Headline
In the year 2024, Ninja and Kai Cenat spearhead the top-followed North American streamers on Twitch, as detailed below.
In 2024, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins led Twitch's top five most popular streamers in North America with over 19 million followers, contributing to a prosperous year for the livestreaming platform.
Factoids
Tyler "Ninja" Blevins: A prominent gamer and streamer famed for his "Fortnite" broadcasts, boasts 19.2 million followers on Twitch, maintaining his status as one of the internet's most popular streamers.
Kai Cenat: Formerly a YouTube stalwart, now shifted to Twitch, boasts 15.6 million followers due to popular streams filled with comedy, marathon-long broadcasts, collaborations with internet personalities like Drew "Druski" Desborders and Adin Ross, and celebrity appearances such as Kevin Hart, John Cena, and Kyrie Irving.
Félix “xQc” Lengyel: Adept at diverse gaming and conversational content, boasts 12 million followers on Twitch, also streaming on rival platform Kick under a two-year, non-exclusive agreement valued at a minimum of $70 million.
Michael "shroud" Grzesiek: A former professional esports player, becomes the fourth-most followed streamer on Twitch with 11.1 million followers, rising in popularity through high-level competitive play in games such as "Fortnite," "World of Warcraft," and "Call of Duty."
Imane “Pokimane” Anys: A long-time internet personality with over a decade of experience, Pokimane has amassed 9.3 million followers on Twitch through a blend of gaming, reactions, and personal vlogs.
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Most-Watched Individual Streams on Twitch
In 2024, Cenat was a domineering figure on Twitch in North America, with his streams landing him the top 1, 2, 4, and 5 positions in terms of peak concurrent viewership. Cenat's sleepover stream, featuring Hart and Druski, attracted about 712,000 viewers at its peak, ranking as the year's top stream. The stream for Day 27 of Cenat's month-long "Mafiathon 2" streaming marathon saw a peak viewership of about 643,000. The long-running streaming marathon in November featured 24-hour streams, celebrity appearances, and an announcement of Cenat donating 20% of the marathon's revenue to constructing a school in Makoko, Nigeria. Riot Games secured the No. 3 spot, generating a peak of approximately 638,000 concurrent viewers during the livestream of the League of Legends World Championship finals. Cenat's $250,000 giveaway stream, featuring MrBeast, and the 28th day of "Mafiathon 2" garnered peak viewership of about 472,000 and 469,000, respectively.
Interlude
Cenat's streaming marathon in November ranked as the platform's record for the highest subscriber count, surpassing the previous one of 310,000 subscribers set by Ironmouse, a streamer and VTuber. Subscribers pay monthly contributions to support streamers. Subscription options for Cenat range from $5.99, $9.99 to $24.99, according to our report. As of October this year, our estimate puts Cenat's earnings at $8.5 million, with the streamer currently ranking 24th on our Top Creators list.
Eye-Popping Number
A whopping 20 billion hours of content were watched on Twitch in 2024, as reported by the platform, equating to over 879 million hours of live streaming. Twitch boasted an astounding 21.4 million active streamers in 2024, identifying "Grand Theft Auto V" as its most-watched category globally (1.46 billion hours watched).
Backdrop
Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for approximately $1 billion and does not disclose revenue figures for the platform. However, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy revealed in January that the platform was non-profitable, despite the layoffs of more than 500 employees (around one-third of the staff). Twitch reportedly generated a total of $667 million in ad revenue and $1.3 billion in commerce revenue in 2023, as per The Wall Street Journal, which used internal documents to declare this information. Twitch faces competition from rival platform Kick, which has offered multimillion-dollar deals to lure prominent streamers to join their site. Kick has also emerged as an alternative platform for streamers dissatisfied with or facing violations from Twitch, such as Adin Ross. Despite the competition, Twitch has managed to maintain its star power, with streamers like Ninja, Cenat, and Pokimane turning down offers from Kick, while streamers like xQc and Grzesiek have significantly fewer followers on Kick than they do on Twitch.
Reading List
Kick vs. Twitch: Inside Streaming's Billion-Dollar Death Match (Our Website)
Kai Cenat Regains Twitch Subscriber Record with Star-Studded, Month-Long 'Mafiathon 2' Stream (Our Website)
- Despite the competition from platforms like Kick, prominent streamers such as Ninja, Cenat, and Pokimane choose to stay on Twitch due to its star power.
- The gaming streamer Kai Cenat, known for his comedy-filled streams and collaborations with celebrities like Kevin Hart, has a larger following on Twitch compared to his YouTube days.
- Tech-focused gaming platform Twitch reported a significant milestone in 2024 with 20 billion hours of content watched, showcasing the entertainment's immense popularity and growth.
- Ninja, along with other top Twitch streamers like Kai Cenat, xQc, and shroud, contributes to the platform's prosperity, with millions of followers each, making gaming entertainment a lucrative industry.
- In the world of livestreaming, tech and gaming platforms like Twitch and Kick offer significant opportunities for streamers like Ninja, xQc, and Kai Cenat, giving them a platform to engage with their massive fan bases.
