For those of you who don't already know what this is about: I'm gathering various data (viewers, game, events, etc.) from all the streams that are presented on teamliquid.net (those that you can in the sidebar to your right) and use that data to produce the pretty tables and graphs you see below. The tables only contain SC2 players (that is, streams of people playing games of Starcraft 2) and not casters, teams or other streams. The tables also only contain Starcraft 2 related activities. So, for instance when CatZ is streaming Dota2, it will not be taken into account.
The data I gather is then turned into the tables you see below. One is sorted by the average viewers, the other is sorted by the average viewers times the hours streamed. The latter table favors those that stream a lot, while the former table favors popular streamers regardless of how much they stream. Either ranking has its advantages and disadvantages, and thus I present both.
For either table, I have a minimum required stream time of 5 hours to be included in the list.
The list
Due to space limitations, I have to shorten the headers and leave some data out of the tables presented here. You can get the full tables from the links below. The headers aren't as clear as I'd like them to be thanks to this, so here's a quick explanation, just in case: "Viewers" denotes the average viewers in the given month. "Hours" are the hours played. "Place diff" and "Viewer diff" are the place and viewer differences compared to last month.
Also, the HTML version linked beneath the images has some more information that I had to leave out due to space limitation, most notably the featured status of the players.
Now, Without further ado, here's this month's tables:
Despite losing some viewers and streaming a lot less, Stephano has gotten the most average viewers for the third month in a row. Retirement certainly doesn't stop this guy. Also, he is living proof that swarm host turtle play is the most exciting one there is.
Speaking of retirement, Taiwanese player and streaming machine Hui also recently announced his retirement as a professional gamer. Despite this, he streamed even more SC2 than in the previous month, earning himself the #1 spot in the viewers*hours category.
On average, almost every player lost some viewers last month, most notably Stephano, DeMuslim and Jaedong, who all lost about 800 viewers, give or take.
Winter remains (apart from Hui, whose main audience is not coming from teamliquid.net) the highest placed non-featured streamer on both lists, even gaining some viewers in March. Congratulations!
Dear Teamliquid admins and API writers: 1) You are awesome! Thanks to you, my life is so much easier. 2) Did you really have to follow Blizzard's lead on the abbreviation of their newest game? I was quite confused when I just couldn't find out why my scripts did not filter out Heroes of the Storm streams until I figured out that those streams have "HotS" as their game-flag. The same flag that was used for the beta of a certain other game abbreviated HotS.
Here's some information on some of the lesser known names in the lists:
Hui:Hui is a Taiwanese player who is mostly playing in the TeSL. His fanbase seems to be found mostly outside of teamliquid and in the Taiwanese community, unsurprisingly.
PsY is "an American Zerg player and YouTuber", says Liquipedia. And who am I to distrust Liquipedia?
QueenE is a Swedish Protoss player playing for mYinsanity. Check out her Liquipedia entry for more information.
AprilDai and Ketroc: I have no idea who they are, but they made it into the V*H category, so they must be awesome. If you know anything about these fine streamers, do let me know!
Notable absentees last month: Sen, Taeja, DRG, Ret, HuK, Artosis, Tasteless
If you find any mistakes or errors in the lists, please do let me know, especially concerning team changes or players that you are absolutely sure should be on the lists, but are not.
The big picture
(The actual numbers are not important, it's the ratio between month that's important.)
Note that these are player streams only.
The slight downward trend continues. It's not all that significant in the overall picture (compare with the next graph), but a downward trend it is nonetheless.
Overall stream views
(The actual numbers are not important, it's the ratio between month that's important.)
The downwards trend in player stream viewers has been compensated by the overall viewer numbers in the last few months, and while the numbers for March are down slightly, there's no upwards or downwards trend to be seen here. Things are stable, even if not on the highest of levels.
Note that this graph does not include the ShoutCraft Clan Wars live viewer numbers, since they are not available.
WCS/GSL
WCS EU has its clear advantage over the other two regions back, though it's slightly worrying that the advanced rounds in both WCS EU and GSL did not gain any viewers, and even lost some viewers in some cases. Let's see what the Code S finals will bring.
Proleague
Just like the previous month, the Proleague numbers are fluctuating, but on a high level (compared to previous Proleague rounds). And just like with WCS, the interest in the playoffs has not been quite as high as in the regular rounds, although in this case the length of the matches (one instead of two) might explain that. It takes a while to build a viewership, and when the event is done before that happens, the average viewer count will inevitably suffer.
That's all for this month. Hope you guys enjoyed, as always. Any kind of feedback is always welcome!
On April 03 2014 02:43 Boucot wrote: No comment about ForGG's switch to Twitch and thus his way better performance in those stats ?
332 hours, this guy is crazy.
Oh, you're absolutely right! A few days ago I told myself to mention this, then I completely forgot about it today. I really should start writing these things down.. Yes, switching to Twitch has given him far, far more viewers. He barely made it into the list last time, and not at all in the previous months, even though he has always been streaming a ton.
April stream number should be higher since the WCS will be wrapping up, at least that is what I predict. Player streams might decline to compensate for these WCS views.
Looking good though, a little bit of fluctuation is normal.
Thank you for the stats as always Is there a post where you explain how you're pulling the numbers from TL? Would be interesting to keep personal track throughout the month.
April Dai is a pretty chill Plat Protoss who interacts well with her stream, and will sometimes sing songs on request from her fans (she has a nice voice).
Makes me sad when I compare what the top sc2 streamers in regards to viewer # used to be at way back when compared to now. Top used to be at 7-9k as opposed to 2.5-3k now -.-
Well and I guess most people just lost their interest in the game, especially their motivation to get better at it. I still enjoy watching tournaments from time to time and keep up with the scene but i haven played for more than a year, so playerstreams arent that enjoyable for me anymore. The only stream I still watch from time to time is grubby because i simply enjoy hearing his beautiful voice and watching his fabulous personality. But apart from that its WCS once a week for me. The next Expansion will bring people back though including me.
On April 03 2014 10:44 Banishment wrote: Well and I guess most people just lost their interest in the game, especially their motivation to get better at it. I still enjoy watching tournaments from time to time and keep up with the scene but i haven played for more than a year, so playerstreams arent that enjoyable for me anymore. The only stream I still watch from time to time is grubby because i simply enjoy hearing his beautiful voice and watching his fabulous personality. But apart from that its WCS once a week for me. The next Expansion will bring people back though including me.
Same here, my motivation has just been killed this passed month. I used to be the one of the biggest supporters of where the game is at but recently I've just noticed that it's not really that fun playing anymore and so my will to get better and improve just died completely... Tournaments are fun to watch every now and then but there's always a couple games or more that just make you frustrated that shit like that can even happen in this game. But ya I used to watch streams non-stop but haven't watched at all lately. Oh well hopefully this next expansion whenever it comes out can re-ignite some interest from people who have left.
You have to wonder if Stephano and Demuslim is required by contract to stream 20 and 40 hours per months, and they tried to time their activity so they never stream a minute more than they are obligated.
Thanks for making this list as always. Interesting to see how all the streams are doing. FYI Ketroc is a laid back Terran player who has about 70 APM and is proud of it. He plays some unique strats with mass PF expand into ravens vs Zerg and 1 base vs Protoss. He is very chill and relaxed, a fresh tradeoff from the some of the other super intense or focused streamers.
On April 03 2014 06:16 mvdunecats wrote: Ketroc is a Masters level Terran on the NA ladder (I don't think he's GM). I've watched his stream from time to time. He tends to play mass Ravens.
Ketroc has a great mind for the game, not so much in the APM/speed department. Endearing in that he openly admits that, so you will see him go for PF's in his expo, mass ravens, crazy 2 base plays. His style is unique, to say the least. Highly recommend you check him out sometime, it's a nice change from the current meta.
On April 03 2014 06:16 mvdunecats wrote: Ketroc is a Masters level Terran on the NA ladder (I don't think he's GM). I've watched his stream from time to time. He tends to play mass Ravens.
Ketroc has a great mind for the game, not so much in the APM/speed department. Endearing in that he openly admits that, so you will see him go for PF's in his expo, mass ravens, crazy 2 base plays. His style is unique, to say the least. Highly recommend you check him out sometime, it's a nice change from the current meta.
Agrees ketroc has some crazy strats. which is totally fun to watch. low apm and crazy shit that works
On April 03 2014 02:34 Conti wrote: The slight downward trend continues. It's not all that significant in the overall picture (compare with the next graph), but a downward trend it is nonetheless.
and Blizzard is "supporting Starcraft" by moving Team 1 over to Heroes of the Storm. i guess Heroes of the Storm has much more potential for future profits than LotV.
All LotV can do is bring back old SC2 players whereas Heroes of the Storm taps into the giant MOBA market.
i'd say the "release timing" for LotV revolves around whenever Heroes of the Storm is done and has nothing to do with the SC2 fan base.
On April 03 2014 06:30 ejozl wrote: This team "Retired," sure knows how to advertise themselves through player streams.
Stephano may be retired as a pro gamer but hes still a streamer for EG as you can see in the stream overlay and all the ads for EG.
Yeah, I think stephano should definitely be listed as an EG player
Does anyone have any actual information on this? Initially it was said that Stephano still had to stream a bunch of hours after he left EG due to his contract, but I would be surprised if that is still the case. Does Stephano still have a contract with EG (or is he still officially part of the team?), or does he just keep the overlay up because a) EG sure won't mind having their name on the most popular SC2 stream, and b) he might just not bother creating a new one for himself.
Stephano is not listed on EG's website, nor on Liquipedia, so it's all a bit fuzzy to me.
On April 03 2014 02:34 Conti wrote: The slight downward trend continues. It's not all that significant in the overall picture (compare with the next graph), but a downward trend it is nonetheless.
and Blizzard is "supporting Starcraft" by moving Team 1 over to Heroes of the Storm. i guess Heroes of the Storm has much more potential for future profits than LotV.
All LotV can do is bring back old SC2 players whereas Heroes of the Storm taps into the giant MOBA market.
i'd say the "release timing" for LotV revolves around whenever Heroes of the Storm is done and has nothing to do with the SC2 fan base.
Is there a correlation between the drop in personal stream viewers and a seasonal increase of the amount of Tournaments? Is there a rising interest in tournaments (online/offline) and a decline in personal stream viewers? I have this gut feeling that the Tournament Streams are having a healthy and rising amount of viewership. Especially the "smaller" tournaments. I see small events getting 5/6/7K+ viewers and my gut tells me that this is higher then before. I also feel the level of production for small and large events online and off-line is improving.
Personally, I do a lot less stream jumping nowadays, I'm sticking to the channels I think provide good content. What I like a stream to offer me when I watch: - A schedule (when/where/what). - Good music. - To learn something about the Pro-Gamer. - A Pro-Gamer shares from his personal wealth of experience with the audience (strategy/tactics/tips & tricks). Not just the generic stuff. - Fun/interesting stories. The Pro-Gamer is an industry insider and can provide a behind the scenes perspective, which I find interesting. - Collaborations with other streaming personalities. - Interaction with the stream viewer. - Something original, surprise me!
On April 03 2014 10:44 Banishment wrote: Well and I guess most people just lost their interest in the game, especially their motivation to get better at it. I still enjoy watching tournaments from time to time and keep up with the scene but i haven played for more than a year, so playerstreams arent that enjoyable for me anymore. The only stream I still watch from time to time is grubby because i simply enjoy hearing his beautiful voice and watching his fabulous personality. But apart from that its WCS once a week for me. The next Expansion will bring people back though including me.
Same here, my motivation has just been killed this passed month. I used to be the one of the biggest supporters of where the game is at but recently I've just noticed that it's not really that fun playing anymore and so my will to get better and improve just died completely... Tournaments are fun to watch every now and then but there's always a couple games or more that just make you frustrated that shit like that can even happen in this game. But ya I used to watch streams non-stop but haven't watched at all lately. Oh well hopefully this next expansion whenever it comes out can re-ignite some interest from people who have left.
The ladder is broken. I am a high gold, low platinum level player and I'm getting stomped by players who's profiles tell me they are former high diamond or Master players (I even got a few GM's). This is no fun. The learning curve is just too high and it becomes demoralizing to play.
On April 03 2014 17:53 Rustug wrote: Is there a correlation between the drop in personal stream viewers and a seasonal increase of the amount of Tournaments? Is there a rising interest in tournaments (online/offline) and a decline in personal stream viewers? I have this gut feeling that the Tournament Streams are having a healthy and rising amount of viewership. Especially the "smaller" tournaments. I see small events getting 5/6/7K+ viewers and my gut tells me that this is higher then before. I also feel the level of production for small and large events online and off-line is improving.
Personally, I do a lot less stream jumping nowadays, I'm sticking to the channels I think provide good content. What I like a stream to offer me when I watch: - A schedule (when/where/what). - Good music. - To learn something about the Pro-Gamer. - A Pro-Gamer shares from his personal wealth of experience with the audience (strategy/tactics/tips & tricks). Not just the generic stuff. - Fun/interesting stories. The Pro-Gamer is an industry insider and can provide a behind the scenes perspective, which I find interesting. - Collaborations with other streaming personalities. - Interaction with the stream viewer. - Something original, surprise me!
The tournament season starting effects the stream numbers for sure. You can clearly see that December-January had bigger Stream viewing numbers. That time was the ''off-season'' with not many tournaments going on.
Although I like ForGG's streaming a lot, especially recently since he switched to twitch and is commenting his games, I hope he won't become another ladder hero and stop attending tournaments.
I was expecting this, as SC2 is rarely even top 5 game on twich lately. SC2 really needs something to get the interest of people again. Although I do think HotS did make the games better on average, it still looks mostly the same. If you compare WC3:RoC to WC3:TFT, there is a huge difference. But I guess Blizzard did not want to make huge changes.
On April 03 2014 09:49 Rickyvalle21 wrote: I thought our veiwership stabilized a few months back but it looks like we are back to late wol era
where I didn't watch any games andymore cause one race was clearly imba and didn't get a fast enough patch, so why bother watching an inbalanced game. Maybe if blizzard takes a look at the April Fools article about bullshitting toss, and they patch out half of the aggressive but safe openers, viewer counts rise up again. Although not saying anything is IMBA atm, there is too much randomness or it's just too hard to read from toss. So the viewercounts may further drop in my opinion, I don't care at all, until Blizz realizes they need to fix some things they don't even think they are broken. No matter how often you ask them, they'll never agree that warping in units in the opponents face faster then they can produce at the own base, is not a stupid gameplay mechanic (which is still not imba, but lets the toss do too much while being safe) (cause no matter where the army is -> recall or just warpin under the drop, no need to position army correctly from the start, just warp in if needed -> annoying, and sure easier to use then having several armies/controlgroups and control them whisely, position them carefully etc)
On April 04 2014 00:43 HolydaKing wrote: I was expecting this, as SC2 is rarely even top 5 game on twich lately. SC2 really needs something to get the interest of people again. Although I do think HotS did make the games better on average, it still looks mostly the same. If you compare WC3:RoC to WC3:TFT, there is a huge difference. But I guess Blizzard did not want to make huge changes.
well its because of the tons of PvPs and PvZs again lately. PvP is the worst mirror or whatever matchup to watch. But we can't hope for TvZ only, although it's the most exciting ones. Many openers that do damage but don't kill, so back and forth game is guaranteed. Only thing I hate is Mech vs Swarmhost
On April 03 2014 10:44 Banishment wrote: Well and I guess most people just lost their interest in the game, especially their motivation to get better at it. I still enjoy watching tournaments from time to time and keep up with the scene but i haven played for more than a year, so playerstreams arent that enjoyable for me anymore. The only stream I still watch from time to time is grubby because i simply enjoy hearing his beautiful voice and watching his fabulous personality. But apart from that its WCS once a week for me. The next Expansion will bring people back though including me.
Same here, my motivation has just been killed this passed month. I used to be the one of the biggest supporters of where the game is at but recently I've just noticed that it's not really that fun playing anymore and so my will to get better and improve just died completely... Tournaments are fun to watch every now and then but there's always a couple games or more that just make you frustrated that shit like that can even happen in this game. But ya I used to watch streams non-stop but haven't watched at all lately. Oh well hopefully this next expansion whenever it comes out can re-ignite some interest from people who have left.
The ladder is broken. I am a high gold, low platinum level player and I'm getting stomped by players who's profiles tell me they are former high diamond or Master players (I even got a few GM's). This is no fun. The learning curve is just too high and it becomes demoralizing to play.
It's also demoralizing to lose to some player who does his 40-50 apm Bullshit build, while you micro and macro you heart out. Scout better? Yeah not even the pro's find and know everything. And IF(!) they do, blink allins etc have still a huge winrate. Not even a cheese anymore, this would mean a coinflip: scouted -> aggressor is dead, unscouted -> if well executed, agressor wins.
BTW I was thinking about donating 100 for a Starbow tournaments price pool, so it gets more attention. Maybe we should crowdfund one
Looks like Heroes Hearthstone and Counter-Strike are slowly killing SC2. As much as I'd love to blame protoss it seems only GSL suffered for lack of balance.
On April 03 2014 23:11 GohgamX wrote: Wish these numbers would pick up again T_T
Player streams have been consistently dropping in numbers since 2012. A combination of over-saturation, viewer fatigue and generally unfulfilled hype created a bubble that is slowly deflating back to a more reasonable volume. The days where Stephano could just randomly start up his stream and pull 15k are long gone. Ad revenue is also much worse, so each viewer is worth a lot less.
Personal streaming just isn't a very viable way of supporting yourself anymore, with a few notable exceptions. It's more a way of interacting with a smaller crowd of dedicated fans, and we'd perhaps be better off thinking of it that way. I think Scarlett might pull some pretty good numbers when she starts up, but it will level out eventually like it does for everyone.
On April 03 2014 23:11 GohgamX wrote: Wish these numbers would pick up again T_T
Player streams have been consistently dropping in numbers since 2012. A combination of over-saturation, viewer fatigue and generally unfulfilled hype created a bubble that is slowly deflating back to a more reasonable volume. The days where Stephano could just randomly start up his stream and pull 15k are long gone. Ad revenue is also much worse, so each viewer is worth a lot less.
Personal streaming just isn't a very viable way of supporting yourself anymore, with a few notable exceptions. It's more a way of interacting with a smaller crowd of dedicated fans, and we'd perhaps be better off thinking of it that way. I think Scarlett might pull some pretty good numbers when she starts up, but it will level out eventually like it does for everyone.
Then how can LoL streamers, a few Heartstone and a few DoTA2 streamers, pull off 25k viewers sometimes.
Nightblu3 can get up to 30k on a regular Solo Queue night, and thats with other 10k viewers at the same time. Personal streaming is viable, just not in sc2
On April 03 2014 23:11 GohgamX wrote: Wish these numbers would pick up again T_T
Player streams have been consistently dropping in numbers since 2012. A combination of over-saturation, viewer fatigue and generally unfulfilled hype created a bubble that is slowly deflating back to a more reasonable volume. The days where Stephano could just randomly start up his stream and pull 15k are long gone. Ad revenue is also much worse, so each viewer is worth a lot less.
Personal streaming just isn't a very viable way of supporting yourself anymore, with a few notable exceptions. It's more a way of interacting with a smaller crowd of dedicated fans, and we'd perhaps be better off thinking of it that way. I think Scarlett might pull some pretty good numbers when she starts up, but it will level out eventually like it does for everyone.
Then how can LoL streamers, a few Heartstone and a few DoTA2 streamers, pull off 25k viewers sometimes.
Nightblu3 can get up to 30k on a regular Solo Queue night, and thats with other 10k viewers at the same time. Personal streaming is viable, just not in sc2
I don't understand the point here. They do better because they pull far higher numbers. SC2 players don't pull huge numbers, and as such streaming is not a viable avenue to support oneself as an SC2 player. I thought it was fairly self-explanatory.
I didn't comment on LoL, I've never watched the game and I have no opinion of it. People were talking about how SC2 viewer numbers are low and I commented on that. It is also a simple fact that ad revenue per viewer is lower.
On April 04 2014 04:00 Ludwigvan wrote: I wonder why the korean audience doesn't watch the streams, do they?
If they do, they most likely do it on afreeca, the Korean streaming platform. But SC2 is very underrepresented there, as far as I know. On afreeca, BW is doing far better than SC2 (all the old BW pros stream there).
i would just like to take this moment to acknowledge that Avilo is the #1 teamless Terran in terms of viewership. he truly is the leader of the Terran resistance against the evil corporations who are destroying RTS eSports..
On April 03 2014 17:53 Rustug wrote: Is there a correlation between the drop in personal stream viewers and a seasonal increase of the amount of Tournaments? Is there a rising interest in tournaments (online/offline) and a decline in personal stream viewers?
the 4 lowest months of the 12 months that have been measured occurred during the past 4 months... Dec '13 to March '14. you can twist your mind into a pretzel of rationalizations trying to explain it. I'll provide a simple straight forward explanation.
excitement for the game is waning. with no expansion date in sight expect the overall downward trend to continue. the game is not going to die any time soon because the decline is slow.
On April 04 2014 09:15 Fhiz wrote: is forGG not kind of cheating ?
If you mean the "rebroadcasts", I would say no, not as long as he clearly lets his viewers know they are rebroadcasts. It's all the more impressive if he gets this numbers even with rebroadcasts, I would argue. Back in the day, MarineKing used to stream hours and hours of replays instead of playing himself, too.
On April 04 2014 09:15 Fhiz wrote: is forGG not kind of cheating ?
What he does can't be considered as "cheating".
He streams for about 6 hours per day live and then rebroadcasts for people in different time zones. Cheating would imply he somehow gets an unfair advantage over other streamers. Any streamer can do that but most stream for 2,3-4 hours and then log off. There is nothing preventing them from rebroadcasting for different time zones.
Also to quote ForGG "Title never lies" so he isn't acting like he is live 12 hours per day or something like that.
I for example always miss Supernova since he streams at times that are very early in the morning for Europe so I usually only get to see 2-3 of his games before he logs off. A rebroadcast would be great in such scenario for me or any other viewer in my time zone.
On April 03 2014 10:44 Banishment wrote: Well and I guess most people just lost their interest in the game, especially their motivation to get better at it. I still enjoy watching tournaments from time to time and keep up with the scene but i haven played for more than a year, so playerstreams arent that enjoyable for me anymore. The only stream I still watch from time to time is grubby because i simply enjoy hearing his beautiful voice and watching his fabulous personality. But apart from that its WCS once a week for me. The next Expansion will bring people back though including me.
Same here, my motivation has just been killed this passed month. I used to be the one of the biggest supporters of where the game is at but recently I've just noticed that it's not really that fun playing anymore and so my will to get better and improve just died completely... Tournaments are fun to watch every now and then but there's always a couple games or more that just make you frustrated that shit like that can even happen in this game. But ya I used to watch streams non-stop but haven't watched at all lately. Oh well hopefully this next expansion whenever it comes out can re-ignite some interest from people who have left.
Same here.
I don't want to sound this like a balance whine or anything but there is something "wrong" with this game.
Don't get me wrong it is in my opinion the greatest RTS title ever created, it is just too frustrating to play, thus my interest in improving waned, despite I played this game for a full 3 years. I think it has to do with overall game and race design - it is just not fun to micro as terran whole match and suddenly lose because for a one second u didnt pay attention and banelings blew up your whole bio force, or play against Protoss and feel that u are on a ticking time bomb. There is no more sad feeling then micro and macro as best as you can and lose to some proxy without any chance to recovery. Sure I could switch races but problem is all match ups without T involved are really bad and less fun to play.
There is just one truth that people realise and maybe that is the reason that interest in game wanes: SC2 is not a strategy game, it is dexterity based game where you need to learn a long combos and counters (builds and countering compositions). There is not much space for creativity or strategy at all. Sure, some fine unexpected plays happens but it is rarity. Maybe that was the reason i liked TvT the most to play and watch. It is really a match up where u can win from the back and where ur thinking, not ur speed can give u the victory.
Someone would say what it all has to do with viewership? Well, I was interested in SC2 streams and tournaments when I was active player. As my enthusiasm to play waned so do my drive to watch streams or tournaments, especially with awful lot of PvZ.
I started to play LoL and suddenly tournaments and streams for this game, which I initially thought was unwatchable, started to look interesting and exciting.
Spectator base is just really strongly corellated with player base.
On April 03 2014 23:11 GohgamX wrote: Wish these numbers would pick up again T_T
Player streams have been consistently dropping in numbers since 2012. A combination of over-saturation, viewer fatigue and generally unfulfilled hype created a bubble that is slowly deflating back to a more reasonable volume. The days where Stephano could just randomly start up his stream and pull 15k are long gone. Ad revenue is also much worse, so each viewer is worth a lot less.
Personal streaming just isn't a very viable way of supporting yourself anymore, with a few notable exceptions. It's more a way of interacting with a smaller crowd of dedicated fans, and we'd perhaps be better off thinking of it that way. I think Scarlett might pull some pretty good numbers when she starts up, but it will level out eventually like it does for everyone.
Then how can LoL streamers, a few Heartstone and a few DoTA2 streamers, pull off 25k viewers sometimes.
Nightblu3 can get up to 30k on a regular Solo Queue night, and thats with other 10k viewers at the same time. Personal streaming is viable, just not in sc2
I don't understand the point here. They do better because they pull far higher numbers. SC2 players don't pull huge numbers, and as such streaming is not a viable avenue to support oneself as an SC2 player. I thought it was fairly self-explanatory.
I didn't comment on LoL, I've never watched the game and I have no opinion of it. People were talking about how SC2 viewer numbers are low and I commented on that. It is also a simple fact that ad revenue per viewer is lower.
The point is that your reasons are completely off base. Over-saturation and viewer fatigue have nothing to do with it. The people that used to watch SC2 are now watching OTHER games. Its that simple
On April 03 2014 23:11 GohgamX wrote: Wish these numbers would pick up again T_T
Player streams have been consistently dropping in numbers since 2012. A combination of over-saturation, viewer fatigue and generally unfulfilled hype created a bubble that is slowly deflating back to a more reasonable volume. The days where Stephano could just randomly start up his stream and pull 15k are long gone. Ad revenue is also much worse, so each viewer is worth a lot less.
Personal streaming just isn't a very viable way of supporting yourself anymore, with a few notable exceptions. It's more a way of interacting with a smaller crowd of dedicated fans, and we'd perhaps be better off thinking of it that way. I think Scarlett might pull some pretty good numbers when she starts up, but it will level out eventually like it does for everyone.
Then how can LoL streamers, a few Heartstone and a few DoTA2 streamers, pull off 25k viewers sometimes.
Nightblu3 can get up to 30k on a regular Solo Queue night, and thats with other 10k viewers at the same time. Personal streaming is viable, just not in sc2
I don't understand the point here. They do better because they pull far higher numbers. SC2 players don't pull huge numbers, and as such streaming is not a viable avenue to support oneself as an SC2 player. I thought it was fairly self-explanatory.
I didn't comment on LoL, I've never watched the game and I have no opinion of it. People were talking about how SC2 viewer numbers are low and I commented on that. It is also a simple fact that ad revenue per viewer is lower.
The point is that your reasons are completely off base. Over-saturation and viewer fatigue have nothing to do with it. The people that used to watch SC2 are now watching OTHER games. Its that simple
It has tons to do with it. Again, you seem not to get what is actually being said. Viewer fatigue = viewers tired of SC2. Over-saturation = too much SC2 content. I'm not talking about other games, not sure why you bring them up constantly. If people are watching other games rather than SC2 atm, that is pretty much exactly my point. Everything I said should be read in the context of SC2 only.
On April 04 2014 00:43 HolydaKing wrote: I was expecting this, as SC2 is rarely even top 5 game on twich lately. SC2 really needs something to get the interest of people again. Although I do think HotS did make the games better on average, it still looks mostly the same. If you compare WC3:RoC to WC3:TFT, there is a huge difference. But I guess Blizzard did not want to make huge changes.
sc2 is never top5 unless there's a tournament or wcs. When it's down to player streams only, sc2 is always outside top10 on twitch of all games, and always behind other competitive titles such as lol, dota2, hearthstone, call of duty, cs:go and even fifa(!). Events still get ok numbers, but it feels like people are there to enjoy the event rather than enjoy the game starcraft.
If you ever want to check for yourself, http://www.twitch.tv/directory lists games by viewers. As of writing this, sc2 has a total of 3500 viewers, even less than smite