State of the Stream: Facebook Gaming surges in November

StreamElements, in partnership with Rainmaker.gg, have released their November 2022 and year-end version of the State of the Stream. The report provides high-level insights on how the top platforms, streamers and game debuts performed with game livestreaming viewers last month and so far this year.

The full State of the Stream report, which includes additional insights on the most watched Twitch categories, can be found here.

Gaming viewership up on Facebook, down on Twitch and YouTube

On a platform scale, Facebook Gaming saw huge growth in November. Despite losing a day to October, November’s hours watched grew 21%. This growth can be partially attributed to the ongoing PUBG Mobile Global Championships.

In comparison, both Twitch and YouTube Gaming struggled. November is traditionally a slower month on Twitch, as tentpole esports events — especially League of Legends Worlds and Dota 2’s The International — wrap early in the month at the latest. In this context, a drop off of 11% is somewhat expected. YouTube’s month-over-month decline increased in pace this month, from a 3% decline to a 10% decline. These major events likely helped prop up viewership on YouTube as well, just not to the same degree.

xQc is streamer of the year, Gaules is Mr. November

Per the State of the Stream, xQc is the most watched streamer of the year, and it isn’t even close. Part of the key to xQc’s success is his consistency. Other than a lighter month in October, xQc regularly streamed through out 2022, accruing over 200 million hours watched year-to-date.

In the months where xQc wasn’t topping the charts, Gaules was there to be No. 1. The Brazilian streamer has become a partner of choice for co-streaming major esports events in Portuguese. These arrangements boost viewership and can help the organizer reach local audiences in a more cost-effective way.

In November, Gaules co-streamed two massive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments. Both the IEM Rio Major — which was a massive success given that the Brazilian team Furia won at home — and the Blast Premier Fall Final account for why Gaules streamed over 60 hours of CS:GO.

Tough Year for Debuts on Twitch

While there’s still time for December releases to break into Twitch’s top 10 most watched categories, only five releases have made it in 2022 so far.

Lost Ark and Elden Ring led the pack with a slight edge to the former. Overwatch 2 was widely-anticipated and free-to-play which likely boosted viewership in its first week. FIFA 23 shattered series records with its launch, so it makes sense it would be reflected on Twitch. Finally, God of War Ragnarök’s stunning narrative inspired many of Twitch’s most popular streamers — like xQc and Kai Cenat — to pick up the game boosting it to the top 10.

Notably, Lost Ark, Overwatch 2 and FIFA 23 have made use of Twitch’s drops system which incentivizes viewership through in-game rewards. This is more common in ongoing titles than in single-player narrative games like Elden Ring and God of War.

Early signs suggest that Calisto Protocol probably won’t join this short list, but StreamElements and Rainmaker.gg will confirm next month.