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 2024 among U.S. consumers, ** percent of monthly livestream viewers watched livestreams of *************. Livestreams of ************************ ranked second with a ** percent watch rate among U.S. livestream audiences.

In March 2025, video streaming platform Twitch had approximately *** million active streamers, down from a peak of **** million in January 2021. The platform experienced a boom during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many new users used the platform to connect with friends or try their hand at livestreaming. However, this trend normalized again towards the end of the year, and the streaming space has also grown more competitive as platforms apart from Twitch have evolved to attract streamers and viewers. Popular content categories on Twitch In 2024, most of the leading content categories on Twitch were all gaming-related – except for the top spot: Just Chatting. The general conversation category accumulated *** billion hours of viewing time in the measured period. In March 2025, global Twitch audiences spent around *** million hours watching Just Chatting content on Twitch, with the average viewer count of such content reaching *** thousand. HasanAbi was the most popular Just Chatting streamer on Twitch in the most recently measured month. Game streamers Twitch is very popular with gamers and gaming audiences, and the ranking of the most popular Twitch streamers reflects this. Ninja (real name: Richard Tyler Blevins), the top-ranked streamer on Twitch, had **** million followers in April 2025. Ninja saw a meteoric rise to fame when he was one of the first top-ranked players to stream the then-newly released Fortnite Battle Royale at the end of 2017. Second-ranked ibai (real name: Ibai Llanos Garatea) was ranked second with ***** million followers on Twitch. With more than **** million followers, Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, was the only woman among the most-followed Twitch streamers worldwide. Overall, women only accounted for **** percent of the top-ranked Twitch channels.

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.

As of the beginning of 2025, Kick and Rumble were the platforms presenting the highest creators' revenue share. Kick shared 95 percent of streaming revenues with its creators, while Rumble shared the totality of creators' revenues generated via subscription badges. OnlyFans, which allows users to stream live content from creators as well as pre-recorded videos, shared 80 percent of fans' payments with creators. Twitch new partner program Partner Plus Program launched in June 2023 and 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. 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.

In 2023, livestreaming commerce sales in the United States reached an estimated ** billion U.S. dollars. Referred to as live commerce, shopping via online streams on social networks is gaining popularity globally. Forecasts indicate that by 2026, sales from live online shopping will grow by ** percent, making up more than **** percent of all e-commerce sales in the North American country. The global landscape According to a survey, frequent users in the United States attended fewer live commerce shows compared to China, Latin America, and Europe in 2022. U.S. consumers may not participate in as many live commerce events as in other regions, but when they do, they bring their purchasing power with them. The average annual spending per frequent live commerce user in the U.S. surpassed that of Europe and matched that of Latin America, highlighting the potential of this emerging trend. China, known as the epicenter of live shopping, continues to lead both in attendance and spending. Why livestream shopping? The increasing popularity of live commerce can be attributed to various factors. According to consumers worldwide, the main benefits of live commerce include access to exclusive discounts, inspiration, and ideas, as well as the ability to make smarter, more informed purchase decisions. However, livestream shopping isn't just about scoring great deals; it's also about having fun. Entertainment plays a significant role in attracting consumers to participate in livestream shopping. That is especially true for younger age groups, who value real-time interaction and personalized experiences, which Gen Z consumers see as a major advantage.

During a 2020 survey, 45 percent of internet users in India reported frequently viewing livestreams of influencers, and as many as 83 percent said they were likely to buy products from influencers they follow. While the share of internet users who frequently watched influencer livestreams in China was lower than in India, eight out of ten still said they were likely to buy from those influencers they were interested in.

According to a survey of users in the United States carried out in March 2024, approximately 27 percent of creators who reported live streaming their own content online were doing so a few times per week. Additionally, 22 percent of respondents reported creating live content daily. Respondents who reported live streaming content once a month were approximately six percent, while 12 percent reported doing so less often.

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.

In the first quarter of 2023, the United States had the highest share of Gen Z consumers who had participated in a live-streaming shopping event by a large margin, with ** percent. For comparison, Australia was next in line with ** percent. On the other hand, Poland and Portugal had the lowest share of Gen Z consumers who had participated in live commerce over the same period, with ** and * percent of respondents, respectively.

According to a survey of users in the United States carried out in March 2024, only 12 percent of respondents reported live streaming their own content online to other people. Among those aged between 18 and 34 years, 14 percent of respondents were streamers, while among respondents between 35 and 54 years, 21 percent did so. Only three percent of users aged 55 and older reported live streaming their content online.

According to a recent survey conducted in Vietnam by Decision Lab in 2022, around a third of respondents typically spent a quarter to half an hour to watch a live stream session. The same survey also revealed that shopping live streams were the most popular to watch among Vietnamese audiences.

According to a survey conducted in October 2022, ** percent of U.S. live stream viewers aged 18 to 34 used YouTube Live for watching live stream video content. ******** 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 ** 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 ** 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, ***** in ** 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 ** percent of creators earned between *** and *** U.S. dollars.

During the fourth quarter of 2024, live streaming content watched on YouTube represented almost 70 percent of the total hours of content watched across all live video platforms. Twitch followed, making up a share of 23 percent of all livestreamed content watched in the examined period. Kick ranked third, as the platform held a share of around three percent of hours watched among global audiences.

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.

During the 3rd quarter of 2024, Twitch had the highest market share in the live streaming industry, as it held almost 61 percent of the total market. YouTube Gaming followed with a 22 percent market share. Live streaming service Kick ranked third as it accounted for over six percent of the market share.

As of May 2024, Douyin, the Chinese sister app of TikTok, reported having **** 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 ** minutes watching videos on the platform each day.

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.

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 **** billion hours were watched on Twitch in the fourth quarter of 2024.