According to statistics from Newzoo, CS:GO is the most watched esport on Twitch in 2018. However, League of Legends may still be the biggest esports game overall.
Newzoo’s Game Streaming Tracker tracks the hours watched of various popular games on YouTube and Twitch. The insights reveal that, when adding up total esports hours watched on Twitch, CS:GO comes in first!
Why CS:GO is the Most Watched Esports Game on Twitch in 2018
The stats reveal that CS:GO has the most ‘Esports Hours’ watched on Twitch at 220.4 million hours. This refers to the streams of professional tournaments and events being watched. LoL, Dota 2, Overwatch, and Hearthstone make up the rest of the top 5 most watched esports games.
When regular streams are taken into account, League of Legends is ahead by far with over 716 million hours watched. This simple infographic puts the statistics into context.
The results will surprise some, especially with ESL, the biggest CS:GO esports organization, moving their streams to Facebook last January.
The biggest months for CS:GO were September (51.1M) and January (56.6M) – notably the months of the FACEIT London Major and ELEAGUE Boston Major.
Statistics from Esportsearnings show that CS:GO has had a whopping 535 tournaments so far in 2018- far more than any other esport! When taking this into account, it’s no surprise it’s accumulated such massive numbers. However, Dota 2 still takes the lead by far in prize pools.
League of Legends is the Biggest Esports Game Overall
When YouTube hours are taken into account, League of Legends slides into first place with 240 million esports hours watched compared to 212 million for CS:GO. Esports Consultant Rob Breslau noted the statistics on Twitter.
According to Newzoo, here are the top esports games in so far in 2018 by 'esports hours watched' on Twitch & YouTube combined:
1. LoL: 240 Million
2. CSGO: 212M
3. Dota 2: 180M
4. OW: 96M
5. HS: 43M
6. HotS: 19.5M
7. SC2: 17.5M
8. R6: 14.5M
9. PUBG: 14M
10. RL: 13M
11. CoD: 9.5M— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) October 4, 2018
With many of CS:GO’s most high-profile tournaments being streamed on Facebook, it may still be the most watched esport of 2018. Other streaming platforms and in-game streams on games like CS:GO and Dota 2 aren’t taken into account either.
Fast-Rising Esports Games
The statistics also identify some of the biggest esports games of tomorrow. Many gamers will be surprised that Fortnite is not one the most watched esports of 2018.
However, this is likely due to the fact that events such as the Fortnite Fall Skirmish are hosted by individual streamers. The Esports Hours statistics only take streams by professional organizations into account.
When looking at the Total Twitch Hours watched for September 2018, Fortnite outranks both League of Legends and CS:GO. PUBG also gets a huge boost, along with games such as World of Warcraft and CoD: Black Ops 4.
Other games such as Heroes of the Storm and Rainbow Six: Siege have also accumulated an impressive amount of Esports Hours. With new esports games such as Smash Bros Ultimate set to make a splash in 2018, the list could change drastically next year.