2020 Is YouTube Gaming's Biggest Year Ever, Surprising No One

2020 was a tough year in many respects due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and how it tore holes in every aspect of our lives, from the glaringly obvious to the minute. As a result of this, many people sought refuge in games and gaming content this year on sites like YouTube. Now, YouTube Gaming has announced that the service had its best year ever, with over 100 billion hours of content watched--that's a lot of Fortnite.

According to a blog post announcing the milestone, more than 80,000 channels hit 100k subscribers this year, over 1,000 hit 5 million, and over 350 hit 10 million. The top games watched for 2020 were Minecraft, Roblox, Garena Free Fire, Grand Theft Auto V, and Fortnite. Minecraft notched over 201 billion views by itself, doubling Roblox's count of 75 billion.

The blog post highlighted the charitable giving of top YouTubers like Jacksepticeye and The Game Theorists, with the former raising over $660,000 for COVID-19 relief in a 12-hour stream. It also listed the most successful streamable live events of the year, with Travis Scott's Astronomical Fortnite concert coming in at #1.