With the continued growth of livestreaming across all platforms, streamers are able to broadcast just about anything, and Twitch is no longer a place reserved only for gamers, as Just Chatting has officially become the biggest category on the platform.
For a very long time, Twitch has been the go-to place for gamers to see the best of the best, whether it be skillful and entertaining streamers or elite esports competitors.
More recently, though, the ‘Just Chatting’ section has been growing very strong, with people able to sit and chat with their viewers without playing any games, instead just discussing anything that might come up.
While that has drawn some derision from fans who believe that Twitch should be a place for gaming, there is clearly an even bigger audience that firmly believes Just Chatting is perfect for Twitch.
Just Chatting dominates Twitch categories
According to a new report from StreamElements and Arsenal.gg, Just Chatting saw a 20% increase in hours watched between September and October. This means that the category has dominated the space since May, seeing six months of continued growth.
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This also means that year-on-year, Just Chatting has grown 202%, firmly fortifying its place on Twitch over the likes of League of Legends, Among Us and Fortnite.
In October, fans might have expected to see League of Legends spring into the top place thanks to the League of Legends World Championship. Surprisingly, Just Chatting held on to its top spot. The category was propelled to the top by the likes of mizkif, ludwig, and others. Politics also played a big part in its success, thanks to the U.S. Election and political commentator HasanAbi, who has quickly become one of the biggest names on the platform.
Elsewhere in the report, we can see that Among Us is slowly losing favor on Twitch. However, Phasmophobia and Genshin Impact saw meteoric rises when they were released, quickly becoming popular games among variety streamers.
That said, it’s become clear that gaming isn’t everything on Twitch. It also means that aspiring streamers don’t need to get good at any games to go live; If they want to just sit and talk with an audience, that’s becoming more and more viable as time goes on.
