The Ultimate List of Live Streaming Statistics for 2024
If you’re going into the live streaming business, you’ll want all of the available information so you can make informed decisions and strategies. Live streaming is a growing market. But there are things you’d want to know about it before jumping head-first into broadcasting your first stream.
That’s why we created the ultimate list of live streaming statistics for 2024.
Use our list of live streaming figures to get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t. There are facts here that will surprise you so you better keep reading until the end.
Here are interesting tidbits we found while doing our research.
Key Live Streaming Statistics
- The live streaming industry is believed to have reached $70 billion in 2021.
- 54% of live streaming content is about gaming/esports.
- Twitch is one of the biggest live streaming platforms with 30 million daily visitors.
- 80% of live stream viewers will watch a stream from a brand rather than read its blog.
- One Taobao streamer earned $49.7 million in one day.
- The live streaming market will grow to $223.98 billion by 2028.
- Twitch hosts 91% of streaming content in the market.
What Is Live Streaming?
Live streaming refers to content (audio or video) that’s being broadcast live through the internet via dedicated streaming software or webinar platform. It’s similar to a traditional TV broadcast only users get more options on how they’d like to consume content.
They can switch between content creators. They have some flexibility on the resolution they’d like to watch videos in which is helpful for those with sluggish internet connections. In some cases, they can rewind the stream and view sections of the broadcast they may have missed.
Live streaming also has the advantage of simultaneous playback and recording. Meaning after the live stream is over, a user can store the stream for posterity or upload it immediately to the platform of their choice such as social media sites.
The most popular platforms for live streaming include Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook.
Most live streamers broadcast gaming content though there are other applications such as meetings, conferences, schooling, music, vlogging and many more.
General Live Streaming Statistics
1. The Live Streaming Market is Worth Billions
(Research and Markets via PR Newswire)
It’s estimated that by 2021, the live streaming market will reach $70.05 billion. That’s a huge growth considering that in 2016, the market’s worth was just $30.29 billion.
What sets live streaming apart from other mediums is the ability to skip ads and on-demand content accessibility. Users are also able to watch events in real-time.
The press release also mentions that smartphones and tablets are the most popular devices used to view live streaming content.
2. Esports Drives Live Streaming
(Restream)
54% of live streamers publish gaming/esports content. But what do other streamers focus on?
17% of them stream music, sports, or entertainment content. 6% stream everyday life events. 9% stream professional content while 14% stream about other topics.
The same report shows that 78% of those 24 years old and under lean toward gaming. Those that are 45 years old and up like watching entertainment channels.
But why do people stream? Those 24 and under do it as a hobby (53%). The 25 to 44-year-old folks (24%) and 45 and up (29%) do it to establish their personal brand.
3. Twitch Is One of the Biggest Platforms for Live Streaming
(Twitch)
Twitch is one of the biggest platforms for live streaming. It gets an average of 30 million daily visitors. More than 7 million unique streamers go live every month.
Half of all Twitch users are between 18 and 34. 21% of its users are anywhere from 13 to 17 years old.
On average, it gets over 2.5 million views at a given time.
4. Covid-19 Affected Video Marketers
(Wyzowl)
According to Wyzowl, the 2020 pandemic affected the video marketing plans of around 40% of marketers. But 74% of marketers said that the pandemic made them more likely to use video while 26% said it became less likely.
60% said that this pandemic affected their budget, 7 out of 10 said that their budget would increase.
5. Most People Discover New Video Content Through Word of Mouth
(Nielsen)
According to Nielsen, most people discover new video content—including live-streamed ones—by word of mouth.
59% of the general population discover new video content through word of mouth. When it comes to ads, 47% said they see new shows on TV. 32% discover new content when they’re in the movies. 36% said they learn about new shows when they’re online.
34% said they find out about new content while they’re on social media websites.
6. Students Are Expected to Attend School Through Live Streaming
(CNBC)
In Aug 2020, a study found that 52% of students will attend school virtually. 25% will go to class every day while 19% will undergo a hybrid style of schooling that combines online and in-person learning.
At the time, 4% of districts were still undecided on how to proceed.
This came as a response to Covid-19 restrictions.
7. Twitter Gets More Views During Live Events
(Twitter Marketing)
Twitter gets a 14% increase in unique visitors during live events. It also gets 67% video views for US brand and media publishers, which is an increase of 67% from the first quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020.
The company also got a 34% YoY increase in watch time.
Live Streaming Statistics for Businesses
8. People Prefer Live Streaming Over Other Mediums
(LiveStream)
LiveStream (in partnership with New York Magazine) surveyed 1,000 adults to see how they use live streaming.
80% of respondents said that they’ll watch a live stream from a brand rather than read a blog from the same company. 82% would watch a live stream rather than go through a brand’s social media posts.
67% of people who watched a live streaming event ended up buying a ticket for a similar event.
Other curious statistics showed that 81% of users watched more live-streamed videos in 2016 than in 2015. 87% said they prefer watching live-streamed videos because it features behind-the-scenes content.
The most watched live content is breaking news (56%), conferences (43%), and concerts (43%).
What’s the most popular platform for live streaming in 2017? That would be YouTube at 70%.
9. Facebook Wants Exclusive Rights to Events
(BBC)
In 2018, Facebook signed an exclusive deal with India’s La Liga to broadcast its next three seasons to viewers in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, The Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India.
So the 348 million Facebook users in the region can only watch the games live-streamed through Facebook.
At the time, Facebook had a broadcast deal with Major League Baseball for a reported $1 million per game. Facebook streams the games for free but earns revenue from targeted advertising.
10. A Streamer on Taobao Earned $49.7 Million in One Day
(Alizila)
Viya, a live streamer on the Taobao platform, earned roughly $49.7 million in just one day of streaming back in October 2019. She worked with more than 8,000 brands including P&G and Philips to promote their products.
At the time, Viya had more than 10 million followers on the platform. Her live streaming success became the benchmark of the Taobao live streaming broadcasting industry.
11. All Eyes Are on China’s Live Streaming Industry
(KrAsia)
In June 2020, a third of China’s internet users—which is roughly 309 million people—tuned in to live streaming e-commerce. This is an increase of 16.7% from March 2020 numbers.
This increase in viewership is attributed to the closure of businesses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Live streaming became a way for salespeople and business owners to cope with losing offline sales.
12. The Live Streaming Market Will Grow to $223.98 Billion by 2028
(Grand View Research)
According to Grand View Research, the live streaming market is set to grow to $223.98 billion by 2028. There are several reasons for this. For example, the rise of technological advancements like block-chain in video streaming and artificial intelligence will improve video quality, leading to demand for the market.
Cloud-based video streaming solutions will also increase the reach of video content.
Other reasons for such a positive outlook include the growing acceptance of smartphones alongside the accessibility of high-speed internet technologies like 4G and LTE. There’s also a growing demand for hardware (mobile devices) that are capable of supporting digital media from anywhere in the world.
Live Streaming Content Statistics
13. League of Legends Was the Most-Watched Content on Twitch in 2019
(Stream Elements)
Twitch hosts a lot of games but League of Legends is the most-watched on the live streaming platform. In 2019, people watched 990,286,084 hours worth of content that featured the game.
The previous year saw Fortnite as the winner with 1,221,207,484 watched hours. Other popular games during this period include Dota 2, PubG, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto 5, Overwatch, and Apex Legends.
Twitch also has a section called Just Chatting where users can talk with their subscribers about any given topic. In 2019, this section generated 651,482,796 hours of watch time.
14. Twitch Has the Most Streaming Content
(GeekWire)
With the downfall of Mixer, a live streaming service by Microsoft, most of its users went back to Twitch instead of Facebook who bought the platform. As a result, Twitch now hosts 91% of streaming content in the market.
Before it shut down, Mixer represented 14.2% of hours live-streamed in the second quarter of 2020. This number grew to 14.5% in the third quarter.
Microsoft has to put an end to Mixer citing their team being unable to work on the live streaming platform alongside other projects.
15. Andrea Bocelli Broke YouTube Records
(Variety)
In April 2020, Andrea Bocelli performed a solo performance on Easter Sunday in Milan. This was live-streamed on YouTube where it reached 2.8 million peak concurrent viewers, making it one of the biggest live-streamed musical performances on the platform.
In 2019, Coachella was the biggest musical live-streamed event with 82.9 million live views. But it is worth noting that Coachella took place over three days. It also featured performances from multiple artists.
Bocelli performed for 25 minutes and got 28 million views in its first 24 hours.
16. Van Living Is a Growing Category
(Think With Google)
On YouTube, 1,200 channels have descriptions like van life, van living, life in a van, and living in a van. There’s also a growing number of study skills videos that have a 3x increase YoY.
Recipe videos are also increasing at a 2.5x rate over the past two years.
And of the 100 most popular YouTube live streams, 60 of the greatest number of peak concurrent viewers happened in the last two years. The data was gathered from Jan 2021 to Dec 2018.
Traditional TV vs Live Streaming Statistics
17. Traditional TV Is on the Decline
(Marketing Charts)
In the first quarter of 2020, 18 to 34-year-old Americans watched a daily average of 1 hour and 37 minutes of traditional TV. This is surprising because this is the same period when everyone was ordered to stay at home due to the pandemic.
This is 18 minutes down from the previous year’s first-quarter reports.
Those in the 12 to 17-year-old age group spend even less time watching traditional TV. They only clock in at 1 hour and 5 minutes per day or 7 hours and 36 minutes per week.
One of the reasons for the decline is the rise of TV-connected devices which includes live streaming.
TV-connected devices are now taking over especially for teens. Those in the 18 to 34-year-old demographic spend just about as much time on traditional TVs and TV-connected devices.
18. Facebook Would Like More TV-Like Content
(Business Insider)
Facebook said in 2017 that they’d like more TV-like content on its platform. It was in talks with creators about licensing TV-like shows. The strategy was to inch closer to traditional TV shows.
The social media platform said that longer videos can drive advertiser adoption of mid-roll video ads. It also said that live videos are more suited for sponsorships.
Live Streaming Stats & Trends – Key Takeaways
Whether you’re an audience member, a content creator, or a marketer who wants to explore various use cases for live streaming, you should get the same takeaway from these stats. Live streaming is not only alive and well, but it’s thriving. in 2024 and post-COVID-19, it will continue to grow and attract more audiences and content creators.
Want to Learn More?
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