Counter-Strike becomes the most-watched esports game on Twitch in Q1 2025

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Global esports viewership has been steadily growing over the past few years. As the audience expands, it is also becoming more segmented across different livestreaming platforms. Twitch has traditionally been seen as the primary destination for PC gaming content, particularly among Western audiences. In contrast, YouTube has established itself as a key platform for mobile esports titles, with users in Southeast Asia and Latin America engaging with it far more actively than with the "purple platform". So, how did the two largest platforms compare in Q1 2025?

When it comes to overall viewership across the two platforms, the most popular esports title on Twitch accumulated nearly twice as many Hours Watched (HW) as the top game on YouTube. However, what stands out is the wide variation in audience numbers across other games, and this makes the situation quite interesting. Overall, games on YouTube generated more HW than those on Twitch. For example, we recorded only six titles on Twitch that surpassed 10 million hours of watchtime during the quarter, whereas YouTube had as many as eight. Moreover, despite the significant gap between the top titles' viewership, games ranked below the top spot on the "red platform" generally outperformed their counterparts on Twitch.

Looking at specific titles across the two platforms, Counter-Strike emerged as the most-watched game of the quarter. On Twitch, it secured the top spot with nearly 100 million Hours Watched, while on YouTube, it ranked third with just over 40 million HW. Counter-Strike's dominance was expected: seasons for many other games started later, and the CS calendar this year has been packed with major events, making its leading position quite natural. The standout event of the quarter for the game was IEM Katowice 2025, which recorded the highest peak viewership on both Twitch and YouTube.

League of Legends kicked off its new season with a wave of changes to its competitive ecosystem. Major shifts took place at the top level of tournaments in both Asia and the Americas, a new international tournament was introduced, and nearly all major leagues adopted a three-split system. Notably, the first split now often features a different format — and sometimes even a different lineup of participants — compared to the later stages of the season.

On Twitch, League of Legends ranked second, but on YouTube, it claimed the top spot. Interestingly, unlike Counter-Strike, the game's peak viewership on YouTube was significantly higher, by 62%. It's also notable that League of Legends reached its peak audience on different events across the two platforms: on YouTube, the peak came during the LCK Cup 2025, driven by strong engagement from Korean viewers, while on Twitch, the highest numbers were recorded during the LEC, thanks to the European audience.

The only mobile title to appear in the platform rankings was Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which secured second place on YouTube. Interestingly, while the MPL, the game's primary regional leagues, started slightly earlier than usual this year, most of the action still kicked off closer to the second half of March. As a result, most of the viewership accumulated during the quarter came from third-party events, which typically attract smaller audiences compared to MPL seasons or major tournaments like the MSC and M-Series. 

Valorant finished just slightly behind on Twitch, but it still managed to surpass Dota 2 in total viewership across both platforms. The game accumulated significantly more Hours Watched on the Amazon-backed platform. However, YouTube recorded a much higher peak concurrent audience, highlighting the difference in how the two platforms' audiences engaged with the title. This was largely thanks to the strong engagement of the game's Asian fanbase during the first international championship of the season, VCT Masters Bangkok 2025, which became Valorant’s most popular event on both platforms in Q1.

Dota 2 also delivered a strong performance across both platforms. The game kicked off the new year with a much busier schedule of Tier-1 tournaments compared to the previous year, which helped it accumulate solid viewership numbers. Interestingly, among all the games in the rankings, Dota 2 had the lowest peak concurrent engagement. It placed fifth for peak viewership on both platforms, and on Twitch, it even trailed behind Rainbow Six Siege, a title that is generally less popular with audiences overall.

Rainbow Six Siege rounded out the top five games on Twitch, thanks almost entirely to a single tournament, but a major one: the Six Invitational, the game's equivalent of a world championship, which is traditionally held in February and March. This event gave the title enough momentum to edge out Rocket League, another strong contender for a top-five spot.