Live streaming viewership has begun to stabilize, generating 38.3 billion hours watched in 2023, the same as 2020’s figures, according to a new yearly report from Stream Hatchet. However, the weekly average surpasses that of 2020 slightly by an additional 4 million hours.

The report, which analyzes trends across major streaming platforms, including Twitch, YouTube Gaming, Facebook Live, and newcomer Kick, finds that while overall viewership remains steady, there have been notable shifts in platform market share.

A key takeaway is that Facebook has lost its position among the top platforms, consistently falling below the top 3 for the past four quarters. Meanwhile, Kick burst onto the scene in March 2023, catapulting ahead of AfreecaTV and Facebook into the #3 spot for both Q3 and Q4.

Twitch’s steepest decline was seen in Q1, with a significant 10% decrease in hours watched. However, Q4’s viewership saw a 2.4% increase over last year’s number. Overall, Twitch experienced a year-over-year decline of 4.9%, a slight improvement from the 6% drop observed in 2022.

YouTube Gaming, on the other hand, consistently saw growth each quarter compared to 2022, contributing to an overall annual increase of 11% to 5 billion hours watched. The number of unique channels streaming on YouTube Gaming also saw a huge increase of almost 58% to 1.66 billion unique channels.

The report also tackles top content categories, finding that Just Chatting continues to dominate the non-gaming side of live streaming. However, the Sports category jumped 28% in viewership last year, thanks to events such as the Kings League, which created over 82 million hours watched.

Stream Hatchet’s data shows that in terms of the gaming versus non-gaming content split, Twitch takes the lead with an 82% gaming share among Western platforms. Kick lags behind with a gaming share 20% lower, attributed to its more inclusive approach to non-gaming categories.

The yearly report also highlights the increasing popularity of VTubers, with all but one VTuber in the top 10 seeing an increase in their average viewership in 2023. Additionally, co-streaming is playing a larger role in driving viewership, particularly in esports. Esports viewership continues to grow, up 9% from 2022, with co-streaming viewership accounting for 29% of hours watched this year, up from just 6% in 2020. Find the full report here.