Livestreaming had its biggest quarter on record this spring, and YouTube took the largest share of the gains.
Viewers watched 31.4 billion hours of live content across major platforms in the second quarter of 2026, up 8% from the first quarter, according to analytics firm Streams Charts.
YouTube led with about 15.6 billion hours watched, up 14.8% from the previous quarter, giving it 49.5% of all tracked livestream viewing. TikTok LIVE ranked second with 8.9 billion hours, or roughly 28% of the market. Twitch followed with 4.3 billion hours, about 14%, and Kick placed fourth with 1.6 billion hours, about 5%.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup drove much of YouTube’s growth. Brazilian broadcaster CazéTV’s official coverage of the tournament produced more than 1 billion hours watched on its own, and non-gaming content on YouTube grew 19.6% from the first quarter. YouTube Gaming moved in the opposite direction, falling 12.4% as esports tournaments spread to more platforms.
TikTok LIVE and Twitch each stayed within 1% of their first-quarter totals, while Kick grew 7.6%. Twitch still generated about three times as many hours watched as Kick, down from roughly five times a year earlier.
Twitch did not carry official World Cup broadcasts, and its strongest month was May. Much of that came from creator-led tournaments hosted by streamer Nicholas “Jynxzi” Stewart, who finished as Twitch’s most-watched streamer of the quarter. Summer Game Fest broadcasts in June pushed Twitch past 4.4 million concurrent viewers, its highest peak in 11 months.
Kai Cenat set Twitch’s biggest subscriber record in September 2025, becoming the first streamer to pass 1 million active subscribers.
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He reached the mark 27 days into his Mafiathon 3 subathon and finished the month with more than 1.1 million. Cenat revealed “Livestream From Hell,” his horror-comedy with Kevin Hart and Druski, during that subathon. The film was released on Prime Video on Wednesday.
The viewing growth comes as brands put more money behind creators. U.S. creator ad spend is expected to reach about $44 billion in 2026, more than triple the $13.9 billion spent in 2021, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
Third-quarter livestreaming figures have not yet been released.
