Most Viewed Platforms for Gaming Content

• Deloitte notes that Twitch and YouTube are "major platforms" that gamers use to view gaming content.
• When the Fortnite World Cup Finals took place, over 2 million people viewed the live-stream of the event and the majority of the audience was watching via YouTube or Twitch.
• A survey of 324 Americans between the ages of 18 and 54 found that one-third watch gaming content on Twitch or YouTube.
• In China, Douyu is known to draw millions of daily viewers, while the same is true for Twitch in the United States. Youkou Tudou is another popular platform in China for gaming-related content viewing.
• According to a 2019 Motley Fool article, Twitch is the number one video game streaming platform in the United States, having 15 million unique daily visitors.
• ESPN regularly covers esports.
• In 2015, YouTube launched a platform specifically for gaming-related content called YouTube Gaming.
• YouTube has a 44% share of the gaming video content market as of 2017, and 56% of gamers surveyed said they connect with the gaming community via YouTube.
• There are approximately 653 million gaming content video viewers on YouTube.

Types of Gaming-Related Content Viewed

• 40% of gamers watch esports events once per week at a minimum. Deloitte notes that the total for all gaming-related content is likely higher. Additionally, 40% of Gen X and 30% of female gamers consume esports content weekly.
•  65% of US gamers and 82% of Chinese gamers say they have watched esports.
• Esports content represents 30% of all gaming content viewed. Most of this content is viewed on Twitch and YouTube, according to Deloitte.
• Many esports pros and gaming fans live stream their own video gaming.
• A 2015 survey of over 4,803 Americans between the ages of 18 and 54 found that over 2,000 of the respondents watched gaming videos on YouTube at least once per month.
• On YouTube, the types of gaming-related content being consumed are how-to videos, new games game play, professional gaming tournaments, and YouTube gaming personalities.

Other Types of Media Consumed by 'Game Content Viewers'

•  50% of millennials pay for both a gaming service and a video streaming service, indicating that video streaming media is another type of media being consumed.
•  More millennials have a gaming subscription than those who pay for a traditional TV subscription, indicating that traditional TV media is likely not being consumed as often.
•  66% of gamers watch reality TV or competition shows.
• A 2015 survey published by Google found that 40% of 'YouTube Gamers' (i.e. gamers who watch gaming content on YouTube) were influenced to purchase a certain product after watching videos online, indicating that this consumer segment is watching product review media online, and that YouTube is the number one platform they use to consume this type of content.
• A 2019 survey found that 60% of U.S. respondents watch TV less in favor of gaming, and the same was true for 66% of Chinese respondents.
• A survey of U.S. adult gamers found that, in addition to game-related content and esports, they also watch traditional sports on television and online.
• Interestingly, gaming content viewers like watching advertisements within gaming content, as 43% of esports viewers surveyed said that they "appreciate when brands reach out to the gaming world" and 42% said they "appreciate brand marketing through gaming channels."
• A 2019 global survey found that "gamers watch sports on television more often than they watch other people playing games on sites such as Twitch", however, this is not true for the 18-25 demographic, as 77% of this cohort said they spend more time watching other people playing games and the 26-35 cohort said they spend equal amounts of time doing this.

Time Spent Consuming Media (by Media Type)

•  25% of esports viewers watch esports content for more than four hours in a given week. Deloitte notes that the total for all gaming-related content is likely higher.
• A survey of 324 Americans between the ages of 18 and 54 found that one-third watch gaming content once a week at least; 17% said daily, 7% said monthly, and 5% said a few times per year. Males are more likely than females to consume this content; 30% of males watch gaming content daily while the same is true for just 7% of females.
•  30% of survey respondents between ages 25 and 35 watch gaming content daily; 18% for the 35-44 age group, and 6% for the 45-54 age group. Respectively, these groups consume this type of content on a weekly basis 14%, 20%, and 7% of the time; and on a monthly basis 8%, 8%, and 7% of the time.
• A 2019 survey by TECHnalysis Research found that U.S. gamers spend an average of 12 hours a week watching video game content on Twitch or YouTube, while in China, gamers watch an average of 11 hours per week on Douyu and Youkou Tudou.
• Among U.S. adult gamers, they spend an average of 4.14 hours per week watching traditional sports on TV; 2.37 hours per week watching traditional sports online; 2.33 hours per week watching gaming content online; and 1.67 hours per week watching esports tournaments either on TV or online.
• In 2016, 40 million hours of gaming
• videos were watched on YouTube.
• A global survey of gamers found that they watch an average of 1.72 hours a week watching esports, 2.43 hours per week watching other people play games online, 3.08 hours per week watching traditional sports on television, and 2.37 hours per week watching traditional sports online.
•  3.6% of global gamer survey respondents watch more than 15 hours per week of other people playing video games online; 6.3% watch for 7-15 hours, 11.6% for 3-7 hours, 16.6% for 1-3 hours, and 21.7% spend less than 1 hour.

Platform Loyalty

•  31% gamers surveyed in a small-scale study reported that they pay for a Twitch Prime subscription.
• A 2015 survey of gaming-related content consumers found that 15% said they 'always' go to YouTube for this type of content, 22% go there most of the time, 25% go there about half of the time, 31% rarely go there, and 7% never do.

Research Strategy

Gamer Video Content Platforms

• Twitch holds a 75.6% market share of the gamer video content hours watched in the third quarter of 2019.
• YouTube Gaming holds a 17.6% market share of the gamer video content hours watched in the third quarter of 2019.
• Facebook Gaming holds a 3.7% market share of the gamer video content hours watched in the third quarter of 2019.
• Microsoft Mixer holds a 3.2% market share of the gamer video content hours watched in the third quarter of 2019.
• According to Nielsen, 71% of millennial gamers watch "gaming video content, or online videos about games, on platforms like YouTube and Twitch."
• The use of YouTube and Twitch is confirmed by Deloitte as a study stated, "Gamers use major platforms such as Amazon’s Twitch and Alphabet’s YouTube to watch" esports events.
• About 56% of the gamers say that "YouTube is where they connect with their gaming community."

Types of Content Viewed on Video Content Platforms

• About 40% of all gamers watch esports events at least once a week and 25% of gamers watch more than four hours of esports per week.
• Gamers don't just enjoy playing video games. They also enjoy watching the best video gamers play against each other.
• Of console gamers, 40% watch esports at least once a week, compared with nearly 30% of PC gamers and mobile-dominant players.
• About 39% of gamers say YouTube videos help them make a decision to purchase a game.
• Additionally, 20% of gamers say that streaming videos helps them make a decision to purchase a game and 29% read online video game magazines and websites to help them make that decision.
• On YouTube, gamers watch "'let’s plays,' walk-throughs, reaction videos, and reviews."
• An Ipsos research survey found that 73% of YouTube gamers say "they enjoy watching others play games on YouTube" and 74% of gamers go to YouTube to "learn how to get better at a game."

Other Types of media Consumed

• Of mobile-dominant gamers (people who play video games mostly on mobile devices), 54% stream video at least once a week.
•  More than one-half of mobile-dominant gamers watch live broadcast television at least once a week.
• Of all gamers, 24% watch live sports on television.
• Of console gamers (people who play video games mostly on consoles), 31% watch live sports on television.
• Of console gamers, 84% pay for a video streaming subscription service.
• According to Deloitte, 66% of gamers watch reality television or competition shows.
•  More people are watching video game content than are watching HBO, Netflix, ESPN, and Hulu combined.

Hours Spent Consuming Media

• Overall, U.S. gamers spend three hours and 26 minutes per week watching other people play video games.
•  Over 50 billion hours of gaming content on YouTube was consumed in 2018.
• Gamers watched 2.3 billion hours of YouTube Gaming's live content in 2018.
• Gamers watched 9.36 billion hours of game play on Twitch in 2018.
• Only 167.96 million hours of gaming content were consumed on Microsoft's Mixer in 2018.
• Millennial gamers spend almost six hours a week watching video game content.
• The average American watches three hours and 44 minutes of live scheduled television per day, so millennial gamers are spending the equivalent of two days' worth of television watching video game content each week.
•  Forty-two percent of gamers watch more than five hours of television shows per week.
• About 48% of mobile-dominant gamers watch more than five hours of television shows per week.
• Video gamers watch 18 hours of live broadcast television per week.
• Mobile-dominant gamers watch 21 hours of live broadcast television per week.
• Console gamers stream 17 hours of video per week on ad-supported video streaming services.
• According to the 2018 Gamer Segmentation Report, 18% of a gamer's week is spent browsing the Internet, compared to 15% listening to music, and 13% posting to social media.

Demographics

• Since 71% of millennial gamers watch gaming video content, the demographics of this segment are important. According to Nielsen:
• Of millennial gamers, 54% are employed full time.
• Of millennial gamers, 46% have children.
• Of millennial gamers, 43% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
• The average annual income of millennial gamers is $58,000.
• About 43% of Gen-X gamers watch esports weekly, which is just three percentage points lower than the 47% of millennial gamers that watch esports weekly.
• Gen Z gamers watch esports nearly as much as millennial gamers, as 46% watch esports weekly.
• Nearly 30% of female gamers watch esports weekly.
• Of male gamers, 49% watch esports weekly.
•  Young, white males dominate the Western video game audience for the Twitch platform.
• Of the video game content audience, 54% are men and 46% are women.