Recent circumstances could (and do) give many people the impression that a career as an internet streamer, influencer or content creator is the best thing you can do in life.
Certainly, many people see only contracted collaborations, sponsorships and relaxing sessions in front of the computer and ignore the more negative aspects, such as the constant necessity to ride the wave of new content because nothing is as short as the memory of the internet audience.
But it turns out that this career choice may have even more pitfalls, particularly in the game streaming segment. This is because audiences (and indeed the creators themselves) have started to lose interest in them.
There has been a noticeable decline in both streamed and watched hours across Twitch, YouTube and Facebook over the past year, based on data from Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet.
Between April and June, 273 million hours were streamed on these platforms, representing a nearly 20% year-over-year decline. The watched hours are almost 7 and a half billion, but even in this respect, there is an 18% decrease compared to last year.
After two years of a pandemic, the simplest explanation is that people have chosen to start spending more time outdoors again instead of passively watching streams.
Facebook Gaming registered the biggest drop in interest, with the number of hours watched dropping 51 percent from last year to reach 580 hours.
The year-over-year decline in Facebook’s hours streamed is even greater, down from just under 21 million in the second quarter of 2021 to just under eight million this year.
It remains to be seen whether the golden era of game streams is over, or whether their popularity will pick up again. Given the economic situation, however, we expect many people to return to streaming in the near future.
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