Overwatch League Year 3

Tl;dr: Are live audiences moving from Twitch to YouTube?

As Activision/Blizzard transitions its esports properties from Twitch to YouTube, Media Buyers, Talent Agencies, Distributor Platforms, and Investors are eager to examine audiences trends related to premium esports leagues.

While YoY Overwatch League viewership has decreased, Stream Hatchet believes that these questions should revolve around the rate of decrease overtime. This week, our team focuses on the average concurrency across the first five week of OWL Live viewership. Here are the insights:

• Year One to Year Three performance: since year one, the Overwatch League’s live audience has decreased by an average of 51% across the 1st 5 weeks of broadcast.
• 1–2 vs 2–3: While AVG concurrents increased from year one to two (+16%), from year two to three OWL’s audience has decreased (-58%).
• The Impact of VoD: It’s likely that VoD viewership (YouTube’s leading product) is generating a significant audience for OWL. Due to restrictions with the YouTube API, Stream Hatchet is unable to provide context on the impact of viewership.

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