The Most Popular & Profitable Categories on Twitch
If you want to be a streamer on Twitch and earn your living that way, you should think of it as a “job.” Twitch is a platform with dozens of different channels, and each channel broadcasts different content. But predictably, some of these are more popular and make more money than others. Are you going to stream top online slots or play the latest PC games? Maybe you just need to chat and skip playing games; who knows? In this article, we will talk about the most popular and most profitable categories for new Twitch streamers.
Popularity and Profitability Are Not the Same Things
An article like this should start with a list, right? We will do that below, and we will share not one but two lists. Because popularity and profitability do not mean the same thing, сhannels that make the most money for broadcasters are not always the most popular channels. We will share two tables below: we obtained this data from different sources such as Twitch Stats and Statista.
Most Popular Twitch Categories
In the table below, the numbers in the right column show the average broadcast hours. In other words, these categories are the most streamed on Twitch, so these are the most popular options.
| CHANNEL NAME | NUMBER OF HOURS (IN MILLIONS) |
| Just Chatting | 1,900 |
| League of Legends | 1,400 |
| Fortnite | 904 |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 764 |
| Valorant | 737 |
| Call of Duty Modern Warfare | 637 |
| Counter Strike Global Offensive | 635 |
| DOTA 2 | 464 |
| Minecraft | 459 |
| World of Warcraft | 411 |
Most Profitable Twitch Categories
In the table below, the “average media value” column shows the average revenue per video for that channel. In other words, advertisers weigh in on these categories.
| CHANNEL NAME | AVERAGE MEDIA VALUE (IN GBP) |
| Gaming | 11,261 |
| Just Chatting | 6,498 |
| Slots | 2,065 |
| Chess | 1,770 |
| Music | 1,258 |
| Sleeping | 951 |
| ASMR | 278 |
| Art | 268 |
| Crypto Currencies | 90 |
So, what do these tables tell us? It is actually pretty simple: they show that popular things do not always attract advertisers. Channels that are followed by too many people may not be suitable for promoting something. Advertising agencies have incredibly detailed data and can see which channels generate the most returns for their ads. And the second table shows what these channels are.
We will talk about these categories in more detail below, but for now, let’s give two recommendations for those who want to monetize Twitch based on these data only:
- The first table also shows in which categories there will be the most competition. For example, Just Chatting is not as profitable as you might think: although “Hot Tub” broadcasts attract attention, there is a lot of competition in this category, and it will be difficult to attract attention. Therefore, beginners should stay away from Just Chatting for a while if they want to increase their follower count quickly.
- Gaming is still the most popular category, but only if you focus on specific games. It is best to stay away from the games in the first table: these are the most popular games in the world, and each of them has a world-famous streamer (for example, Ninja). If you open a channel about these games, it will be nearly impossible to attract attention. But when we look at the second table, we see that slot machines online and chess are extremely profitable categories with little competition: your chances of success are much higher here.
Other Important Information for New Streamers
At first glance, slots seem like the best option for beginners. Slot channel followers are more suitable for monetizing, and you can earn additional income by using referral links. But there are some inherent problems with this category: nobody wants to watch you play games in demo mode. So, you have to play for real money, and you need more than a casual gambling budget. Do you want to watch a streamer who spends 1 EUR per spin or the one who spends 100 EUR? If you do not have a budget problem, you can achieve success in the slot category in a short time, but if you have budget limitations, you need to prefer other categories.
When we look at the second table, we can already see what the alternatives are. Unless you are an exceptionally beautiful woman or do not want to broadcast in a bikini all the time, we advise you to stay away from the “sleeping” and “ASMR” categories. People only follow beautiful and near-naked women in both categories. (Also, the sleeping category is a bit creepy.) The chess and music categories remain: if you can play a musical instrument or sing, the music channel would be a good option. If you do not have such talent, you can choose the chess channel: there is not much competition, the channel followers continue to watch for a long time, and nobody cares how you look. In short, if you do not have a big budget, are not an attractive woman or do not have musical talent, you should start with a chess channel.
The largest traffic to Twitch comes from the US (29.9%), the UK (6.9%) and France (6.8%), respectively. In this context, we can say that a French chess channel will be successful in a short time because competition is almost nonexistent. In such a case, we also recommend that you open a YouTube channel and upload your Twitch streams there as well, as statistics show that YouTube is Twitch’s closest follower. Of course, remember that this is all advice: if you really want to monetize Twitch, you need to do your own research.
