Streaming Stats for 2021

If you want to be successful at livestreaming, you should always pay close attention to the state of the streaming industry.

Staying on top of industry trends lets you discover what the audience wants in terms of content, as well as what other content creators in the community are doing to meet the demand.

Streaming stats are a good indicator of the direction in which the industry is going. Even though they don’t paint the whole picture, they are an essential source of information, and you should use them to guide your efforts as a content creator.

To better understand the current state of livestreaming, check out these 39 key streaming stats for content creators.

Stream Viewer Stats

As a content creator, understanding people’s streaming preferences is essential for making it in the livestreaming business. These stats will give you a glimpse into the mind of the audience, helping you understand how they are likely to behave.

1. 80% of the US population uses streaming services to watch online videos every week (Vanguard).
2. Viewerstypically decide if a stream is worth watching within 90 seconds. (TechRadar)
3. 88% of viewers have issues finding content on streaming platforms. (PwC)
4. Viewers tend to watch live video 10 to 20 times longerthan pre-recorded content. (Forrester)
5. Viewers are 39% more likely to share video than other kinds of content. (Forrester)
6. 7 out of 10 livestream viewers watch livestreams on a daily basis. (Interactive Advertising Bureau)
7. Millennials and Gen Z viewers spend 9.4 minutes on average sifting through content when looking for. (The Drum)
8. Millennials and Gen Z viewers are 35% more likely than average to look for different content than they’re used to, but also 28% more likely to give up searching and not watch anything. (Nielsen)
9. Households subscribed to streaming devices spend 19% of their viewing hours streaming content. (Nielsen)
10. 45% of viewers are willing to pay to watch livestreams featuring their favorite sports teams, speakers, or performers. (Livestream)
11. 52% of viewers prefer ad-supported content instead of paying a subscription fee. (Interactive Advertising Bureau)
12. 26% of viewers watch live video for access to exclusive content or services. (GWI Consumer Trends Report)
13. 31% of consumers believe that watching live videos will give them insider knowledge about a brand or its products. (GWI Consumer Trends Report)

Streaming Platform Stats

Streaming platforms shape the livestreaming landscape as a whole. As a content creator, understanding how these platforms are performing is crucial for getting your content in front of as many viewers as possible.

1. The combined hours watched across Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming surpass 7.46 billion hours. (The Verge)
2. 28% of livestream viewers on social media watch content on multiple platforms, whereas 26% watch exclusively on Facebook, 15% on Snapchat, 13% on Instagram, and 13% on Twitter. (GWI)
3. Twitch is the largest livestreaming platform in terms of hours watched, with over 5 billion hours watched. (StreamElements)
4. Twitch has over 3 million content creators (500 000 of which stream daily), and over 15 million unique visitors per day. (VentureBeat)
5. Twitch has 67.6% of the livestreaming market share. (Streamlabs)
6. Just Chatting is the most-watched streaming category on Twitch. (StreamElements)
7. The next 9 most-watched categories on Twitch are video games, with League of Legends, GTA 5, and Fortnite taking up the second, third, and fourth place. (StreamElements)
8. Twitch hosts more than 91% of all streaming content. (GeekWire)
9. YouTube is the largest livestreaming platform in terms of monthly active users, with over 2 billion active users per month. (Variety)
10. YouTube Gaming had over 692 000 concurrent viewers in Q2 of 2020. (Streamlabs)
11. 2 out of 5 of channels with the most subscribers on YouTube feature gaming-related content. (Google)
12. Twitter’s streaming platform Periscope features over 9.3 million streams per month. (Dustin Stout)
13. On Facebook, livestream content receives 10 times more comments than on-demand video content. (Business Insider)

Streaming Industry Stats

Understanding industry-wide livestreaming trends can help content creators develop their long-term career strategy.

1. Livestreaming is set to become a $70.5 billion industry in 2021. (Cision)
2. 82% of all internet traffic will be video by 2022. (Cisco)
3. 79%of all mobile traffic by 2022 will be video. (Cisco)
4. Live video will represent a 17% share of all internet traffic by 2022. (Cisco)
5. 90% of all 5G traffic will likely be video. (Business Wire)
6. Online video is the only form of home entertainment spending that has not been in decline for the past 5 years. (Streaming Media)
7. With more than 75 million hours watched and 5.3 million followers, Summit1g was the most popular livestream content creator of last year. (Esportz Network)
8. A content creator called Viya managed to drive $50 million worth of sales through livestream product sponsorships on the Chinese platform Taobao. (AliZila)
9. Livestreaming is growing in popularity in China, with over 600 million viewers. (Statista)
10. The fitness industry saw an increase of over 1300% in minutes streamed during 2020. (Uscreen)
11. Remote education saw an increase of over 980% in minutes streamed in 2020. (Uscreen)
12. Wellness content saw an increase of over 392% in minutes streamed in 2020. (Uscreen)
13. Church services saw an increase of over 40% in minutes streamed in 2020. (Uscreen)

Conclusion

Livestreaming stats are a good way to orient yourself within the livestreaming landscape and find your niche or platform as a content creator.

Overall, livestreaming is on the rise across different platforms, niches, and audience segments, and the sooner you start streaming the better.