The Game Awards Almost Doubled Last Year's Viewership

This year's all-remote Game Awards got a lot of attention. Receiving over 83 million livestreams last week, the annual award show increased 2019's 5.2 million livestreams by over 83%. Globally, 8.3 million viewers tuned in at peak time, an increase from 2019's 7.5 million viewers.

According to Stream Hatchet, live hours watched increased more than 129% across Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming. Over 2.63 million concurrent viewers tuned in at peak time on Twitch, doubling 2019's numbers. The number of YouTube viewers also reportedly doubled, but numbers were not disclosed.

Audience participation in both voting and tweeting increased during 2020's Game Awards. Vote count more than doubled from 2019 on The Game Awards' website and Bilibili in China. People on social media also discussed The Game Awards at a greater volume than in 2019. On Twitter, there was a 31% increase in conversation volume year over year and a growth of 65% unique authors.

"In this most challenging of years, the video game industry has continued to deliver for its fans," said Geoff Keighley, producer of The Game Awards. "We are deeply humbled to see that excitement translate into these record-setting results, with significant upticks in total viewership, watch time and social engagement around the world."

World premieres aired at The Game Awards, including the notorious clip showing Sephiroth descending from the sky and joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A gameplay trailer for Valve's next spin on the zombie drama--Back 4 Blood-- and a trailer for the next Mass Effect game were also revealed. You can check out our roundup of all notable The Game Awards announcements and winners of The Game Awards.