Today, an average viewer of GTA V on Twitch consumes 14 hours of the game, 1.5 hours more than with LoL and 6 hours more Just Chatting.
GTA V has sold over 185 million copies worldwide since its launch in 2013 and has grossed $7.7 billion. An impressive figure that we know thanks to our colleagues at Stream Hatchet, and a success that is not only reflected in player numbers, but also in streaming. Since the second quarter of 2016, Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) has accumulated almost 8.1 billion hours watched on Twitch, Youtube Gaming, Facebook Live, AfreecaTV, Rooter, Trovo, Mildom and Nonolive.
Today, September 17, 2023, the action role-playing game turns 10 years old; and surprisingly, it continues to remain a relevant title, cementing its position as one of the top offerings in the streaming industry, ranking third in Q2 2023.
What is the title’s success due to?
Twitch has been around since 2011, and YouTube even longer, so as soon as the game was released on most consoles, GTA V content began circulating online. With its incredible open world and gigantic map, content creators had the ultimate freedom to record or stream endless hours of GTA V gameplay. And this is even before testing GTA Online, which is the main reason for the game’s success over the years, with Rockstar releasing content for online gamers to enjoy on an ongoing basis.
According to Stream Hatchet data, since 2016, the game’s audience has grown rapidly and in Q2 2021, the game’s audience peaked at 874 million hours viewed. This record set as the most hours watched has not been surpassed by any game on the three major streaming platforms and dethroned Just Chatting from the top spot. From that point on, the game remained in second place behind the Non-Gaming category for 6 consecutive quarters, becoming the most watched game on streaming for nearly 2 years.
When the game reached its most popular point in Q2 2021, many well-known streamers devoted time to it; xQc produced 7% of the game’s share in that quarter. Also during this quarter, the Marbella Vice private server series brought the Spanish community together for role-playing games.
Since then, the game’s streaming time has remained constant, with the game’s main streamers acting as influencers. For example, the top creators of the 2023 game include players such as fps_shaka and Loud_coringa, who ranked among the top 10 overall creators for the second quarter of 2023.
Role-playing games and private servers are the heart and soul of GTA V in 2023, and will help many creators grow their audience. GTA V’s role-playing functionality offers streamers and viewers countless hours of entertainment.
Despite a decline in overall viewership, the percentage of hours watched through role-playing streams, which was 14.5% in Q1 2022, has steadily increased and stabilized. More than 85 million hours were spent watching these role-playing game retransmissions in Q2 2023, representing 23.4% of the gaming market share on Twitch, YouTube-Gaming, Facebook Live and Kick.
In 2023, a GTA V viewer on Twitch spends a monthly average of nearly 14 hours watching the game, which is 1.5 hours more than a League of Legends viewer and 6 hours more than those watching Just Chatting.
Although viewership dropped 17% compared to Q2 2021, which is a trend seen in streaming in general (-22.6%), the game is not going to drop in viewership any time soon. The huge audience of dedicated fans, combined with the unlimited possibilities of role-playing servers and broadcasts from the most popular streamers in the industry, make it clear that the game will continue to dominate the market.
