Twitch Viewership Crashes to Pre-Pandemic Levels
August 2025 marked a significant turning point for Twitch, with the platform experiencing its lowest aggregate hours watched in over five years. Our data shows August hit just 1.49 billion hours watched, an 8.78% drop from July and the lowest figure since March 2020.
For perspective, March 2020 was just before the pandemic sent everyone home and triggered massive viewership growth across all streaming platforms. To see numbers now dipping below those pre-pandemic levels? That’s a pretty stark indicator of how much artificial inflation was propping up Twitch’s metrics.
The Viewbot Crackdown Finally Bites
The primary driver behind this downturn is exactly what we covered in our recent newsletter: Twitch’s determined effort to combat artificial viewership. The platform’s updated detection systems have clearly made an impact throughout August.
Industry data suggests the scale of the problem was even worse than many realized. StreamCharts estimates that 30 million fake hours watched were generated on Twitch in Q2 2025 alone, with over 4,400 channels heavily botted. When you start filtering that out, the real impact becomes clear.
Here’s what we saw throughout August:
- An 8.78% drop in total hours watched compared to July
- Many top 5,000 streamers experiencing their lowest-performing streams of 2025
- Hour-by-hour declines ranging from 4% to 47% depending on the time of day
While Twitch has disputed some third-party reporting as “misinformation,” they’ve confirmed their systems are actively filtering out artificial numbers.
Beyond the Bots: Other Contributing Factors
It’s worth noting that July was an anomaly. Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos’ record-breaking “La Velada del Año V” boxing event significantly inflated that month’s numbers, with peak viewership drops of up to 73% compared to July, making the August drop appear steeper than it might have otherwise.
But even accounting for that outlier, reaching a five-year low underscores broader market dynamics. The summer esports lull and increased competition from other platforms all played roles. Speaking of competition, StreamCharts suggests 1 in 6 Kick streamers relied on viewbots in Q2, highlighting just how widespread this problem is across the streaming landscape.
There’s also been some industry speculation that certain major streamers took extended breaks in August, possibly concerned that their stream stats might reveal they had previously been viewbotted (whether intentionally or not). While this remains unconfirmed, the timing is certainly interesting.
The Silver Lining: Authentic Growth Still Thrives
Despite the overall downward trend, several gaming categories showed genuine resilience in August:
- Counter-Strike saw increased watch hours thanks to major tournaments like IEM Cologne 2025 and BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
- World of Warcraft experienced a massive 107% jump driven by “The War Within” Season 3 and competitive raid coverage
- Fortnite dominated peak active channels during its Chapter 6 Season 4 launch
These categories prove that authentic engagement driven by real events and genuine interest continues to thrive.
What This Actually Means for You
Here’s the reality: if you’re seeing lower numbers but your chat engagement feels the same, your community interaction hasn’t changed, and your revenue hasn’t tanked, you’re probably fine. What you’re seeing is a more accurate picture of your actual reach.
This crackdown ultimately benefits legitimate streamers by creating a more level playing field. When bot-inflated channels were dominating discovery algorithms and sponsorship deals, it was harder for authentic creators to get noticed. Now those artificial advantages are disappearing.
Pete’s Content Corner
Delve into my weekly selection of content creation highlights – handpicked videos, podcasts, and tweets that promise to captivate, educate, and entertain.
- Twitch’s SUBtember 2025 has officially begun (August 29 – October 1). Twitch is offering up to 30% off 6-month subs, with Twitch covering the difference so streamers get their full payout. The finale features bonus gift subs sponsored by VALORANT.
- YouTube’s Hype feature expanded to 39 countries. Fans can “hype” up to three videos per week from creators under 500k subscribers. Smaller channels get bigger boosts on leaderboards, and creators now have dedicated analytics for tracking hype performance.
- Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 3 has kicked off. Twitch is actively promoting it through direct notifications and emails to viewers. Given Kai’s track record of breaking platform records, this could drive some serious numbers in September.
Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read Stream Report.
Pete ✌️
