adults aged 35 to 54 reported that they never watched live stream videos. Only 13 percent of U.S. adults 55 and older watched live stream videos several times a day.

Going live: meet the streamers In May 2024, American YouTuber and gamer KaiCenat was the leading Twitch streamer worldwide – with 19.5 million hours watched in the previous 30 days. As in the case of their audiences, most live streamers topping the ranking were men as of February 2022: less than one in 10 of the leading streamers on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook gaming was a woman. Rivers_gg was the leading female streamer on Twitch, with 8.88 million hours between January and May 2023, while Texas-based Amouranth ranked fourth with 6.44 million hours watched by global users in the first months of 2023. The streamer made news when she decided to join Kick exclusively, becoming the platform’s leading female streamer in July 2023 with around 500 thousand hours watched during the month.

Kick positioning Kick is a live streaming platform launched at the end of 2022 to compete with market leader YouTube Gaming and Amazon-backed Twitch. In the first quarter of 2023, Kick slid into the ranking of the most popular global live streaming platforms, with over 58 million hours watched by global users. While the number remains less significant when compared to the eight billion hours watched generated by YouTube, as well as the five billion hours watched cranked up by Twitch, Kick has been aggressively marketing itself as a creators’ hub in order to attract more creative talents. In mid-August 2023, the company announced the opening of their first Creator Incentive program, designed to boost emerging streamers’ popularity and increase the platform’s visibility.

According to a survey conducted in October 2022, 37 percent of U.S. live stream viewers aged 18 to 34 used YouTube Live for watching live stream video content. Facebook was the second-most popular platform for live stream video.

Live streaming growing potential The popularity of live streaming content has been linked to the online gaming and eSports world, with global users amassing almost 28 billion hours watched across Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming combined in 2020. Outside the gaming world, live news and sports have dominated the rankings of the most popular type of content for streaming services worldwide.

However, several other sectors in the entertainment and e-commerce industries have benefitted from adopting live-streamed formats during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. From events to concerts, to so-called shoppertainment, users worldwide appear to be getting more comfortable with the live streaming video format. As of the third quarter of 2021, live videos presented an audience almost as large as how-to videos and tutorials, reaching more than 30 percent of users worldwide.

U.S. creators’ take on video While live streams might not yet be the easiest video format for creators to embrace, video is becoming an increasingly popular format for online content creators. In the United States, three in 10 internet users say they have created video content to upload on the web or on social media platforms. Additionally, among those who made money from their video content online, an average of 44 percent of creators earned between 100 and 999 U.S. dollars.

According to the forecast, the market size of live streaming in China will reach around 700 billion yuan in 2023. There were over 750 million live streaming users across the country. E-commerce, gaming, concerts, reality show, and sports were the most streamed content categories.

On June 15, 2023, Twitch announced the launch of its Partner Plus Program - which allows streamers with at least 350 recurring paid subscribers for three months in a row to earn 70 percent of their net subscription revenue. Twitch's new partner program came right before influential live streamers xQc and Amouranth left the platform to onboard competitor's live-streaming hosting service Kick. OnlyFans, which allows users to stream live content from creators as well as pre-recorded videos, shared 80 percent of fans' payments with creators. Streamers’ revenues According to Kick’s estimations, streamers with 5,000 subscribers would be looking to earn around 23,750 U.S. dollars, thanks to the platform’s low commissions. Launched between the end of 2022 and March 2023 under the advisory of live streamer Trainwreck, Kick allows content creators to earn 95 percent of their revenues on the platform, with the service taking only five percent of streamers' subscriptions. This represents one of the lowest commission fees among this type of online video platform, with Twitch's streamers who are not eligible for the new partnership sharing 50 percent of their revenues with the Amazon-owned host, and YouTube's content creators sharing 30 percent of the Super Chat and Super Stickers received from viewers during a live streaming session with the Google-owned service. In 2022, only 22 percent of U.S. content creators who made money from creating internet videos reported making more than 1,000 U.S. dollars. In case of live-streamed content, the share of U.S. live streamers making 1,000 U.S. dollars and more were merely seven percent of the total. Kick’s rise Kick is a live streaming platform launched between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, proposing itself as a competitor to giants YouTube and Amazon-backed Twitch. Between January 2023 and April 2023, the platform grew from nine thousand channels to 67 thousand, with popular live streamers Félix Lengyel (better known as xQc) and Amouranth adding to the ranks in June of the same year. Adin Ross, who was known for streaming Grand Theft Auto V games on Twitch – was the most popular streamer on Kick during the first quarter of 2023, gathering approximately 125 peak viewers during his live streams. PaulinhoLOKObr ranked second, with around 62 thousand peak concurrent viewers for hist streams.

As of February 2021, Twitch was the most popular platform to watch live streams on in the United States. A total of 47 percent of U.S. gamers reported that they watched video game streams on the Twitch platform. Additionally, 40 percent of gamers watched video game streams using YouTube Gaming.

The world of video gaming has evolved from a single player experience to a social occasion where players can meet to play games together and watch others play online. In the first quarter of 2021, a total of 8.8 billion hours of video game live streams were watched across the world, up from merely 3.6 billion hours two years previously.

According to a survey conducted in 2024 among U.S. consumers, 34 percent of monthly livestream viewers watched livestreams of breaking news. Livestreams of sports games and matches ranked second with a 29 percent watch rate among U.S. livestream audiences.

As of early 2024, 81 percent of American football fans preferred to watch the sport via live-streaming, followed by 57 percent of basketball fans and 40 percent of baseball fans. In contrast, only 10 percent of winter sports consumers preferred to watch the sport via a live streaming service.

In 2020, live streaming took off as a popular online entertainment option as the global COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay at home and look at new ways to occupy their time. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the total number of live streaming hours watched across Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming amounted to 8.2 billion, almost double the amount than during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Total live streaming consumption reached new dimensions with a total of 27.9 billion viewing hours across all major platforms in 2020, representing a 78.5 percent increase over 2019.

As of May 2024, Douyin, the Chinese sister app of TikTok, reported to have 90.1 percent of its users streaming live content in China. The Beijing-based short video platform is growing its popularity in the country. Its users spent more than 73 minutes watching videos on the platform each day.

The live streaming video platform Twitch is one of the most popular ways in which viewers watch their favorite gamers stream their gaming exploits. A combined total of 5.71 billion hours were watched on Twitch in the third quarter of 2022.

According to a survey of users in the United States carried out in March 2024 among content creators that successfully monetized their live streaming videos, 28 percent reported making between 25 and 199 U.S. dollars within the last 12 months. Video makers who made 1,000 U.S. dollars or more from their live content were approximately 22 percent, while approximately a quarter of streamers earned less than 25 U.S. dollars from their live content.

In 2024, nearly 75.2 percent of the internet users in China had watched livestreams. E-commerce and gaming were the most popular content types of live-streaming.

Approximately 79.3 percent of the Chinese users from the third-to-fifth-tier cities followed live streaming platforms in the first half of 2019, showing the highest follow rate among all city tiers. Livestreaming service gained its popularity in China, particularly among migrant workers and those living in small cities who have relatively more free time.

During the first quarter of 2023, YouTube was the leading platform to watch live streamed content for global users, with over 8.1 billion hours watched. Twitch ranked second, with users worldwide watching almost 5.3 billion hours of live streaming videos on the platforms. Chinese-based Nimo TV ranked third, with users watching approximately 350 million hours on the platform during the first quarter of 2023.