xQc Announced As Most-Watched Twitch Streamer
If you hadn't heard of Felix "xQc" Lengyel at the start of 2020, chances are, you'd definitely heard of him by the time the year came to a close. Back in the day, xQc was part of Dallas Fuel and was known for his skills in the field of Overwatch, but these days, he's largely known for being an outspoken streamer who plays everything from Fortnite to Among Us.
The Canadian content creator doesn't pull any punches and has become something of a marmite addition to the community. With this in mind, is it really any surprise he's the most-watched Twitch streamer of 2020?
Safe to say, 2020 was a massive year for Twitch as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic meant more of us than ever were locked up in their homes and watching the massive streaming platform. Alongside Dr Disrespect's ban, the return of Tyler "Ninja" Blevins after Mixer kicked the bucket, and a wave of DMCA crackdowns, xQc has managed to claw his way to the top of Twitch. Given xQc's recent boom in popularity, we'd secretly expected he'd win in the backward world of 2020.
How is xQc the most-watched streamer of 2020?
According to Twitch tracker SullyGnome, Lengyel's xQcOW channel amassed a whopping 127.3 million hours of watched hours. He was followed in second by Alexandre "Gaules" Borba (117.6 million hours) and Jaryd "Summit1g" Lazar (100.4 million hours). Gaules has made the most of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's growing playerbase, while Summit1g boomed alongside the release of VALORANT's beta back in April. Other big names include Nick "NICKMERCS" Kolcheff (67.8 million hours) and Tyler "Tyler1" Steinkamp (63.1 million hours).
Looking a little closer at xQc, he spent the majority of his time streaming in Just Chatting - clocking up 750 hours of spewing his thoughts on life in general. Following the resurgence of InnerSloth's Among Us, xQc spent an impressive 351 hours streaming the outer space murder mystery. There were 307 hours of Minecraft content, but just 157 hours of Overwatch - showing how far he's come since his esports debut.
It looks like a lot of xQc's popularity has come from the range of games he's played. Instead of limiting himself to just Overwatch or Among Us, he's dabbled in playing 48 games for at least 10 hours or more. Still, it's clear Just Chatting is where all the action is at. In a year where people have arguably felt more disconnected than ever, it makes sense that the familiar face of xQc has cashed in on the viewers. Love him or hate him, there's no denying the fact xQc has a huge personality.
What about the rest of Twitch?
With xQc, Gaules, and Summit1g, It's great news for the Top 3, however, they are far from being the most-followed channels on Twitch. Unsurprisingly, it's the return of the king(s) that have seen Ninja and Michael "shroud" Grzesiek return to the top of Twitch. Ninja's 16.5 million followers put him ahead of Turner "Tfue" Ellis (9.8 million followers) and shroud (8.7 million). The famous five is rounded off by Ruben "Rubius" Doblas (7.6 million) in fourth and xQc (7.2 million) in fifth.
Unfortunately, there's a huge gap of female streamers in the rankings with Imane "Pokimane" Anys not even ranking in the Top 50. Considering Pokimane's 6.9 million followers makes her the seventh most-followed streamer, that doesn't mean it's translating into hours watched. As we enter a new year and the likes of xQc continue to battle it out against NICKMERCS, Pokimane, and Rachell "Valkyrae" Hofstetter, it will be interesting to see if xQc will still be sitting pretty in 2021.
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