YouTube Gaming Viewership Hits Record 8.8 Billion Hours In 2025, Data Shows
Platform accounts for nearly 1 in 4 hours watched on live-streaming gaming platforms; sponsored stream viewership reaches a five-year high.
YouTube Gaming recorded 8.8 billion hours watched in 2025, a 12% year-over-year increase and the platform’s highest annual total on record, according to a new report from live-streaming analytics firm Stream Hatchet.
The platform’s share of total live-streaming gaming hours watched (excluding TikTok Live) reached 24%, up from 23% in 2024 and 17% in 2023. YouTube Gaming held a 19% share in 2018, the earliest year covered in the report.
Geography: Japan Leads, Asia Expands
Among the top 1,000 YouTube Gaming creators for which country data is available, Japanese channels generated the most viewership in 2025, with 451 million hours watched. U.S.-based channels ranked second at 307 million hours, followed by India at 194 million.
Four countries in South and Southeast Asia appeared in the top 10: India, Vietnam (136 million hours), Indonesia (100 million), and Thailand (42 million). Combined, those four markets totaled 472 million hours watched.
Audience Demographics: Younger, Male-Skewing, and U.S.-Concentrated
Stream Hatchet’s demographic analysis of the top 100 YouTube Gaming channels by hours watched found that 82% of viewers identified as male. Viewers in their 20s accounted for the majority of watch time, with the 25-to-29 age bracket representing 36% of viewership and the 20-to-24 group contributing 26%.
Fifty-six percent of viewers across the surveyed channels were based in the U.S. (26%), Japan (19%), or Brazil (11%). Income distribution skewed toward lower brackets, consistent with the younger age profile, though the report noted that higher-income segments, particularly the $50,000 to $75,000 range, were more prevalent among channels with predominantly U.S.-based audiences.
The report cited Japanese rapper nqrse as a notable exception to the male-skewing pattern, recording 5.6 million hours watched between Q4 2024 and Q3 2025 with approximately 79% female viewership.
Sponsored Streams Rebound to Five-Year High
Sponsored content on YouTube Gaming staged a significant recovery in 2025. Viewership of streams containing “#ad” in the title reached 4.5 million hours watched in Q4 2025, the highest level since Q3 2020. The number of such streams also rose sharply throughout the year.
The top creators of sponsored YouTube Gaming content in 2025 were variety streamer TheBurntPeanut (697,000 hours watched), Free Fire streamer Apelapato999 (683,000 hours), and VTuber Clio Aite (411,000 hours).
Top Games: Roblox Surges, Minecraft Nearly Doubles
Roblox ranked as the most-watched game on YouTube Gaming in 2025, with 425 million hours watched, a 294% year-over-year increase. The report described YouTube Gaming as the preferred live-streaming platform for Roblox creators. “League of Legends” placed second at 421 million hours, followed by “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” (412 million), “Garena Free Fire” (380 million), and “Counter-Strike” (342 million).
Nine of the top 10 games recorded year-over-year growth in viewership. Minecraft posted the second-largest gain at 91%, reaching 279 million hours. VALORANT grew 25% to 221 million hours, and Fortnite rose 27% to 170 million.
Top Creators: iShowSpeed Leads a Geographically Diverse Field
iShowSpeed ranked as the most-watched YouTube Gaming creator from Q4 2024 through Q3 2025, accumulating 68.5 million hours watched, approximately 19 million more than the second-ranked creator. The report attributed his viewership in part to a 35-day, 24/7 live-streaming trip across the United States.
The top 10 creators (excluding VTubers) included Noob Sapiens from Bulgaria (49.2 million hours), Brazilian streamer Gaules (45.6 million), and Canadian creator Typical Gamer (41.4 million), representing creators from three continents. Five of the top 10 also streamed on other platforms, with Twitch and Kick accounting for an additional 145 million hours of combined viewership.
In the VTuber category, Miko Ch. led all virtual creators with 49.4 million hours watched, followed by Pekora Ch. at 47.3 million and Kuzuha Channel at 38.4 million. Talent agency hololive accounted for five of the top 10 most-watched VTuber channels, totaling more than 150 million hours watched across those channels.
Shorts Volume Peaks in Mid-2025
Gaming-related Shorts posted to YouTube grew across three consecutive quarters in 2025, peaking at 6.15 million videos in August before declining 11% in Q4 to 5.3 million. The report noted that creators are increasingly combining Shorts with live streaming. Canadian streamer outwork and U.S.-based CaylusBlox collectively gained 14 million new followers in 2025, posting Minecraft and Roblox content, respectively, through a combined Shorts and streaming strategy.
Peak Viewership: Nintendo Switch 2 Unveiling Sets Platform Record
Nintendo’s Japanese channel set the all-time peak viewership record on YouTube Gaming in 2025, drawing 3.3 million concurrent viewers for the Nintendo Direct unveiling of the Switch 2 console. The previous record was held by Apple’s October 2020 iPhone 12 release event, which attracted 2.8 million concurrent viewers.
In e-sports, “League of Legends’ was the most-watched title on the platform in 2025, with 277 million hours watched. The “League of Legends” World Championship 2025 peaked at 3.8 million concurrent viewers. “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” ranked second in e-sports viewership at 210 million hours, with its MPL Indonesia Season 15 tournament peaking at 2.5 million concurrent viewers.
Image source: Stream HatchetGet the full report here
