With more than a decade since Twitch ignited the widespread acceptance of live streaming, the industry has seen records smashed over and over again. The popularity of streamers and streams is constantly shifting as creators find new content strands to pursue, evolving gaming metas to capitalize on, and fans seeking interesting, relevant personalities to cheer on.
Figuring out which creators are the most popular can be a little technical. Three main metrics are used when evaluating the performance of a streamer and their streams:
- Hours Watched: A pure measure of viewership based solely on total watch time. The number of hours watched can indicate devoted viewers tuning in to every stream, large casual fanbases, or long airtimes generated by marathon streams.
- AMA: Average Minute Viewership is found by dividing a streamer’s hours watched by their airtime. In other words, AMA is a more fair comparison between streamers that puts infrequent but mega-popular streamers (Ibai, Junichi Kato) on the same level as marathon streamers (PirateSoftware, Kai Cenat).
- Peak Viewership: Peak viewership is best used for events and one-off streams, as it measures the maximum number of viewers a streamer is able to pull in. Put simply, peak viewership is shorthand for hype.
In this article, we’re taking a look at some of the most popular streamers and streams of all time across three of the biggest live-streaming platforms: Twitch, YouTube, and Kick.
For a live, updated list of streamers you can access at any time, check out our ranking pages:
The Most Popular Twitch Streamers & Most Viewed Twitch Streams
The most popular Twitch streamer by hours watched is xQc with 852M. His presence here may prove controversial, given that xQc left Twitch at the height of his popularity to join Kick back in June of 2023 (propping up the then-new platform). His GTA V and Overwatch streams are the backbone of his content. Brazilian streamer Gaules appeals to an entirely different Portuguese-speaking demographic, having generated 696M hours watched on Twitch. Counter-Strike content is his bread and butter, reinforcing the idea that the streamers with the most hours watched on Twitch depend on competitive, multiplayer video game content.
Looking instead at AMA, the most popular Twitch streamer is Auronplay with an AMA of 78K. Hailing from Spain, Auronplay also creates gaming content around franchises like Pokémon, Minecraft, and Fortnite. However, he is better known for his funny variety content such as prank calls and social commentary. In third place sits Kai Cenat with an AMA of 56K, representing a fresh wave of live-streaming talent with his celebrity collaborations and blend of IRL/gaming content.
The most viewed Twitch streams reveal the true master of live streaming events: Ibai. Ibai is a Spanish streamer best known for his contributions to sports-adjacent content creation. All of the top three Twitch streams by hours watched are Ibai’s annual La Velada del Año events, led by the most recent edition with 25.1M hours watched. The competition isn’t even close, with TheGrefg’s Esland Awards coming in 4th position with 9.1M hours watched – a full 16M less hours.
Looking at the most watched Twitch streams by peak viewership tells a similar story, with Ibai’s La Velada del Año IV bringing in a peak viewership of 3.8M. Down in 5th position with a peak viewership of 1.3M is Squeezie’s GP Explorer 2 event in which creators and public figures compete in a Formula 4 race. The common trend among popular Twitch event streams seems to be big collaborations in real world, competitive settings.
The Most Popular YouTubers & Most Viewed YouTube Live Streams
Unlike Twitch, the most popular YouTubers are close in viewership. Male VTuber Kuzuha just managed to edge out the competition with a total 144M hours watched – just 3.5M ahead of third place VEGETTA777 with 140.5M hours watched. This is where AMA can be particularly important, with VEGETTA777 having more than triple the AMA of Kuzuha. Kuzuha is discussed more below, but VEGETTA777 built his following through dedicated Minecraft content for Spanish-speaking audiences.
Sorting by AMA instead reveals the most viewed YouTuber to be MixiGaming with an AMA of 47.2K. MixiGaming is a Vietnamese YouTuber with 7.7M subscribers whose variety content – including Trading Card Games (TCGs) and reaction videos – and niche market appeal has proven to be a recipe for success. Junichi Kato’s jun channel takes second place with an AMA of 40.1K. Junichi Kato is a mega-popular Japanese streamer from the early days of online content creation, putting together collaborations like the Hyper Game Tournament.
The most viewed YouTube live streams also take into account many sports streams. The most viewed YouTube live stream was CazéTV’s coverage of the 2023 Campeonato Careoca, streamed in Portuguese, with a massive 9M hours watched. This was not only a massive moment for CazéTV, but for sports broadcasting in general with the digital age offering an alternative to traditional coverage. To put this in perspective, this viewership is far above the 4th place stream with 4.5M hours watched: The official Korean channel’s coverage of the 2023 League of Legends World Championships.
Looking at peak viewership, the most popular YouTube livestream still belongs to CazéTV with a peak viewership of 4.9M. But down in 3rd place after CazéTV was British YouTube group the Sidemen with a peak viewership of 2.6M for their 2023 charity football match. With football taking up all five of the top spots for YouTube streams by peak viewership, it proves how far esports still has to go to contend with traditional sports on the platform.
The Most Watched Kick Streamers and Most Viewed Kick Streams
Kick became a refuge for Twitch streamers who were disillusioned with the latter platform’s monetization practices and strict community guidelines. As such, many of Kick’s top streamers were formerly big-name Twitch streamers. This is certainly true for the most watched Kick streamer AdinRoss (with 101M hours watched) and the second most watched Kick streamer xQc (with 72M hours watched). AdinRoss is mostly known for celebrity collaborations, like featuring rapper Playboi Carti on his second-most popular stream ever with 884K hours watched.
AdinRoss is still the most popular Kick streamer even when sorted by AMA, with an AMA of 54K. But things change further down the line: Colombian streamer Westcol comes in second with an AMA of 36K, generating viewership through casino-centric streams and content creator fights (an ongoing trend in the live streaming space).
The two most viewed Kick streams of all time are neck and neck. The most popular Kick stream comes from TheGrefg with 1.7M hours watched for a stream in which he featured the owner of an animal sanctuary (aiming to promote animal welfare). Ironically, the second most popular Kick stream from Mellstroy271 with 1.6M hours watched was less well-intentioned, sparking off due to a massive payout of $3.2M from online slots.
Mellstroy271’s slots stream also features the highest peak viewership for any Kick stream at 710K. But 2 of the other 5 top spots are taken by therealmoisesb (or just “moises”) whose most viewed Kick stream has a peak viewership of 701K. His Fortnite content is incredibly popular, providing some rare pure gameplay content on Kick. He also plays blitz chess (or speed chess) around the world, making for great IRL content.
The Most Popular VTubers
As their own individual niche, it’s also worth looking at which VTubers have made the biggest impact on the live-streaming scene. We’ve already mentioned one of them: Kuzuha who, with over 140M hours watched, rivals even “flesh” streamers (as they’re called in the VTuber community). Like many other VTubers, his content centers on collaborations, Japanese-published games, and occasional social streams focused more on his character and avatar.
Beyond Kuzuha though, most of the top VTubers identify as women. Usada Pekora, for example, comes into second place with 124M hours watched (having held the top monthly spot in recent months throughout 2024). Usada is also the highest ranking VTuber by other metrics, with an AMA of 26K and a peak viewership of 241K.
While most of the top VTubers tend to be Japanese and primarily stream on YouTube, occasionally some VTubers will break through by bucking this trend. The best example is ironmouse: An English-speaking VTuber on Twitch with 67M hours watched – placing her in 4th place. Ironmouse’s performance during this year’s SUBtember speaks volumes about how much she is loved by her community.
The Most Popular Streams Amongst Notable Streamers
This article only provides a brief overview of some of the top streamers, but with so much talent out there and so many niches to fill, it’s impossible to cover them all. This section hopes to spotlight just a few more of the biggest names on live-streaming platforms.
Kai Cenat is the biggest name in live streaming right now. His two-fold approach to content creation is perfectly exemplified in his top streams. Kai Cenat’s most viewed stream features comedian/actor Kevin Hart, with 5.6M hours watched. However, a better representation of Kai Cenat’s general content is his second most popular stream: An epic 100+ hour Elden Ring marathon stream that brought in 2.8M hours watched. These marathon streams have been Kai Cenat’s greatest tool in leapfrogging up the charts.
Over on YouTube Gaming, top streamer Ludwig has found incredible success with twists on trending live-streaming content. Ludwig’s most viewed stream with 1.4M hours watched focuses on a sport called chess-boxing: Alternating rounds of chess and boxing between content creators. Another YouTube Gaming creator, DrDisRespect, takes a more straightforward approach to content creation by mainlining one game: Call of Duty. DrDisRespect’s most viewed stream with 534K hours watched is unfortunately for less savory reasons, however, as he responded (while in character) to allegations of illegal behavior.
No list of top streamers would be complete without discussing the Fortnite juggernaut that is Ninja (aka Tyler Blevins). Having found his fame in the early days of Fortnite, Ninja is one of the few household names in live streaming. Ninja’s most viewed livestream with 618K hours watched is his return to the OG season of Fortnite, proving the power of nostalgia in driving live-streaming viewership.
That provides some insight into the full array of the most popular live streamers, featuring an abundance of VTubers, gamers, and Spanish-speaking streamers. To stay on top of emerging streamers and other big events in live streaming, follow the Stream Hatchet newsletter:
