In the world of online gaming, streaming has become the norm. What was once a niche activity, has evolved over time into something much more interactive and impactful. Nowadays, streaming has become mainstream, and all of this is largely due to Twitch’s success. The top Twitch streamers have become very influential, and today it’s not uncommon for game developers to hire streamers to test and promote their games on release days. If a popular streamer picks up your game and streams it on Twitch, you have an almost guaranteed chance to get a massive influx of players and earn record sales. For these reasons, we’d like to explore the world of Twitch streaming and cover some of the best Twitch streamers in 2021.
When Twitch first started almost 10 years ago, it was strictly a game streaming platform. At that time, only a handful of people were streaming and it was not a widespread activity that it is today. Over the years the platform expanded in many ways, and as more people kept pouring in, Twitch kept innovating and introducing many different categories.
Today, you can find almost anything on Twitch. If you’re into music, you can check out the music category and find something you’ll like. IRL steamers who enjoy the outdoors can travel the world and share their experience with millions of fans. If you’re just looking to relax, you can drop into the Just Chatting section and find someone to talk to. While all of these are unique and important, there’s one category that stands out above the rest – and that’s esports streaming.
The world of esports wouldn’t be what it is today without live coverage. Esports tournaments rely on Twitch streams to cover their matches, and fans expect to see a live show and share the excitement with others through chat interaction. It’s no different than watching a football match with a group of friends.
Twitch esports streaming is also very important for tournament sponsors to advertise and gain exposure. Almost every esports event has a period of downtime between matches, and this is where advertisers get their shot at reaching out to the masses. Esports live betting also relies heavily on live Twitch streams in order to function, which makes Twitch an essential tool of many businesses. Many top Twitch streamers in 2021 are current, or former, professional esports players, and we’d like to go over some of them and analyse what makes their content unique.
Since it’s almost impossible to cover every streamer on the Twitch platform, we’ll focus on the top 5 of the best Twitch streamers and see what kind of content they produce and what audience they attract.
XQC is one of the top Twitch streamers in 2021 who started his career as an Overwatch professional player. He first gained popularity streaming Overwatch, and it was his explosive reactions that drew a lot of people in. The majority of Twitch audience are young people who find this kind of content extremely entertaining.
Nowadays, he streams a variety of games such as Minecraft where he does speedruns, but has also been branching off into roleplaying genre with games such as Rust and GTA RP. His content has matured over the years, and while he’s more relaxed now and focuses on enjoying the interaction with his community, he has kept his competitive drive in every single game he plays.
XQC’s stats are off the charts. He has nearly 8 million followers and has recently surpassed 60.000 active subscribers. He streams every day, and for the past few months he’s been averaging over 70.000 viewers, with peak viewers reaching close to 120.000. These numbers are just incredible, and it truly shows why XQC is one of the top Twitch streamers by viewers right now.
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek is a veteran Twitch streamer who is best known for his competitive esports career in CSGO, starting all the way back in 2013. He spent most of his career in Cloud9, and retired in 2018 to fully focus on streaming. He specializes in first-person shooters and streams games such as CSGO, Apex Legends, PUBG, and other games in the genre. Recently, the game that caught his attention was Valorant, and fans were enjoying watching him climb the ranks in Riot’s newest hit game.
Shroud has over 9 million followers and averages around 40.000 viewers. His numbers are at an all time high despite him signing an exclusivity deal with Mixer back in 2019. However, due to Mixer shutting down shortly after, shroud was able to return back to Twitch and continue streaming as usual. He’s still one of the top Twitch streamers by viewers and has tens of thousands of people watching him daily.
Tyler1 is an internet personality that needs no introduction. If you’ve ever played League of Legends, you must be familiar with him by now. He got the title of the “most toxic player in North America”, and at first sight his aggressive reactions during games might suggest that being true. However, he says he’s reformed now and it truly seems to be the case. These days, he still keeps his alpha personality but is much more connected to his community and truly cares for them. To this day, League of Legends is his game of choice and is the primary reason he is unable to transition to a variety streamer, despite his fans constantly pressuring him to do so. His channel has over 4 million followers and keeps growing, making him one of the best Twitch streamers today.
TenZ is a Cloud9 Blue streamer and a professional Valorant player. His channel is strictly focused on first-person shooter games, mainly CSGO in the past and now Valorant. His channel has been on the rise recently, spiking in the recent few months in views gained and overall follower count. He’s close to hitting 1 million followers, and he would have reached it by now if he hadn’t been busy playing for Sentinels in the latest Valorant Champions Tour Stage 1 Masters event. If you’re looking for a place to learn Valorant and maybe become a professional player, TenZ’s channel is the first place you should check.
Ninja is still one of the biggest streamers on Twitch, despite him leaving for Mixer at about the same time shroud did. He got incredibly popular as a Fortnite streamer during the period when the game exploded and took over the world. He would stream with celebrities such as the Canadian rapper Drake, which just fueled his popularity even further. However, after returning from Mixer he never saw those numbers again. He’s got almost 17 million followers and averages around 11.000 viewers, which still puts him as one of the top Twitch streamers in 2021.