Much of the attention live streaming attracts is focused on the big influencers like TimTheTatman, Shroud, and xQcOW. Obviously, these streamers produce massive viewership contributing to their rise to fame. But what about the rest of the influencers? Who are generating the rest of the 7.4B hours watched?
To better understand which type of influencers the live streaming audience is watching, we categorized influencers into cohorts based on average viewers. The breakdown of each cohort with associated data points is as follows (all data based on Q3 viewership):
MEGA
- Influencers with an average of over 25K viewers
- 166 total streamers
- 762M total hours watched
- Average of 4.6M hours watched per streamer
MACRO
- Influencers with an average of 5K – 25K viewers
- 1,326 total streamers
- 1.7B total hours watched
- Average of 1.3M hours watched per streamer
MID-TIER
- Influencers with an average of 500 – 5K viewers
- 17,401 total streamers
- 3B total hours watched
- Average of 170K hours watched per streamer
MICRO
- Influencers with an average of 25 – 500 viewers
- 157,881 total streamers
- 2B total hours watched
- Average of 12K hours watched per streamer
The Mega influencers actually produced the fewest amount of hours watched in Q3 even though they generate the highest average viewership. With that being said, that cohort has the fewest number of streamers but they’re still the top 1% of creators. The mid-tier influencers generated the most hours watched even though they had far fewer creators. But why are mid-tier influencers reaching the highest viewership totals?
Many variables can contribute to the viewership but live streaming audiences might be more inclined to support growing channels. Mid-tier influencers often create niche communities to foster organic growth from those that stop by. Clearly, there’s something special about mid-tier influencers on live streaming platforms. They also pose an interesting opportunity for brands to engage with them. Instead of partnering with the biggest influencers, brands might want to look into working with a few mid-tier streamers to produce sizeable viewership, noticeable reach if combined, and likely reduce viewer overlap. All this would increase the value of each dollar spent to reach loyal target audiences on live streaming platforms.
So, the next time you go to watch a live streaming influencer, maybe tune into a micro or mid-tier streamer to see what is making up 67% of the total hours watched.
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