Why Aspas is popular in Asia and how many Germans watch OhnePixel: Insights into esports streamers' Twitch audiences

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Recently, Streams Charts introduced a new tool called Audience Location, which allows users to analyze Twitch audience demographics and pinpoint where a streamer's viewers are based. This tool is invaluable for both regular streams and esports broadcasts, as many professional players and community casters also use the platform. In this article, we'll use Audience Location to explore the geographic distribution of viewers for esports streamers over the last month.

The popularity of streaming languages varies greatly between different esports titles. For example, major Counter-Strike tournaments rarely feature streams in German. Even at IEM Cologne 2024, which was held in Germany, German-language streams made up less than 1% of the total watch time. So, how can advertisers effectively reach viewers in Germany?

OhnePixel is a leading community caster for Counter-Strike tournaments and has a geographically diverse audience. Although he streams in English, OhnePixel is a German citizen. Our data shows that approximately 12.8% of his viewers are based in Germany, making it his largest audience segment. The second-largest group is from the USA, accounting for about 11.2% of his viewers. While these percentages might seem modest, they can be significant when viewed in the context of the streamer's total viewership. For example, 11-12% of OhnePixel's audience in Germany could represent a larger reach in that country compared to 90-100% of a less popular streamer from the same region.

It's also important to analyze how long viewers stay on a streamer's channel. A case in point is Asuna, a professional Valorant player for 100 Thieves. According to Streams Charts, over 22.8% of AsunaWEEB's viewers are from India, which is unusual for a US-based esports player with no direct connection to the country. However, the Viewer Retention metric shows that more than 94% of Indian viewers on average stay on AsunaWEEB’s streams for less than 2 minutes. This suggests that these viewers might be accidentally landing on his channel and quickly leaving, or that there may be bot activity from IP addresses in India. Despite the high percentage of Indian viewers, AsunaWEEB's influence on this audience is minimal.

Sometimes, unusual audience geography can result from temporary or artificial factors. For instance, Brazilian Valorant player Aspas, who plays for Leviatán, has about 20% of his viewers from Brazil, which is expected given his Brazilian nationality and use of the native language. Aspas previously played for the popular Brazilian team LOUD, with whom he won Valorant Champions 2022 and other major tournaments. Additionally, around 25% of his viewers are from Asia, including Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines. This surge in Asian viewership is due to his recent participation in the Valorant Champions 2024 in Seoul. Before the tournament, he began streaming daily on a South Korean server, which attracted significant interest from Southeast Asian fans eager to see how a prominent international player would perform in their region.

However, moving to another country isn't always necessary to attract local viewers. Unlike aspas, the Brazilian streamer SMIRZERA, who lives in Brazil, manages to draw nearly 40% of his audience from abroad, primarily from the USA and Argentina. This is unusual since SMIRZERA streams in Portuguese, while English and Spanish dominate in the USA and Argentina, respectively. So, what draws international viewers to SMIRZERA’s channel? The answer lies in his content: SMIRZERA regularly hosts local PUBG: Battlegrounds tournaments called COPA SMIRZERA, which he streams on his own channel. Although these tournaments mainly feature Brazilian teams, they also include top American teams like TSM and Soniqs, as well as Argentine teams such as BESTIA and AKM Gaming.

Our Audience Location tool is especially useful for a detailed analysis of streamers who broadcast in international languages such as English and Spanish. For instance, take the channel of AKAWonder, a popular Spanish-speaking streamer and multiple tournament winner in Hearthstone, as well as a professional player in Teamfight Tactics. Almost all of AKAWonder’s audience comes from Spanish-speaking countries, with more than 57% located in Spain and around 30% from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. He has very few non-Spanish-speaking viewers, which is not a drawback — it indicates that AKAWonder has effectively targeted and engaged his niche audience. Moreover, AKAWonder maintains high Viewer Retention, with over 70% of his viewers intentionally tuning in and staying for an average of 2 minutes or more.

In our next article, we will delve into examples of audience analysis using the Audience Location tool in the live streaming segment. Stay tuned for its release on Streams Charts.