The loss of live, international competition was a significant blow to the esports industry in 2020. This week saw multiple big international events take place, and a corresponding surge in esports viewership on Twitch.
Twitch’s Top Channel – xQc
Being banned from Grand Theft Auto V continues to serve Félix “xQc” Lengyel, as he continues to ride the momentum from his return to the title. He generated 8.7M hours watched this week due in large part to GTA content.
This was also the second week of action for the Mid-Season Invitational, one of two international League of Legends competitions to be held this year. The additional broadcast days coupled with a weekend of high stakes matches helped the event claim two spots on the Top 10, with the main channel generating 5.41M hours watched.
It was also the start of the Six Invitational, the annual world championship for Rainbow Six Siege. The game saw enormous growth and success during the 2020 SI, one of the only international events to take place last year. The 2021 event was postponed from its typical spot in February, but the delay does not appear to have dampened demand for the event. A game generally falling outside of the top 10, Rainbow Six Siege saw its main SI broadcast rocket to third place this week for its initial group stage, reaching 3.64M hours watched.
Twitch’s Top Content – Just Chatting
It was a return to normalcy this week with Just Chatting reclaiming its throne as the largest content category and maintaining its 60M+ hours watched. While GTA did see a decline, it remains a strong second place with over 56M hours watched – well ahead of League of Legends even with the boost from MSI pushing LoL over 40M.
With Resident Evil Village quickly dropping off after its release, the Top 10 appears to be reaching somewhat of a status quo for the time being, waiting for the next major collaborative streaming trend or big esports push to shake things up.
