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Esports-related channels accounted for the top three most-watched on Twitch in July as well as a majority of the top 10 overall.
Meanwhile, Method’s win in the World of Warcraft raid race to world first provided a notable change from July’s top 10 last year.
The following channels are ranked according to the total number of hours watched on Twitch, from July 1-31, with data compiled using TEO Access.
Year-Over-Year
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, who recently left Twitch to stream exclusively on Microsoft’s streaming platform Mixer, dominated all other channels in July last year, but this year, his numbers weren’t even high enough to put him in the top 10.
While Fortnite’s apex in the summer of 2018 led to a plethora of influencers being in the top 10 last year, this year Twitch’s top channels for July were a completely different story. A change in the Overwatch League’s scheduling provided more hours watched for the esports-centric channel this July.
Meanwhile, Method’s 24/7 broadcasting of the World of Warcraft raid race, along with other events in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 made this July an esports-heavy month.
Top Channels: Overwatch League
The Overwatch League only had 4.4M hours watched in July last year due largely to a lack of competitive play, but in the league’s second season, a variety of schedule changes have led to a serious boost in airtime for the league’s main channel.
While a break between Stage 3 and Stage 4 presented a bit of a dead spot in the middle of July, The league was still the most-watched channel on Twitch after only having aired its playoffs in July last year. OWL’s 698 hours of airtime in 2019 was up significantly from just 115 in July of last year.
Meanwhile, numerous top Fortnite influencers suffered in July due largely to the Fortnite World Cup taking place in New York. While Fortnite as a whole benefitted from influencers participating in the event, the personal streaming figures of people such as Turner “Tfue” Tenney and Tyler “Ninja” Blevins were hindered by the need of influencers to travel for the event.
What’s Trending: Personal Problems
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins’ recent departure from Twitch doesn’t have nearly the same weight it would have had in 2018, but with one of Fortnite’s top influencers gone, there is a void on the platform leaving the future of influencer-based viewership uncertain.
While many devoted fans of Blevins will likely follow him to Mixer to watch streams there, there is an opportunity for many Twitch streamers to potentially pull from Blevins’ viewership base as well. Turner “Tfue” Tenney is an obvious candidate to be someone who gets a few more viewers due to Blevins’ absences, but a few other influencers could also stand to benefit.
Ben “DrLupo” Lupo and Tim “TimTheTatman” Betar are among a few influencers who Blevins regularly played with on Twitch. Though there is the potential that Blevins’ fans could cultivate growth on Mixer by viewing other influencers on that platform, there is also a chance that someone like Lupo or Betar could push toward being a top 10 most-watched channel more regularly.
