xQc streamed for almost 150 million hours to emerge as the top streamer in 2020

Twitch's top streamer, Felix "xQc" Lengyel, spent quite a lot of time to earn that spot, as per the latest Stream Hatchet statistics.

Stream Hatchet displayed who the top 10 streamers of 2020 were in terms of hours watched across Twitch and YouTube. xQc was at the top by about 20 million, with almost 150 million total hours watched on his stream. Those who followed xQc were Alexandre "Gaules" Borba with 129 million and Jaryd Russell "Summit1G" Lazar with 109 million hours watched.

Regardless of the gap, the top ten streamers in terms of hours watched pulled in some massive numbers for 2020.

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xQc reaches the top, Twitch remains king of streaming platforms

One of the most noticeable aspects of the top ten streamers in the hours watched category is the platform that all of them are on. Twitch is still the clear winner for streaming platforms regarding how much time viewers are spending watching content creators like xQc.

The only "outside" broadcaster that would qualify in the top ten would be Bruno "Nobru" Goes, and even then, he is considered a dual streamer on both Twitch and YouTube.

YouTube streaming doesn't show up on the list of top streamers until Donato "TheDonato" Muñoz, who is at 18th overall for most hours watched. Facebook Gaming isn't too far behind at 26th for the first appearance, which would be the streamer, Saleh "Tarboun".

Our 2020 Yearly Report is now available to download! Follow the link below for all of the live streaming trends insights from 2020!📈 Live streaming grew 69% in 2020🏆 @LeagueOfLegends nears 2B hours watched👑 @xQc and @Valkyrae crowned most watchedhttps://t.co/k0mLdLgGCu pic.twitter.com/IucdLyJWRc

— Stream Hatchet (@StreamHatchet) January 12, 2021

Despite xQc and Twitch ruling streaming, for the time being, YouTube still displayed some impressive stats on Stream Hatchet. In Q4 of 2019, YouTube had about 1 billion hours watched for its gaming streams. A year later, in Q4 of 2020, the platform was at nearly 2 billion hours watched for their streaming platform.

The numbers nearly doubled within a year as streaming platforms exploded in popularity. In total, for 2020, YouTube Gaming racked up more than 10 billion total hours watched.

YouTube has a few reasons for its success, which includes its reach to global audiences and streamers. On top of that, high profile streamers became partners on that platform, including Rachel "Valkyrae" Hofstetter, the most-watched female streamer in 2020 and Content Creator of the Year winner at the 2020 Game Awards.

Herschel Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm IV was also on YouTube for half the year, though it was due to his ban rather than its partner.