The popularity of online gaming streaming services has accelerated.
Gaming has become a pandemic with a huge number of people, especially youngsters, being totally fascinated with it. And data shows that it is likely to continue. The live streaming video content for games has seen a sharp growth in recent years. The trend continues to grow on social media platforms as well- initially starting with Twitch.tv and then spanning Facebook, YouTube and other services too. The game streaming services allow players to stream their gaming session to a large audience. According to a report by Statista, in 2021 UK gamers spent an average of 7.17 hours a week on video games in the first month. Out of the global network of 3.24 billion gamers in 2021, 715 million were from Europe, with the UK having the highest number of gamers i.e, around 46.7 million.
With people spending more and more time on the internet, it’s not hard for online gaming streaming services to become a growing trend for the long term. These services are now no more used for entertainment purposes, but also these are creating monetary incentive opportunities as well. The report suggests that the global gaming market could witness a growth of an estimated value of $268.8 billion by 2025 which is up from $178 billion in 2021.
Not only are the online streamers motivated by the revenue that they could earn from this attractive business model, but the increasing number of viewers is also a major reason for the popularity of online game streaming. A 2019 survey says that 44 percent of internet users worldwide are aged between 16 and 24 and they watch live streams.
Meanwhile, pandemic has contributed to the sharp growth in online game viewership as it increased significantly with a staggering 1.2 billion watchers in 2020. Statista reported that more than half of UK gamers use YouTube Gaming as opposed to 42% who use Twitch while 31% used Facebook Gaming, 16% streamed games on Caffeine and 14% on Dailymotion Games.
It is expected that the global esports audience may reach 532 million by the end of 2022 and 640.8 million by the end of 2025, with a 2020-2025 CAGR of +8%.
