Co-streams Took Nearly Half of Esports Watch Time in H1 2026

Analysis of tournaments that exceeded 10 million Hours Watched in the first half of 2026 found community broadcasts accounted for 46.7% of total esports watch time. The mix between official tournament channels and independent co-streamers varied by title.

Tournaments for Call of Duty, Fortnite, Apex Legends and Valorant drew the majority of their watch time through creator streams rather than official broadcasts. Counter-Strike showed an almost even split between official feeds and independent co-streamers. League of Legends, Dota 2 and Rocket League had larger creator audiences while official channels retained substantial viewers. Major mobile esports events for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor and Battlegrounds Mobile India kept most viewers on organizer-run streams.

Language markets influenced where viewers tuned in. English-language broadcasts held a majority of watch time overall, supported by official international tournament feeds. Indonesian, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Hindi language markets favored official organizer-produced streams. Spanish, Turkish and German viewers tended to prefer creator streams. Korean, Portuguese, Japanese and French markets showed a mix, with both official channels and independent creators attracting significant audiences.

A concentrated group of creators drew a large share of community viewing. The top 15 co-streamers generated more than 216 million Hours Watched in H1 2026, about 27.9% of community-stream watch time across the measured games. Marc “Caedrel” Lamont ranked highest among those creators. League of Legends was the most common game represented among top creators. Counter-Strike creator viewership was distributed across multiple high-volume channels rather than concentrated in a single streamer.

Co-streaming occurred across multiple platforms. Twitch remained the most common home for leading co-streams, while YouTube, SOOP and Naver’s HZZK also accounted for notable co-stream traffic. The split of audiences across official and creator channels created differences in how event reach is measured and how media and sponsorship arrangements are planned.

Community casting grew as an additional broadcast layer in early 2026. Its impact differed by game, language market and platform, with distinct patterns of viewer preference visible across the measured events and regions.