Remember when everyone was chasing exclusivity deals with streamers like Ninja? That era, defined by frantic platform wars between Twitch, YouTube, and the short-lived Mixer, ultimately left Twitch as the default livestreaming destination. But in 2025, the actual landscape looks very different.
According to the latest Global Livestreaming Landscape report from Streams Charts, TikTok Live is now the second most-watched livestreaming platform on the internet, behind only YouTube. That’s a massive shift, and it happened largely under the radar.
In the first quarter of 2025, livestreaming platforms collectively generated about 29.7 billion hours of watch time. YouTube led the pack with 14.98 billion hours, which accounts for 50.3% of the total. TikTok Live came in second with 8.03 billion hours, or roughly 27% of all livestreaming viewership. Twitch followed with 4.85 billion hours and a 16.3% share. Kick took fourth place with 2.9%, while smaller platforms like SOOP, NimoTV, and Rumble rounded out the rest.
TikTok’s growth stands out. Its watch hours jumped 30% from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, making it one of only four platforms to see growth this quarter, alongside YouTube, Kick, and Trovo.
What’s fueling TikTok Live’s rise? The platform is built for mobile-first audiences and has rapidly evolved its monetization engine. TikTok says over 400,000 creators go live on the platform every day, reaching 30 million viewers. Collectively, they generate around $10 million in daily revenue. What’s more notable is that 80.4% of that revenue comes from creators with fewer than 50,000 followers. Compare that to Twitch, where monetization remains top-heavy, and the appeal becomes clearer.
TikTok Live has focused heavily on IRL and lifestyle streams, with its most popular categories being Outdoors and Chats. Its ecommerce vertical, including livestream shopping, has also become a major revenue driver. Now the platform is pushing into gaming, especially mobile games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Garena Free Fire, which have started to see meaningful traction.
While YouTube still dominates the space thanks to its genre diversity, TikTok is quickly catching up in gaming. Streams Charts notes that only 7% of YouTube’s total watch time came from YouTube Gaming, whereas Twitch’s audience remains more gaming-centric, with 12.6% of its share tied to that content. According to Streams Charts’ product manager Nazar Babenko, TikTok is “steadily closing the gap with YouTube Gaming in terms of gaming content volume.”
For Twitch, the warning signs are clear. Babenko told Dexerto that Amazon’s platform needs to innovate in creator tools and monetization if it wants to stop talent migration. He also suggested expanding localization in emerging markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America, where mobile-first viewing is accelerating quickly.
But perhaps the most underrated takeaway is TikTok’s ability to support small creators. Discoverability has long been a weak spot for Twitch. Many of its streamers already rely on TikTok to grow their audiences. If TikTok becomes a true primary destination for livestreaming, Twitch risks losing more than just hours, it could lose the next generation of creators entirely.
TikTok Live’s jump from meme culture to meaningful market share is one of the more surprising streaming stories in recent years. But based on the numbers, it might not be surprising for much longer.
