Twitch sets new records as the pandemic continues

Avid steamer ‘TheGrefg’ Martínez recently set a new viewing record on the Twitch platform. — Twitch and David ‘TheGrefg’ Martínez

While Twitch has seen a significant increase in viewer numbers over the last 12 months, this trend appears to be digging in for 2021. David “TheGrefg” Martínez has set a new record for the video streaming platform, attracting more than 2.4 million simultaneous viewers in his latest live broadcast.

The Spanish Twitch player who counts 6.3 million subscribers captured the attention of new viewers by introducing his new avatar for Fortnite: a red-haired character available from Jan 16 on Epic Games’ flagship game store. This announcement was followed live by more than 2.47 million people on the video streaming platform, according to data from the TwitchTracker website.

This audience peak allowed David Martínez to beat the record set by Tyler “Ninja” Blevins in March 2018. At that time, more than 616,000 curious people logged on to watch a game of Fortnite between the American streamer and Canadian rapper Drake.

¡Vamos!@TheGrefg now holds the record for most concurrent viewers ever on Twitch. pic.twitter.com/26VceVSJyS — Twitch (@Twitch) January 11, 2021

It must be noted that Epic Games’ hit video game is one of the most vibrant topics on Twitch. According to a recent report by StreamElements and Arsenal.gg, Fortnite is the third most popular category on the streaming platform, with 904 million hours of viewing in 2020. Only “Just Chatting” and the video game League Of Legends surpassed this score, with 1.9 billion and 1.4 billion hours viewed in the last 12 months, respectively.

A platform that continues to win over new users

When Amazon bought Twitch for US$970mil (RM3.93bil) in 2014, it was essentially seen as the “YouTube of video games”. Since then, the streaming platform has established itself as a must-visit hub where streamers and artists, as well as political personalities broadcast live content for several hours at times, while exchanging with thousands of spectators.

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got into the action last October when she played Among Us against Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and big names in geek culture such as Pokimane and Jacksepticeye. It was a success for “ACO”, who attracted up to 435,000 simultaneous spectators on Twitch. – AFP Relaxnews