Many esports competitors’ footprint extends beyond tournaments or qualifiers, with lots growing into or beginning with streaming their game of choice. From games like Teamfight Tactics to Fortnite, there are good odds that if you enjoy watching a particular player compete, they will be streaming the game in their off-time, usually practicing or relaxing. Now, while we know who some of the best players are, finding who the best streaming esports player is a different story, and once we look at the numbers, it turns out their popularity may very well exceed their esport’s.
The top streaming esports player from June 27 to Sept. 26 this year was TFT player Michael “k3soju” Zhang, leading the pack with just shy of 14 million hours watched on his Twitch streams, according to EsportsCharts. Other notable names on the list include League of Legends player NoWay, VALORANT streamer s0m, and the ever-popular TenZ. Six esports are featured in the top ten list, with LoL and VALORANT each boasting three players in the ranking.
Counting the amount of hours viewed by fans, this ranking is a little skewed towards popular streamers who just happen to be players. For example, if s0m or TenZ were a substitute player for their team and chiefly a content creator with a chance to sub in games, they would gain a lot of fans from the esports side as well as their streaming side while getting a ton more time to stream instead of competing. That’s likely why a TFT streamer is number one: they don’t have to worry about teammates, they practice constantly, and the game fits a more casual fanbase than esports like LoL or VALORANT.
As for other big names, you have players like recently retired CS:GO and VALORANT pro Óscar “mixwell” Cañellas, or even the popular fighting game player Daigo Umehara. Half of the list are American players and streamers, but the other half is geographically diverse, from Japan to Spain and Poland.
One of the interesting stats to come out of this is related to the VALORANT streamers. You’d think that the perennial prodigy TenZ would be leading the pack, but it seems that s0m has taken that top VALORANT streamer title.
Considering that k3soju has nearly double the amount of hours watched than NoWay in second place, it shows the popularity of him and his game alike. TFT is both a mobile game and something players can play as long as they have LoL, with a growing esports scene. Big streamers like k3soju only help the growth of the game, and plenty of his fans enjoy his insights as a top player.
Just like most players towards the middle and bottom of the list, this can all change heading towards the end of 2023, but it doesn’t look like anyone is overtaking k3soju at the top anytime soon.
